Tarek Ali Hassan
Tarek Ali Hassan was an Egyptian endocrinologist who was a professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. He was also a composer, musician, writer, painter, and philosopher. His music, in a modern polyphonic style, had been performed in Egypt and in many countries.
Hassan published major dramatic works in English and in Arabic.
He was a member of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and his name was recorded in the International Who's Who in Music 11th edition 1988 for his great contribution in the music world.
He was chairman of the Zenab Kamel Hassan Foundation for Holistic Human Development, which works on human development and empowerment issues in the Imbaba district of Cairo.
Hassan made great contributions in the society especially in medicine and music field besides representing one of the central values of human being and he saw that "We need a really modern constitution, which protects the rights of intellectual inquiry and freedom of thought. So far we have not had any of that" and other details were mentioned at his interview with Al-Ahram.
Hassan died on 6 September 2024, at the age of 86.
Beliefs
Tarek Hassan's philosophy involves "a deep belief in that human beings are a unique evolutionary breakthrough."He was a critic of "static models in science, and in the humanities". To him, "the model of Homo sapiens sapiens is not Achilles or Agamemnon but Osiris, Mozart, and Gandhi."
He believes that "survival and thriving by creativity is a major unique human breakthrough which is destroyed by violence."
Some of Hassan's music works have been played at the new Cairo Opera. and he was founding chairman of the new Cairo Opera the national cultural centre.
He also had numerous historical beliefs and made a lot of studies that describe the economical, religious and political changes in the current situation through the history studies especially in Al-Azhar entity. "
In 1991, he was presented with France's highest arts decoration: he was made a Commander in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the highest rank for this award, for "his services to International Culture, drama and International communication and violence-resolution.