Dr. Mohammed Hashim Ghosheh
King Faisal Prize in Islamic Studies 2020 Laureate
Topic: "Islamic Heritage of Alquds "
For the research and publications to be conformed with Al-Quds and Islam’s status, a scrutinization of every monument and stone in the city is pivotal
Mohammed Ghosheh obtained in 1994 a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Mass Communication from Yarmouk University, Jordan. In 1994, he earned a Master’s degree in Archeology and Islamic Architecture from the Higher Institute of Islamic Archeology, Al-Quds University. In 2002, he received his Ph.D. in Modern History from the Cairo-based Institute of Research and Arabic Studies (First-class Honors).
Dr. Ghosheh worked as a teacher at both Al-Quds University and Al-Quds Open University. He also served as a lecturer in a number of universities, forums, and academic institutions in several countries. He later assumed the deanship of the Islamic Heritage Revival and Research Institution hosted in Al-Quds.
Dr. Mohammad Ghosheh has made myriad intellectual and documentary contributions to more than 150 research works and studies on Al-Quds and its Arabo-Islamic heritage. He has also authored some 37 historical and documentary books on Al-Quds Al-Sharif in light of its historical, intellectual, architectural, and heritage value. Dr. Ghosheh has tapped historical documents to serve and protect the Arab and Muslim rights in Al-Quds.
His book, titled The Holy Dome of the Rock, documents all the architectural, decorative, mosaical, Qashani, and geometric elements of the holy Dome of the Rock. The book ensures, for the first time, an accurate reconstruction or restoration of the Dome of the Rock shrine as it stands today in line with the description laid forth in the book. Dr. Robert Schick, an American archaeologist, describes the book as the most important publication on the Holy Dome of the Rock. As for the book The Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque that was published in 2014, it is considered the largest documentation of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque that is based on field research, architectural and photographic documentation, records of Sharia courts and Ottoman archives for each and every vestige, stone, engraving, decoration, and landmark existing in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
His Encyclopedia Palestinnica comprises 24 volumes. It is the largest illustrated documentary work on Palestine and Al-Quds. It consists of about 7000 pages and is based on thousands of historical documents and original photos (most of which are published for the first time) and sources going back earlier than the nineteenth century in various European, Latin, Persian, Hebrew, and Arabic languages. The Encyclopedia also features thousands of historical documents, maps, drawings, inscriptions, seals, and photos based on Ottoman, Egyptian, British, French, Spanish, and other archives.
Dr. Ghosheh received a number of international awards, shields and honors, most notably is the Abdul Majeed Shoman International Prize for Al-Quds in 2006, the Kuwait Award for Heritage Research on Al-Quds in 1987, and the French Sorbonne University Shield in recognition of his contribution in documenting the history of Al-Quds and its architectural heritage.
This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.
