Omar Abu Risha

Omar Abu Risha (Arabic: عمر أبو ريشة; 10 April 1910 – 15 July 1990) was a Syrian poet and diplomat. He served as the Syrian ambassador to the United States from 1961 to 1964 and was a renowned poet who lyricized Fī Sabīli al-Majd (In Pursuit of Glory), Syria's de facto national anthem.

Omar Abu Risha
عمر أبو ريشة
4th Ambassador of Syria to the United States
In office 1961–1964
Preceded by	Farid Zayn Al-Din
Succeeded by	Sabah Qabbani
Personal details
Born	April 10, 1910 Manbij, Aleppo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Manbij, Aleppo Governorate, Syria)
Died	July 15, 1990 (aged 80) Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Nationality	Syrian
Spouse	Mounira Abou-Richeh
Children	Chafe Abou-Richeh, Rafif Abou-Richeh Mattar, Rif Abou-Richeh
Residence(s)	Beirut, Riyadh
Profession	Syrian ambassador, poet

Biography

Abu Risha was born into a wealthy literary family in Manbij, near Aleppo. He received his educational upbringing in Syria and continued his tertiary studies at the University of Damascus. He also studied at the American University in Beirut in 1931 and later read chemistry at the University of Manchester but returned to Syria in 1932.

While initially a fan of Abbasid poetry, he later looked for more independent voices in poetry and considered Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis to be the greatest love poem ever written. His favorite poets were Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote the poem Khatam al-Hub (The End of Love) and produced literary works while attending to his duties as librarian of Aleppo, Syria.^[1] His works included several volumes of poetry and poetic dramas.

In 1949, the Syrian government appointed him ambassador to Brazil. As a diplomat until 1964, he was ambassador to Argentina, Chile, India, Austria, and finally the United States.^[2]

See also

• Syrian literature