Naima Akef, Egyptian Belly Dancer

Akef, Naima

Naima Akef (Arabic: نعيمة عاكف‎,; 7 October 1929 - 23 April 1966) was a famous Egyptian belly dancer during the Egyptian cinema's golden age and starred in many films of the time. Naima Akef was born in Tanta on the Nile Delta. Her parents were acrobats in the Akef Circus (run by Naima’s grandfather), which was one of the best known circuses at the time. She started performing in the circus at the age of four, and quickly became one of the most popular acts with her acrobatic skills. Her family was based in the Bab el Khalq district of Cairo, but they traveled far and wide in order to perform.

The circus disbanded when Naima was 14, but this was only the beginning of her career. Her grandfather had many connections in the performance world of Cairo and he introduced her to his friends. When Naima’s parents divorced, she formed an acrobatic and clown act that performed in many clubs throughout Cairo. She then got the chance to work in Badeia Masabny's famous nightclub, where she became a star and was one of the very few who danced and sang. Her time with Badeia, however, was short-lived, as Badeia favored her, which made the other performers jealous. One day they ganged up on her and attempted to beat her up, but she proved to be stronger and more agile and won the fight. This caused her to be fired, so she started performing elsewhere.

The Kit Kat club was another famous venue in Cairo, and this is where Naima was introduced to film director Abbas Kemal. His brother Hussein Fawzy, also a film director, was very interested in having Naima star in one of his musical films. The first of such films was “Al-Eïch wal malh” (Bread and Salt). Her costar was singer Saad Abdel Wahab, the nephew of the legendary singer and composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab. The film premiered on the 17th of January 1949, and was an instant success, bringing recognition also to Nahhas Film studios.  Naima quit acting in 1964 to take care of her only child, a son from her second marriage to accountant Salaheldeen Abdel Aleem. She died two years later from cancer, on April 23, 1966, at the age of 36. The filmography of Naima Akef reads as follows:

• Aish Wal Malh (1949)
• Lahalibo (1949).
• Baladi Wa Khafa (1949).
• Furigat (1950).
• Baba Areess (1950).
• Fataat Al Sirk (1951).
• Ya Halawaat Al Hubb (1952).
• Arbah Banat Wa Zabit (1954).
• Aziza (1955).
• Tamr Henna (1957) with Ahmed Ramzy, Fayza Ahmed and Rushdy Abaza.
• Amir El Dahaa (1964).

Ibn 'Aqil, Hanbali jurist

Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘ (Abu‘l-Wafa‘ ibn ‘Aqil) (Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi) (1040-1119). Hanbali jurist and theologian of Baghdad. Because of his interest in Mu‘tazila, he was forced into exile in another quarter of the city. In 1072, he publicly retracted his writings in favor of al-Hallaj and of certain Mu‘tazili doctrines.

Ibn 'Aqil was an Islamic theologian from Baghdad, Iraq. Trained in the tenets of the Hanbali school (madhab), the most traditional school of Islamic law, he outraged his teachers by striving to incorporate liberal theological ideas into the tradition. He sought to use reason and logical inquiry to interpret religion, and was influenced by the teachings of the mystic, and universally respected and accepted saint of Islam, al-Hallaj (d. 922). In 1066 he was appointed professor at the mosque of al-Mansur in Baghdad, but persecution by conservative theologians soon led to his retirement, and in 1072 he was forced to retract his beliefs publicly, due to a threat on his life. It would seem probable however, that even after this public recantation, he still had a great admiration for al-Hallaj. Among his works of jurisprudence that have survived are Wadih fi usul al-fiqh and (in part) Kitab al-funun, a work comprising 800 volumes.

Ibn 'Aqil was appointed to a well-known academic "chair" in Jami' al-Mansur in Baghdad. The notion of a "chair" arose in eleventh century. At that time, a study circle or a Halaqat al-'ilm or halaqa gathered around a professor who was seated on a chair, or kursi in Arabic. Initially, the chair was just to give the teacher a comfortable place and to make him higher than the seated students so they could see and hear him better. It is this notion of "chair," or kursi, that evolved into a professional position, like the chair of a board or a committee.

The professor in the chair of the study circles was either chosen by the caliph or by a committee of scholars (al-Hawza), as in present day Qum in Iran or Najaf in Iraq. They were chosen for their scholarly prowess and popularity.

Abu'l-Wafa' ibn 'Aqil see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Baghdadi, Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al- see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘ 

Ibn Abi Usaibia, Arab Physician and Historian

Ibn Abi Usaibia

Ibn Abi Usaibia, or Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah or Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, ( [1194] 1203-1270) (Arabic: ابن أبي أصيبعة موفق الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن القاسم بن خليفة الشعري الخزرجي‎, Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa Muʾaffaq al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Al-Qāsim Ibn Khalīfa al-Khazrajī) was an Arab physician, bibliographer and historian. He was born at Damascus, a descendant of the Banu Khazraj tribe and the son of an oculist, and studied medicine at Damascus and Cairo. In 1236 he was appointed physician to a new hospital in Cairo, but he surrendered the appointment the following year to take up a post given him by the amir of Damascus in Salkhad near that city. There he lived and died.

Ibn Abi Usaibia owes his fame to a collection of 380 biographies which are of value for the history of Arabic science.

Ibn Abi Usaibia wrote ʿUyūn ul-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt ul-Aṭibbāʾ (Arabic: عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء‎), or Lives of the Physicians, which in its first edition (1245-1246) was dedicated to the vizier of Damascus. This he enlarged, though it is uncertain whether the new edition was made public in the lifetime of the author. A European edition was published by August Müller (Königsberg, 1884). This work is notable as a source for Aristotle's biography. Its material on Pythagoras' biography is included as an appendix.