Amr Khalifa al-Nami was born in Libya, in (Nalut) and grew up in a conservative family that was keen on science, adhered to the principles of religion, and worked to raise its children on the values of Islam and adherence to its teachings.
Amr al-Nami was taught by many sheikhs, the most important of whom is Sheikh Ali Yahya Muammar, one of the great Ibadi scholars in Libya. Then, after completing his studies, he joined the Libyan University in Benghazi, where his professor was Dr. Muhammad Muhammad Hussein, who cared for and guided him until he graduated in 1962 AD.
Then he went to Egypt for postgraduate studies, where the Nasserite military dictatorial regime waged a fierce war on Islam and those who work for Islam, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, as thousands of them were arrested. Thus, he decided to leave Egypt to Libya, and then be sent to Britain to study at Cambridge University.
In the UK, Amr spent nearly five years at the
University of Cambridge to which he obtained his doctorate degree in Arab
Islamic studies, but this experience also offered him large-scale culture and
gave him the opportunity to meet scholars, intellectuals, and pioneers of
various Islamic movements of different races, languages, and continents.
Studying overseas did not keep Omar from following the news from his homeland of political and cultural interactions. He even had contributed to writing critical articles in the Alem newspaper. The 1960s can be described as the golden age of the Libyan press and freedom of expression.
In the summer of 1971, al-Nami graduated successfully from the University of Cambridge. He was ready to return to his native Libya looking forward to occupying a high status at the Libyan University.
Instead, he was greeted by police stations and interrogation rooms and from there to the prison.
His first arrest didn’t last long as it came
as a warning. He resumed his normal life and began his career as a professor at
Benghazi University before being transferred to Tripoli.
In 1973 Libya witnessed extensive arrests by
the former regime under the slogans “Cultural Revolution”, “The Administrative
Revolution” and “Forming Parties is betrayal”! But the aim behind was to ground
the one-man rule in the country and to get rid of any intellect or leadership
not compliant with this view. Amr was among hundreds of intellectuals and
students who were arbitrarily detained.
After his release, he was forced to leave the
country, possibly as a condition for his liberty. He went into exile in the
United States and then was deported again to Japan. From his exile, he wrote
poetry about his country, his childhood, and his memories, he was not of the
kind to live away from his land. Within a year He was back in his home land.
He decided to walk away from university
teaching and shift to sheep grazing in his home town Nalut, away from big
cities and the anarchy of politics. For his surprise prison doors were open
before him once again, in 2981, but this time, al-Nami didn’t have the chance
to tell the rest of his story. He was trailed by Qaddafi’s security agents and
went missing since 1986 up to this day. His family had heard no news of him and
his fate is still unknown. He reportedly died under torture while in
prison.
Dr. Amr al-Nami is one of the Muslim
Brotherhood youths, who worked in the field of Islamic da’wah early in his
youth. He contacted them, was associated with them, remained faithful and
committed.
He was imprisoned several times, but this
increased his adherence and firmness to the truth in which he believed, and he strived
for its realization, which is the exaltation of the word of Allah on earth, the
supremacy of the law of Islam, the raising of the banner of the Qur’an, the
unification of the Islamic nation according to the Quran and the Sunnah and
confronting the enemies of the creed and religion.
His teachers and colleagues:
The most important teachers from whom he
received knowledge, thought and da’wah included: the great
Libyan scholar, the preacher Sheikh Ali Yahya Muammar, and the great Egyptian
scholar, writer and preacher Dr. Muhammad Muhammad Hussein. Both of them had an
impact on his culture, personality and Islamic orientations. They admired his
intelligence, honesty, sincerity, the purity of his heart, his zeal for the
sanctities of religion, the nation, and the homeland, his hard working and his keenness
in receiving knowledge from them carefully. He was clever, clear-minded,
memorizes quickly, eager to read, eager to learn science with all his energy,
spending long hours in research and study, without getting tired or bored, during
night and daytime, during his stay and travel, in prison and classrooms, at
home and in the mosque, it is one of the youths who are gifted by Allah and
walked in the way of Allah without hesitation.
As for his colleagues, they included Mahmoud Al-Nakou,
Mustafa Al-Manqari, and Sadiq Al-Nayhum, and each of them had his cultural
personality, social behavior and intellectual choice, which separated them,
especially Sadiq Al-Nayhum, who was on opposite sides with Dr. Amr al-Nami, who
embraces the Islamic trend and committed thought, and he followed the path of
the contemporary Islamic movement that calls for the resumption of Islamic
life, the application of Islam law to the affairs of life. He also worked hard
to lead the paths of humanity to the true approach, “the approach of Islam”,
the final religion that Allah has accepted for us and for all mankind, while his
colleague Al-Nayhum was repeating the sayings of the Batini (esoteric) teams.
His most important books:
He also wrote:
-
Collection of Poems.
-
Investigation of (The Answers of Ibn
Khalfoon) Book.
-
Who are the Ibadis?
-
Western civilization and its position on
Islam and the Islamic world.
- - Chapters of al-Jidu al-Hazel (Critique of Modern Poetry).
- - Symbol or wink in the Qur'an? (A response to the writings of Sadiq Al-Nayhum).
- - Words of Revolution.
And other research, articles, seminars and lectures.
The following three verses are a near translation from a touching poem in Arabic, written by the martyr in his prison cell back in 1974 and addressed to his mother:
Mother...
don't you worry now... don't show them you're sad!
How about a smile now... I hate to see you weak...I hate to see you feeling
bad!
Mother don't show them they're winning... Mother don't show them you're aching
You
see, we have towered high above the tyrants. Mother, we're men but they're not!
أماه لا تجزعي بل وابسمي فرحا
فحزن قلبك ضغف لست أرضاه
أماه لا تشعريهم أنهم غلبوا
أماه لا تسمعيهم منك أواه
إنا شمخنا على الطاغوت في شمم نحن الرجال وهم يا أم أشباه
References:
Article prepared and edited by Bint Ibadh.
- - Amr Khalifa Al Nami. By Abdullah Al
Aqeel.
- - Who is Amr Al-Nami? By Safa Alharathi
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