Muhammad Salim Barakat

Muhammad Salim Barakat (Arabic: محمد سليم بركات) was an Arab writer, translator and teacher of Arabic language. He has trained outstanding French university teachers of Arabic and Orientalist scholars at the end of the 20th century such as Jean-Yves L'hopital, George Bohas, Lidia Bettini, Anne Regourd, and Thierry Bianquis. He was born in Damascus in 1930 and died in it in 1999. He is not to be confused with his homonym, the Kurdish-Syrian novelist and poet Salim Barakat.

Life Muhammad Salim Barakat came from a religious background. His father, Muhammad ibn Jaafar al-Kassar, a Shafii Muslim, served as the imam and preacher of al-Innaba mosque in Bab Sarija in old Damascus, He belongs to an old Damascene family, as cited in the encyclopaedia of Damascene families 1/222, according to Al-Babiteen Dictionary of Arab Poets

Barakat grew up in Damascus. He returned to Damascus and worked as a teacher of Arabic language. His article, "Les inscriptions de la maison Sibai", in collaboration with French scholar Jean-Yves L'Hopital, and Nabil Al-Lao was published by the Bulletin d'Etudes Orientales in 2001. He was a member of the Arab Writer's Union, headquartered in Damascus

Posterity Upon his death in 1999, a hall was named after him in the INALCO, and another in the IFPO in Damascus. He was also mourned by the French newspaper Le Monde in its issue of 9 June 1999. Dominique Mallet also, a French scholar, wrote from Cairo an obituary "In memoriam of Salim Mohammed Barakat". 181–227. . Awards In 1978, he was awarded the "Chevalier dans l'ordre des Palmes Académiques", and in 1995, the "Officier dans l'ordre de Palmes Académiques" by the French Ministry of Education.