Ismail Adham


Ismail Ahmed Adham better known as Ismail Adham was an Egyptian writer, and atheist. He is known primarily for his work, in which he declared his atheism in 1937.

Life

He was born and educated in Alexandria, his father was a Turkish army officer Ahmed Adham, and his mother a German lady, he claimed to have obtained a Bachelor's degree in mathematics from Istanbul University, and to have received Ph.Ds doctorates in physics and philosophy from Moscow State University in 1931, and was appointed as a professor of physics for one year at Leningard University, Then he went back to Turkey and was a teacher of mathematics or physics at the Ataturk Institute in Ankara, and returned to Egypt in 1935, he went to live on the small estate near Alexandria that his father had left him, furthermore he claimed that his mother was the daughter of J.H van't Hoff, a member of Prussian Academy of Sciences, and at one time professor at University of Berlin, it is unlikely that J.H van't Hoff was his grandfather, whom he mistook for a German, and claimed to have written books and articles in Russian, French, German, English, and Turkish.

Career

Why Am I An Atheist? (1937)

In his article he declared himself an atheist for social, psychological, and scientific reasons, the last of which he set out to expound. There then follows a shallow, quasi-scientific exposé in which he argues that the world is subject to the all-embracing law of chance. That meant that the world could be compared with a printing-office with millions and millions of pieces of type. If one combines these pieces haphazardly for an infinite length of time, Adham argued, one can expect one day to see this article, or the Quran for that matter. Einstein, Adham said, found only one element in a book that remained unclear to him, and that element he called the intellect of the author. But, Adham concluded, in this Einstein overlooks the law of chance which, in the end, can be held responsible for the coming into existence of everything.
He declared in this booklet that he is happy and content with atheism, just as a believer in God feels happy and at peace.
After the publication of Limada ana mulhid, Adham became known as the "atheist who spoke his mind candidly", the book was criticized by Muslim writers and Azharites.

Views about him

Several historians and researchers, wrote about him, including Al-Zirakli in "Al-Alam", Al-Kayyali in “The Departed,” and Ahmed Al-Hawari in his collection of the aforementioned works. These short biographies were collected by the researcher Suleiman Al-Kharashi in his book “The Suicide of Ismail Adham,” with some references about Adham in newspapers and magazines, as well as responses and discussions, about his book.
In 1972, an article for Journal of arabic literature by G.H.A Juynboll said:
It has been suggested that Adham may never have travelled beyond Egypt.

Death

Adham apparently suffered from depression, and fueled his melancholy by reading Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard.
On the evening of July 23, 1940, the body of Ismail Adham was found floating on the waters of the Mediterranean coast, off Gleem Beach, In his coat, the police found a letter from him to the chief prosecutor informing him that he had committed suicide due to his asceticism in life and his hatred for it, and that he recommended that his body not be buried in a Muslim cemetery and requested that it be burned and his skull to be crushed.

Possible Suicide Motives

  • It was well-known, some said, that he suffered from tuberculosis.
  • Others have suggested the following he was soon to be evacuated from that part of Alexandria near the harbour where he lived, because of war danger.
  • G.H.A Juynboll suggested that he committed suicide out of fear of being found out as an imposter, an idea that must have been a nightmare to him.

    Publications

Adham, Ismail Ahmed. '.
Adham, Ismail Ahmed. '.