Mahmoud Sheet Khattab

Major General Mahmud Sheet Khattab al-Mawsili (also written as 'Mahmud Shīt Khattab al-Mawsili; ; 1919–1998) was an Iraqi minister, Arabic language educator, military commander, historian, linguist, and writer. He studied military science in Iraq and the United Kingdom, and participated in the 1948 Palestine War. He was best known for predicting the date of the June 1967 Arab–Israeli war in the Baghdadi newspaper, al-Arab, issued five days before Israel launched Operation Focus.

Early life and studies Mahmud bin Sheet Khattab was born in Mosul in northern Iraq and grew up in a devout Arab Muslim family. Khattab's family are Hasanids, tracing their lineage back to Hasan bin Ali. His mother comes from the Qaysi tribe and was the daughter of Sheikh Mustafa bin Khalil, one of the religious scholars of Mosul. He is also the brother of the well-known Iraqi judge, Di'a Sheet Khattab. Khattab grew up in a family that worked in trade, and he was raised by his grandmother, who played a major role in instilling the principles of Islam in him from a young age. Khattab only stayed living with his mother for a year before moving to live with his grandmother with his younger brother. His grandmother was a devout Muslim Husaynid who was known for being generous, knowledgeable, and a communitarianist.

Khattab studied in the Qur'anic madaris with the kuttab in the Mosuli mosques, where he learned qira'at and writing. He would also listen to his grandmother's sermon in a nearby mosque in which she talked about David's story and topics on ethics. Although Khattab wanted to study law, he instead enrolled in the military academy in Baghdad, graduating as a lieutenant with a Bachelor of Science degree in military science in 1969 with very good honors. In 1479 AH (1969 CE), he earned a Master of Science degree with very good honors from the Command and Staff College, graduating as a Staff Captain. He completed twenty-four military training courses in Iraq, North Africa, and England. He joined British units during their overall training in the Western Sahara in North Africa in 1935 and in England in 1959. He would go on to be part of many military units.

Scholarly career Despite being a military general, Khattab was more well known as a scholar. Because of this reputation, was invited to various scientific bodies and societies across the Arab world. Among those were the Iraqi Academy of Sciences in 1939, the Founding Council of the Muslim World League in 1949, the Supreme Council of Mosques in Mecca in 1959, the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo in 1969, the Arab Academy in Damascus in 1969, the Jordan Academy of Arabic in 1979, and the Islamic Research Academy at al-Azhar al-Sharif in 1989.

Death On the morning of 13 December 1998, Khattab was reciting Surah Ya-sin with his daughter before she left for university. After finishing the Surah, he felt a dryness in his throat. He asked his wife to bring him a glass of water. He reportedly began reciting the shahada before passing away on his chair. His daughter watched him and repeated the shahada with him. He was buried in Baghdad.