Faleh

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Faleh
Among the famous icons and influential persons in the field of education in Qatar and even other parts of the world is Faleh. Faleh’s fame was a result of his love and strong belief for the right of education and his generosity to community. Faleh was born in 1904 and was the only son of Sheikh Nasser Bin Ahmad Althani, who died when Faleh was only a year old. Faleh was raised by his uncle sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed who married Faleh’s mother after the death of his father. Compared to his half-brothers, Faleh seemed different. As Faleh’s siblings engaged in business, he was concerned with reading and collecting books and took numerous trips to comprehend the Arab world. Faleh had a passion for collecting unique things including pearls and books, which made him a distinct character in the educational field. Faleh was intelligent as he educated himself. For this case, he followed and acted upon his beliefs regardless of whether or not they were against the law. He made attempts that were against the law including constructing a school in Alsharjah and was involved in the issue of the rice crisis, in Qatar. This article, therefore, seeks to analyze Faleh’s love for libraries and knowledge, as well as, his contribution to education and community. Education is an essential element in all aspects of life not only in Qatar, but also in all regions across the globe. The article is significant has it facilitates in understanding of sacrifices made by Faleh for the sake of education.
Books and education was Faleh’s best friend. Even influential authors such as the author of “Qataris man” mentioned that they had never seen him without a book in his hand. Faleh established a segment as an open library for the community in his house, in Lebanon. Unfortunately, the books were stolen in 1940, during war. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from pursuing his interests of buying rare books to set up a new library for the public. This represents a lot of generosity geared at providing education to people in the community, a kind of generosity that is not common among many people. This is what made Faleh distinct from other education providers who do that at some cost. Faleh also put up a library in his Majlis in Qatar, which was open to every person who was willing to acquire knowledge. In fact, he even gave out his best books to Islamic University in Madina before his death. However, the books are still in one segment under his name in the institution’s library. This implies that his work is still appreciated even to date. This is because education is valued in such places, as well as, other regions of the world.
The donations of Faleh were not restricted as he donated other books to Qatar National Library although this was not recognized. Nonetheless, Faleh still continued to purchase rare and important books and offered them to mosques and schools across the Arab world. Faleh’s wish was to use up the resources he had in establishing a library in Qatar University. Qatar gave out all his collection to the University. In fact, one of the articles after his death noted that among the greatest wishes was that people should share the wealth between their covers. His love for education and community do not only depict his high degree of generosity, but also show his actions in accordance to religious teachings, where sharing is highly upheld and recognized as ethical behavior.
The University, however, did not accept his books when his children gave them because it termed the books as old and wanted new and up to date books. After Faleh’s death, sheikh Zayad Al Nahyan who nkew Faleh personally established a library under his name in Abu Dhabi, after he learnt that Qatar University declined Faleh’s library. This library is still there today (Sheikh Faleh Bin Nasser Althani Library). The library has more than six thousand books. There are manuscripts and rare books that have Arabic titles from Sunnah prophet and Quran studies, Arab ethnics, gulf studies, astronomy, philosophy, literature, poetry, and others. These account for 300, 000. There are 100, 000 titles in foreign languages such as English, German, Chinese, and Persian. There are other manuscripts (authentic and illustrated) about 25, 000. There are also other publications with more than 430 titles in various knowledge fields. The library has rare, oldest and distinct Gospel manuscripts. These were a part of the author’s private collections. Handwritten manuscript by Ibnalbawab is also in the library. Other essential manuscripts in rare Persian language are the family tree genealogy of the first family (Adam and Eve) to the 13th Century. The Quran’s interpretations are also available in the library. Books written by unknown authors such as ‘Asceticism and Chips’, are also found in the library. It is clearly evident that the library contains books and manuscripts in almost all fields, which is important in today’s education.
During an interview with Hamad Bin Nasser, Faleh is described as a person who loved reading (knowledge and education) and sharing. His described character does not deviate from what is known about him. Hamad bin Nasser remembers the old days when they went on a trip with other people for three months while they were hunting Hobara in the center of Iraq desert. During this trip, Hamad asked an old person who was living in a tent between Jordin and Iraq whether he knew someone who used to collect rare books. The old person told him about a man in Damascus, giving Hamad his address. The old man even convinced Hamad to go with him to Damascus and told him that he would have a good time. Hamad bin Nasser then decided to go with the old man to Damascus, but thought that they would return to Iraq at night. To Hamad’s surprise, they spent three days there. During these three days, Hamad did not do anything other than watching Faleh as he read his books. Hamad bin Nasser was surprised with Faleh who spent his entire time reading books while in old and dusty shelves of his house. During the interview, Hamad noted that to him it did not matter if Faleh gave him books or not because he did not remember. Hamad was only surprised how a character like Faleh would spend all of his time reading old and rare books without even moving a macule. According to Hamad, Faleh only moved his fingers to turn pages and never missed hunting with the other members of the family in Iraq. Hamad notes that the trip was his worst trip of his life. For sure, no one would expect to find someone who spends al his life reading rare and old books. This is what distinguishes Faleh from other scholars of his time.
Faleh is recognizable character because of the sacrifice of life for education and generosity to community. During the occupation of British in Alsharjah, Faleh had been banned from opeing a school in the region under the British law. However, his passion for education and knowledge did not stop him as he still paid to establish a building with British approval, but did not mention his intentions of constructing a school. Faleh had a strong belief that people could be educated and, therefore, when the construction was done, he took several books and Qurans from his collections opened his school, joined by his uncle and cousin. However, the school was closed immediately the British military knew about this and order for Faleh’s arrest was issued. Nonetheless, they did not know where he was, but he had luckily managed to escape the region through Emirates and Saudi Arabia to Qatar. The courage depicted by Faleh is not a common thing among many people. For instance, he understood that he would be arrested if he established a school in Alsharjah against the law, but he still did it knowing the risks involved in the action. This is because of his love and belief of the right of education.
On the matter of generosity for community, Faleh is remembered for what he did for Qatar’s people. During the period of 1930s, people in Qatar starve to death because of hunger. As Faleh was rich, he spent time moving between Saudi Arabia and Qatar to buy rice and take it to Qatar. Again, the courage factor comes is depicted by Faleh in that, although Faleh understood clearly that it was not right to smuggle rice, he still did it out of love for the community. According to him, this is what was right and was guided by this principle. His legendary personality because of his generosity made him be called hatim Al-Tai and during his time many people who knew him referred to him as the most generous person they had ever seen.
The act of generosity shown by Faleh all for education and care for society is seen as a unique act that distinguishes him from others and makes him to become recognized as the most generous person during his time. The act of generosity, in this case, involves giving out without expecting returns. For Faleh, he gave out his resources including time, food, and books to people who were willing to accept his offers. As a character, Faleh recognized the needs of the community such as education and, therefore, sought to provide it at no cost to community. The act of spending one’s entire life collecting old and rare books may appear as a weird action, but to Faleh, this was not strange at all as he understood the importance of these books and never gave up in doing what he believed was right to do. He went beyond what any ordinary person in Qatar. For instance, Faleh knew that it was wrong to establish a school in the region during the British occupation. In simple terms, it was against the law as mentioned earlier. During that time, no ordinary person would dare act against the law because of the consequences that would follow. This again makes Faleh appear as a distinct character besides his generosity actions. In addition, the act of smuggling rice in Qatar cannot be done by any character bearing in mind the rule that existed. The fact that he did this for a period of six months without being caught implies that he had extra skills to carry out the action. These skills are not possessed by any ordinary person.
Faleh stands out as a generous and respected character who loved education and community through his generous acts. Today, Al Faleh Group in Qatar provides educational services and products of the best quality. Doha Academy and Al Faleh training Centre are members of the group. The Al Faleh Group organizes a conference on educational matters each year. There are two libraries that are also named after Faleh, in Madina and Abu Dhabi. As mentioned earlier, Qatar did not recognize Faleh’s work in any library. This is a loss for the region taking into account that this was the country of his origin. Faleh was a renowned reader and educator even in other countries. Therefore, any country or person would like being associated with him. Although the country is attempting to improve their education through building education city, as well as, a new national library, this is too late for Faleh’s legacy as his treasuries are in other countries that valued rare books. Faleh remains a character respected and admired by many people for his generosity on education and love for community.