Muhammad Husayn Zaydan is a Saudi historian, poet, and philosopher born in Medina in 1906. Muhammad first learned how to read in al-Haraj market, then went to school in the Yanbu sea area. He then studied at the Hashemite
High School in Madinah (formerly Abdaliyah), and took his knowledge from the scholars of the Prophet's Mosque. He then worked in many jobs including administration, journalism, and education, then was appointed as an assistant inspector general at the Ministry of Finance. He also worked as editor-in-chief of Al-Bilad newspaper, Al-Nadwa, and Al-Dara magazine issued by King Abdulaziz Foundation.
Muhammad was a prose writer, genealogist, jurist, experimenter, and scholar in humanities, hadith, oratory pulpits, forums, and councils, and one of the pioneers of the Renaissance discourse in the Hijaz. He was described as a historian fond of Islamic history and the history of Arab tribes, and one of those generally interested in Arab-Islamic culture. He summarized three political eras in Medina, the Ottoman, Hashemite, and Saudi eras in his book (Memories of the Three Covenants) issued in 1988, which was the last of his 18 books, including the biography of a hero 1984, the ideal approach to writing our history 1978, and a book of studies entitled: Conversations and Issues on the Middle East 1983. He died on May 2, 1992.
Birth and upbringing
Muhammad was born in Medina in 1906. His mother died when he was a child and his grandmother (Maytha'a) took care of him, and when he turned 8 years old he entered the book of Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mushi and this book is from the endowments of Al-Saqqaf in Medina. During the days of traveling Barlik, which is known as the deportation of the people during the time of Fakhri Pasha Al-Othmani, he traveled with his father to Yanbu al-Nakhl and from there to Yanbu al-Bahr. Abdul Ghani Sharaf - and his colleague in this school Ibrahim Zare', Hamza Farhoud, Zaki Omar. After the situation in Medina ended, he returned to it and entered the writers Al-Qashashi and his Sheikh Hassan Saqr, and from the writers of Al-Qushashi, Al-Zaidan went to the Abdaliya School and its director, Mr. Ahmed Saqer, the teachers who were taught by Sheikh Al-Zaidan were Muhammad Saqr, Majid Eshqi, Muhammad Al-Katami, and Muhammad bin Salem. Muhammad graduated from school in 1342H and he was the fourth to graduate from it, the other three were Muhammad Iyas Tawfiq, Muhammad Niazi, and Muhammad Salem Al-Hujaili. He then continued his education in episodes of the Prophet's Mosque, and Sheikh Abdul Qadir Shalabi asked him to work with him as an assistant in the essential school that Shalabi opened until 1352H. After that he traveled to India for thirty days and when he came back he couldn't find a job, and because of Al-Zaydan's ability and efficiency, he was appointed as a teacher in the orphanage school with a salary of thirty-five riyals, and from the orphanage in Medina to the orphanage in Mecca after the orphanage in Medina was annexed to it.
Description
He had a yellow skin tone, of medium height, wide-eyed, clean-shaven, and bearded. He was thin in his youth, and when he grew older, he became closer to fullness. In the last years of his life, he became blind, so he saw ghosts, but he did not discern the details, but his eye disease did not stop him from moving and working as he used to dictate what he wanted to write, and he visited those he likes to visit, and he was often accompanied by a friend of his age, Mr. Taha, may God extend his life.
Fame
Muhammad Husayn Zaydan was known as "Zorba Al-Hijaz" for his great ability to absorb history, especially Islamic history, and his abundant remembrance of the events which creates fascination and admiration for him. When Muhammad was full of life's wisdom, he was the Zorba of intellectual momentum, the mobile encyclopedia on two legs, and the irreplaceable man. He was a Zorba the winged writer. He wasn't but a poet spreading his musical words among the people, Zorba the historian, was nothing but a genealogist who knew the origins and roots of people, so he puts the evaluation in order to preserve the value. Zorba the word, he was really only that wise philosopher. The youth was in his soul like drops of dew, not affected by the geography of his old age, nor by the four aspects of his life. Rather, the vision of old Zaydan was expanding and crossing the oceans, because it expresses his humanity.