Youakim Moubarac

Youakim Moubarac (July 20, 1924 – May 24, 1995) was a Lebanese-French scholar and Maronite priest. An Islamologist, Arabist and disciple of the Orientalist Louis Massignon and the philosopher Louis Gardet, he worked on interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Islam, on Arab and Lebanese causes, on the unity of the Church, and on the Maronite Church's Antiochian heritage.

Born into a Maronite clerical family in Kfarsghab, Moubarac trained for the priesthood in Lebanon and France and was ordained in 1947. He served as Massignon's secretary, taught Classical Arabic at the Institut Catholique de Paris and other universities, and attended the Second Vatican Council in the Maronite delegation. From 1975 he supported Palestinian and Lebanese causes, and in the late 1980s he helped prepare the Maronite synod and began restoring the Qannoubine monastery. His writings include the multi-volume Pentalogie Islamo-chrétienne (1972) and Pentalogie antiochienne (1984).

Biography

Youakim Moubarac was born in Kfarsghab, Lebanon to a Maronite clerical family. His father, Antoun, and grandfather, Youssef, were Maronite priests serving in the Kadisha Valley, a holy place in the Maronite tradition. His maternal grandfather, Nemtallah Samia, was also a priest.

Early life

After ecclesiastical studies at the Maronite Seminary of Ghazir and the Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut, Moubarac was sent to France in October 1945 by his superiors. and joined the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) as a researcher.

From 1950 to 1962, Moubarac served as secretary to Louis Massignon. In 1959, he began teaching Classical Arabic at the Institut Catholique de Paris. Until his death he taught at several universities, including the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium and the University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne.

He took part in the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965 as part of the Maronite delegation. After 1965 he promoted interfaith dialogue, and from 1975 he defended Palestinian and Lebanese causes.

From 1985, Moubarac worked on recovering the Syriac roots of the Maronite Church. Between 1987 and 1992 he lived in Lebanon and was in charge of preparing the Maronite synod. During this period he began two projects: In 1989 he started the restoration of the Monastery of Our Lady of Qannoubine, a Maronite monastery in the Qadisha valley that served as the seat of the Maronite Patriarch from about the 15th to the 18th century. In 1992 he founded the Lebanese Cooperative for Development with associates, a microcredit initiative intended to help displaced families of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) resettle in their regions of origin and to discourage emigration from Lebanon.

In 1991, Pope John Paul II's decision to convene a synod in Rome for all Catholic Lebanese churches ended the synod project. In 1992, Moubarac returned to Paris and resumed his academic work.

Death and legacy Moubarac died on May 24, 1995, in Montpellier, France. He was buried in the graveyard of the Abbaye Notre-Dame-de-Jouarre. On August 25, 2009, his remains were transferred, as he had wished, to rest beside his relatives at Mar Youssef Church in Morh Kfarsghab. A Requiem Mass in his hometown of Kfarsghab was celebrated by Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Patriarch of the Maronite Church, and attended by Tarek Mitri representing the President of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman.

Moubarac's work has continued to receive scholarly attention since the 2010s.

Works 1956, Bibliographie de Louis Massignon. Réunie et classée par Y. Moubarac, Institut Français de Damas, Damascus. 1956, Les Noms divins dans le Coran et en épigraphie sud-sémitique, Museon, Louvain. 1957, Les Études d'épigraphie sud-sémitique et la naissance de l'Islam : Eléments de bibliographie et lignes de recherches, Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1958, Abraham dans le Coran, Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, Paris. 1962, L'Islam, Casterman, Paris. 1963, Anthologie de la littérature arabe, selon une nouvelle translittération établie par le Cardinal Tisserant, Gedalge, Paris. 1963, Catéchisme pour adultes à Saint-Séverin, Casterman, 1963, Mémorial Louis Massignon, Sous la direction de Youakim Moubarac et des textes arabes de Ibrahim Madkour, Abd al-Rahman Badawi, Taha Hussein, etc., Dar el-Salam, Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo. 1964, Guide de l'église Saint-Séverin (XIIIe-XVIe siècles) Deuxième édition revue avec textes en espagnol, italien, anglais et allemand, Association Philippe Néri, Paris. 1965, Bible, Liturgy, and Dogma, University of Notre Dame Press, Ind., Fides Publishers, 1965, Saint-Séverin catechism for adults, G. Chapman, London, 1965, Calendrier synoptique, juif, chrétien, musulman 1966, Devrue, Paris. 1966, I Believe in God, University of Notre Dame Press, Ind., Fides Publishers. 1966, Calendrier Synoptique, Juif, Chrétien, Musulman, Philippe Néri, Saint Séverin, Paris. 1968, Vocation islamique de Jérusalem, Al Khal Editor, Beirut. 1969, La Pensée chrétienne et l'Islam, des origines jusqu'a la prise de Constantinople, Sorbonne, Paris. 1971, Les Musulmans: consultation islamo-chrétienne, Seven Muslim intellectuals from North Africa, Egypt, Iran, and India replies to questions concerning relations with Christians., Beauchesne, Paris. 1972, Pentalogie Islamo-chrétienne, 5 tomes : tome 1 : L'œuvre de Louis Massignon, tome 2 : Le Coran et la critique occidentale, tome 3 : L'Islam et le dialogue Islamo-Chrétien, tome 4 : Les Chrétiens et le Monde Arabe, tome 5 : Palestine et Arabité.. Éditions du Cénacle Libanais, Beirut. 1977, Recherches sur la pensée chrétienne et l'Islam dans Les Temps Modernes et à l'époque contemporaine, Université Libanaise, Beirut. 1975, Muhammad est-il prophète?, Louvain-La-Neuve, Université Catholique de Louvain, Faculté de théologie, 1982, Islam et Christianisme en dialogue (with Jean-Paul Gabus and Ali Merad), Éditions du Cerf, Paris. 1984, Pentalogie antiochienne, Domaine Maronite, 5 tomes en 7 volumes: tome 1 : Les Maronites entre l'Orient syrien et l'Occident Latin, tome 2 : le Liban entre l'Islam, la France et l'arabité, tome 3 : hommes et institutions, us et coutumes, proverbes et dictons, recettes et chansons, tome 4 : répertoire du Liban, tome 5 : Livre d'heures et de mélodies, tome 6 : Livre du pain et du vin, tome 7 : Livre d'images, Publications du cénacle libanais, Beirut. 1986, La Pensée Chrétienne et l'Islam, Université Libanaise, Beirut. 1993, La chambre nuptiale du coeur, Approches spirituelles et questionnements de l'Orient syriani, Cariscript, Paris, 1993, La Question libanaise dans les textes du Patriarche Sfeir, Cariscript, Paris. 1996, al-Quds—al-qaḍīyah , al-Markaz al-Raʼīsī, Beirut,