Within the cultural program activities of the Amman International Book Fair, intellectuals and writers commemorated the life and achievements of the late Jordanian heritage researcher Dr. Ahmed Sharif Al-Za'abi in a symposium organized by the Jordanian Publishers Union titled 'Ahmed Sharif Al-Za'abi... Saving Popular Memory from Forgetting'.
The participants in the symposium, which was attended by the President of the Jordanian Publishers Union and the Director of the Fair, Jbr Abu Fares, and the late scholar's son, the writer Akram Al-Za'abi, agreed that the late scholar's publications and field efforts formed an impenetrable wall to protect the national identity and narrative from being forgotten, pointing to his recognition by the Sharjah Forum in Amman in April 2024, and calling on the Ministry of Culture to launch the 'Dr. Ahmed Sharif Al-Za'abi Award for Folk Heritage'.
Researcher Naif Al-Nawaisah began his speech with the stages of joint documentation work, explaining that he had known the late scholar's family since the 1990s before they joined forces in the field work in the middle of the last decade as part of the 'Jordanian Heritage Treasure' project.
He pointed out that the team toured Jordan from north to south and collected more than 200,000 heritage words, which the late Mustafa Al-Khashman filtered to become 175,000 words, and the treasure was published in both paper and electronic versions between 2019 and 2020.
Al-Nawaisah revealed that Al-Za'abi had asked him two months before his death: 'A book (Dictionary of Tool Names) to work on heritage tools, and he wanted to work on Quranic vocabulary influenced by my books (Quranic Glimpses), and we had agreed to prepare (Encyclopedia of the Social History of Jordan)'.
Al-Nawaisah praised Al-Za'abi's writings on songs, proverbs, games, the Horani dialect dictionary, and the Jordanian Heritage Encyclopedia, explaining that: 'He was a silent researcher who did not seek the spotlight', and Al-Nawaisah announced the upcoming 'publication of the late scholar's book 'Food and Folk Medicine' as part of the Family Library project'.
Researcher Muhammad Al-Mashaikh emphasized that Dr. Ahmed Sharif Al-Za'abi's publications 'form a barrier to protect cultural memory, national identity, and the Jordanian narrative'.
Al-Mashaikh praised Al-Za'abi's polite diplomacy and community contribution, noting that he was an institution who spent his life preparing his encyclopedia of Jordanian folk heritage (761 pages), documenting material and immaterial details from the houses and diwans, transcending local heritage to include Levantine, Gulf, and Arab heritage, including his documentation of the origin of the 'Ramtha Towel' brought by the youth of Ramtha from Germany in the 1960s.
Al-Mashaikh said: 'The encyclopedia was divided into six sections covering customs, literature, arts, industries, knowledge, and material heritage, which Al-Za'abi crafted in an accessible yet challenging style, using colloquial, rare, and foreign words as needed, and drawing his knowledge from folk professionals in the manner of Naguib Mahfouz'.
Ayid Abu Farda, who moderated the symposium, said: 'The resilience of the stone and mud houses of his hometown of Khurja and the steadfastness of its gardens, and that his loss is a loss of a rare heritage treasure, but he will remain alive through his publications'.
Abu Farda highlighted the late Ahmed Sharif Al-Za'abi's literature, praising his linguistic boldness and vocabulary derived from the pulse of the popular classes and human heritage in the face of forgetfulness.
Abu Farda considered Al-Za'abi's departure 'the loss of a cultural figure who dedicated her life to saving popular memory from being forgotten and exploring vital details that shaped the features of Jordanian society and its identity'.
