Abd al-Aziz Turayh Sharaf
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Abd al-Aziz Turayh Sharaf is an Arab geographer and academic author specializing in physical geography and climatology, known for his foundational textbooks including al-Jughrafiya al-Manakhiyya wa al-Nabatiyya and al-Muqaddimat fi al-Jughrafiya al-Tabiiyya.
Scholarly Contributions and Methodology
In his methodological framework, Sharaf maintained that physical geography provides the essential grounding without which no branch of the discipline, including human geography, can achieve its objectives. To establish a baseline of core knowledge for scholars and students across different geographical specializations, his textbook al-Muqaddimat fi al-Jughrafiya al-Tabiiyya (Introductions to Physical Geography) surveyed five principal areas: astronomical geography, physiography, oceanography, weather and climate, and biogeography.
Sharaf emphasized linking geography with allied sciences, incorporating contemporary developments and theories from meteorology, hydrology, agriculture, and botany into his work. In al-Jughrafiya al-Manakhiyya wa al-Nabatiyya (Climatic and Plant Geography), he aimed to provide a comprehensive reference for university instructors and specialists while adopting an accessible explanatory style supplemented by maps and diagrams for non-specialists. The work gained wide circulation across Arab universities and saw successive revisions, including added dedicated studies on the climates of Africa and the Arab world.
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List of Works
al-Jughrafiya al-Manakhiyya wa al-Nabatiyya (Climatic and Plant Geography) is an Arabic academic textbook on climatology and phytogeography designed to address physical geography through the study of climate and plant life. It serves as an in-depth reference for geography instructors and university students while employing an accessible explanatory style supplemented with maps and diagrams for non-specialists.
al-Muqaddimat fi al-Jughrafiya al-Tabiiyya (Introductions to Physical Geography) is an Arabic academic textbook on physical geography published in Alexandria in 1985. Designed to provide the essential minimum knowledge required by geographers across all specializations, the work surveys the foundational branches of physical geography across five introductory sections.