A Nurturing Intellect: Between Jaffar and Al-Allaf
I begin by expressing my profound gratitude to Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalil Al-Allaf for his valuable suggestion and encouragement to write about my late father, Professor Dr. Nouri Jaffar, specifically concerning his approach to raising his children. It is my pleasure to respond to this constructive proposal and to write “Nurturing Thought”, as concisely as possible, about the methodology of his upbringing of us.
The following is what Professor Dr. Al-Laff stated regarding Nouri Jaffar, on the thirty-second anniversary of his death, as he did on other occasions.
Professor Dr. Nouri Jaffar (1914–1991) The Scholar, Thinker, and Academic Professor Specializing in Education and Psychology On the 32nd Anniversary of His Passing
By: Professor Dr. Ibrahim Al-Alaf
I have studied his books and publications, which amount to more than 35 publications. In addition to his articles, studies, research papers, and lectures, and I have known him for more than 50 years. He was a professor and a progressive thinker, whose forward-looking outlook was reflected in his work. We must remember him and engage with his serious and constructive educational works. He taught at the University of Baghdad and at various universities in Libya.
I wrote about his book titled (Scientific and Technological Progress and Its Social and Educational Implications), and published my commentary on my page, stating: ‘A book by the late Professor Dr. Nouri Jaffar, published as part of the Encyclopaedia’ series (No. 13) by the Ministry of Culture Republic of Iraq, 1978. A small book in size its pages do not exceed 50 in pocket format yet its content is vast and profoundly significant. It is an academic study by a progressive,
enlightened, and well-known writer, in which he emphasizes that modern scientific progress is advancing at an extraordinary pace. The author examines the impacts of this progress on education, culture, and the arts, and highlights the reality that modern humanity has not risen morally and behaviourally to match the level of scientific and technological advancement evidenced by the use of scientific achievements for inhumane purposes.
I also wrote about his book co-authored with Dr. Abdel Razzaq Muhyi al-Din, titled (Reflections and Notes on Education in Iraq), and stated: It is one of the pioneering books written on education in Iraq, authored by Professor Dr. Abdel Razzaq Muhyi al-Din and Professor Dr. Nouri Jaffar. The book is essentially a collection of articles published in Iraqi newspapers. It was published in 1951 and printed at Azzahra Press in Baghdad. The book focuses on education in Iraq, examining its foundations, scope, guiding philosophy, and tracing its stages since the establishment of national education. Among the topics covered in the book are: prescribed textbooks in higher institutes, equivalence of certificates, the Higher Education Council, the impact of education on human behaviour, the necessity of student care, the philosophy of education in Iraq, the influence of democratic and dictatorial philosophies on directing education, the philosophies of Iraqi society, and
proposals for reforming the educational system. Both authors are pillars of education in Iraq and among its early pioneers’’.
Among his substantive scholarly contributions is the work titled (Authenticity in The Fields of Science and Art), in which he examines the characteristic of creativity or innovation as a primary goal of education, particularly higher education in our present time of 2023. On page 53, he emphasizes that (innovation and creativity) are acquired traits that develop through training and practice, and are ultimately first and last the result of the interaction between an individual’s mental capabilities and the surrounding environmental factors. In his view, it is therefore essential to nurture, train, and guide the gifted and intelligent. Any nation aspiring to progress must prioritize innovation and creativity. Among his widely cited statements is:
‘We aspire for the day, in the near future, when the classroom is transformed into a laboratory where students come to discover, investigate, and inquire even if much of what they uncover has already been achieved by others.’
A Nurturing Intellect
By: Nijood Nouri Jaffar
I commence my remarks about my father, Nouri Jaffar, by stating that he was, in every sense, a compassionate father in his dealings with us, remarkably open-minded in his educational outlook towards us. Dialogue was his consistently preferred method, and respect was his manner.
Following the early passing of my mother in 1975, my father may God have mercy on him, made us feel an unparalleled tenderness and care, filling the void left by our mother’s departure in an indescribable way. He enveloped us in his abundant love, dedicated the greater part of his life to us and our upbringing, and sacrificed the remainder of his years for his scholarship and for us. He would often reiterate to us his constant refrain: ‘’Your mother entrusted you to me, and I am bound to protect you.’’
He became both a father and a mother to us, as he described himself, saying:
“I am the head of a family, a father, a mother, a friend, and a faithful guardian…” And he embodied the poet’s verse:
“Even the resolute may know despair, and a man’s steadfastness is tested by fate’s calamities.
Days revisit him with successive trials, so he finds strength for one matter and weakness for another.”
Mother, allow me to address you this time. After your passing, I recall my father’s profound sorrow at your loss, and his love and fidelity towards you that endured until the last day of his life.
Forgive me, Mother, for what I am about to say… I once asked my father why he did not remarry or wed a foreign woman. He answered me with his warm smile:
“Nothing compares to your mother. I would not exchange her for a million foreign women, nor for all the women in the world.“
And he paid tribute to you with verses of poetry in his book “Human Nature in The Light of Pavlov’s Physiology – Part Two”, saying:
“To the partner of my life whom I was grief-stricken to lose (Um Alia),
I dedicate this modest intellectual effort: ‘the effort of the limited,’ and my state laments:
‘As if no living soul had died but her, and as if condolences were meant for none but her.
If a living being could become a tomb for the deceased, I would make my entrails a grave for her bones.
Were I to wish to weep tears of blood for her, I would weep them, but the realm of patience is wider.
The world has not closed in on me due to its confines, but rather an eye with which I do not see you is blind.
And many beloved ones have departed from people before us, and the cure for death has exhausted every physician.'”
I often marvel that my personality is sociable and cheerful like my mother’s, yet introspective, constantly reflective, and open like my father’s.
I cannot recall a day when my father was not engaged with me in intellectual dialogue, particularly concerning my work, my interactions, my ethics, and my mode of thinking.