Professor Hasan As-Sa’ati Abd Al-Aziz

Hasan Al-Sa’ati received his B.A. in English Language from Fuad Al-Awal University in Cairo in 1938, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from London University in 1946. After graduation, he served at the High Institute for Social Services in Halwan and Alexandria University before joining Ain Shams University, where he became a Professor of Sociology at the College of Arts, and the Dean of the College between 1961-1968. After his retirement, he was named a Professor Emeritus at Ain Shams.

Professor Al-Sa’ati was a pioneer Arab sociologist and educator. His professional studies in sociology were published in numerous scholarly articles in Arabic and English, as well as 16 books including: Social Dynamics in Industry: A Monographic Study of an Egyptian Enterprise; The Middle Classes in Egypt; The New Aristocracy, and Bourgeoisie in Egyptian Society: Applications of Socialism; Sociology and Development in Contemporary Egypt, and Youth and Violence and Religion: Secularization and De-Secularization.

Professor Al-Sa’ati’s studies combined a deep understanding of theory with a keen awareness of the society’s actual workings, and an insistent attempt to explore a field long dominated by Western thought. His research on sociology from the Islamic perspective, such as his articles on the role of Islam in the social and economic development of Egypt and the impact of urbanization and modern industrialization in Islamic societies, as well as his other studies of broader aspects of sociology, influenced an entire generation of sociologists in Egypt and the Arab world.

Professor Al Sa’ati was awarded the Egyptian Order (Second Class) in 1977, an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Al-Awzai’ Islamic College in Lebanon in 1990, and the Egyptian State Prize for Social Sciences in 1992.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.