Habib Al Sayegh laid to rest in Abu Dhabi

Mohammed Ala’a, Staff Reporter

Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, a member of the Cabinet and Minister for Tolerance, paid the last honours to Habib Al Sayegh who died on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

Sheikh Nahyan performed the funeral prayer for the deceased at the Baharna Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, along with Sheikh Ali Al Hashimi, the deceased’s family, a number of officials and notables and a large crowd of citizens and residents.

Sheikh Nahyan, senior officials and a crowd of citizens and intellectuals participated in the funeral of the deceased laying him to rest in Al Bateen Cemetery in Abu Dhabi.

The Minister for Tolerance offered condolences and sympathy to the Sayegh family, calling on God to have mercy on the deceased, give him a place in paradise and inspire his family with patience and solace.

The Gulf Press Association issued a statement of condolences on the death of Habib Al Sayegh saying, “The UAE has lost a great literary, media and cultural person who has enriched the Gulf and Arab arena with his creations. May Allah have mercy on him. He was an example of creativity and excellence.”

In recognition of Al Sayegh’s role in journalism and literature, the Board of Directors of the Association of Journalists named the Library of the Association’s headquarters in Dubai after him, in honour of Al Sayegh’s creativity and his outstanding contribution to the press and journalists in the UAE.

Mohammed Al Hammadi, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said, “Naming the hall of the headquarters after Habib Sayegh is the least which can be presented to commemorate his name and memory.”

The General Union of Arab Journalists (GFJU) also issued a statement to commemorate Habib Sayegh.

The statement said, “The late Habib Sayegh issued 15 books of poems, and his poems were translated into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. His death was a great loss.”

Al Sayegh, who served as Editor-in-Chief of Al Khaleej newspaper, Chairman of the Emirates Writers Union and Secretary General of the Arab Writers Union, left behind a treasure of articles, literary publications and poems that were translated into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese.

Serving journalism and culture for more than 46 years until he became the most famous intellectual in the UAE, Al Sayegh gave the UAE a new face with many dimensions in such fields as culture, poetry, journalism, translation, research and heritage, rendering the country at the heart of the cultural event industry.

Al Sayegh was born in Abu Dhabi in 1955 and began to write poetry and prose about the homeland and its issues at an early stage. He used to publish what he wrote in the press when he was a student at Jaber Bin Hayyan High School in Abu Dhabi. His writings rendered him so famous that the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan  did not hesitate to select him to work as editor in the Al Ittihad newspaper, which was established in 1973 on a monthly salary of Dhs3,000. Al Sayegh received his Bachelor of Philosophy in 1977 and completed his Master of Comparative Linguistics from the University of London in 1998. He later worked in journalism and culture and chaired the Emirates Writers Union.

Al Sayegh was one of the most famous Arab poets and authors because his writings were published in the Arab world at an early time and participated in dozens of Arab and global conferences and seminars. He also played a pivotal role in the cultural movement in the UAE and had a strong presence in many cultural activities, which he used to supervise through the many posts he took up.

Al Sayegh received a number of local, Arab and international awards and honours, including the Taryam Omran Prize (Journalism Pioneers category) in 2004. He was also honoured by the Journalists Association in 2006 as the first to spend 35 years in the national press field.

In 2012, His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, honoured Al Sayegh by selecting him as the Cultural Personality of the Year at the Sharjah International Book Fair.