São Paulo – Everyday professor Helmi Mohammed Ibraim Nasr stretches out a rug with a compass pointing in the direction of Mecca, holy city in Islamism, on the floor of his house, in a calm neighbourhood in the city of São Paulo. On it Nasr, who is considered one of the masters in Arab culture in Brazil, bends and humbly prays. At this time disappears the man of languages and it is possible to see the man of God.
Books are Nasr’s world. But so is religion. Nasr is a Muslim. The two characteristics allowed him to be chosen to translate the Holy Koran from Arabic to Portuguese. The Koran in Arabic is considered the grandest amongst all versions since, as it is said, it was in this language that the message from Allah was revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
Professor of Oriental Studies at the School of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences at the University of São Paulo (USP) and vice president of International Relations at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Nasr is Egyptian, but made of Brazil his second nation. He arrived in 1962 to stay for one year, but never left. In Brazil, Nasr arrived with a mission: to start the department of Arab Language at the USP, the most important Brazilian university.
The idea was by the former Brazilian president Jânio Quadros, in 1961, excited with a visit made to the Egyptian president at the time, Gamal Abdul Nasser. He asked the Egyptian government to send an Arab professor to Brazil to take ahead the project. Nasr was chosen due to his knowledge of the French language, considered one of the closest to Portuguese by the Egyptians. “It was a surprise. I had no intentions whatsoever of living in Brazil.” Nasr put forward his condition: for one year only.
The department was founded. A graduate course in Arabic was created, as well as the postgraduate course, the masters, the doctorate. But Nasr still hasn’t left and doesn’t plan on leaving. For him living in Brazil has become a mission. “I thought it was a duty because the Arab colony in Brazil is very respected, formed by very good people, but knows little about their own culture. I thought that the environment needed someone to keep alive the Arab culture. It was destiny,” he explains.
One of Nasr’s concerns was the fact that there were many Arabs in the country turned to trade, and only a few to the world of languages and culture. “I set down the first building brick,” he smiles.
Before coming to Brazil, Nasr lived for four years in France, where he took his doctorate degree in Sociology and Moral. When he was called for his transfer to Brazil, he was lecturing at the University of Cairo. It was at this teaching institution that Nasr also graduated, years before, in Classical and Religious Studies. “In this school the pupils had to know the Koran,” he recalls.
The study drove the knowledge of the Muslim religion on behalf of the professor. Even before that, however, he was familiar with the holy book due to his visits to the mosque since his childhood. The Egyptian has a large family: there are eight brothers. He, however, always was the one most connected to religion. The professor has been to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, on pilgrimage about ten times. In Mecca is located the Kaaba, the house of Abraham.
Man of the books
Nasr published this year, during the summit for South American and Arab countries, the first Arabic-Portuguese dictionary. The dictionary was edited by the Arab Chamber and distributed in Brazil. He was responsible also for the translation into Arabic of the book “New World in the Tropics”, by the Brazilian sociologist from the northeastern state of Pernambuco, Gilberto Freyre. The book is being distributed in the Arab world.
The professor also wrote theses and studies he plans on publishing. One of them is called “The Theory of Asín Palácios on the Divine Comedy”. The thesis, for obtaining the title of associate professor, is based on the theory of Asín Palácios, a Spanish priest, who believes Dante Alighieri took the elements of “The Divine Comedy” from the Islamic culture. “My routine is study,” he defines, happy with his life choices.
Businessman
Nasr joined the Arab Chamber in the 1970s, after being invited by leaders in the entity. The professor joined them when the current building of the Syrian Lebanese Hospital was about to be built. The professor was put in a committee in charge of collecting money for the construction. “I thought: what am I going to do, I am not apt for this.” The idea of writing a letter to the king of Saudi Arabia at the time, however, ended up bringing US$ 200,000 for the project. To this day the professor celebrates the deed.
Family man
Nasr is 83 years old and married to a daughter of Lebanese and also professor at USP, Nida Gattaz. The two of them met in Brazil, a few years after the Egyptian arrived.
Always smiling, the professor gained trust and respect, as well as the affinity of the Arab Brazilian community. Helmi Mohammed Ibraim Nasr is known today as one of the greatest authorities in Arab culture and language in Brazil.
*Translated by Silvia Lindsey
