Yahya Ghaban (يحيى احمد رمضان غبن) lived in Gaza City. He was married to Najwa Warsh Agha and they had three children. He was an Assistant Professor of Literature and Criticism in the Department of Arabic Language Arts at al-Azhar University. 

Yahya Ghaban earned his master’s degree in 2011 from the Islamic University of Gaza with a thesis entitled, Artistic Imagery in the Poetry of the Islamic Conquests during the Era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Also from the Islamic University, he was awarded the PhD with Honors in Arabic literature in 2017. His dissertation, a semiotic critical analysis, is entitled, The Significance of Color in the Poetry of War and Sedition in al-Andalus. 

To honor him on the anniversary of receipt of his doctorate, Yahya Ghaban’s wife posted a heartfelt video of him on Facebook accompanied by these words: “My beloved husband: How grateful I am for every accomplishment you surprise us with… Proud to belong to you…..” [Zawji al-habib…. Kam ashʿur b’ilimtinān baʿad kul injāz tubāghituna bihi. Fakhura b’ilintimāʾ  ilayk.]

For a scholar who was not quite mid-career, Dr. Ghaban had a promising publication record. In addition to his dissertation, he published several studies of literary analysis and criticism. They covered a range of topics spanning poetry praising the Prophet in the Mamluk era to the historical and literary construction of a contemporary Palestinian novel. An article on the aesthetics of phonetic structure in a collection of poetry was published posthumously in the Arab Journal of the Humanities (Kuwait University, 2024).

Yahya Ghaban was committed to teaching and to his students. He posted many of his lectures on YouTube so that students could readily consult them. Complete with slides, diagrams and other visual materials, the videos include detailed lectures on different aspects of Arabic literature, among them the art of the novel, poetry through the ages, critical readings of great works of literature, as well as children’s literature and theatre arts through the ages. It is evident from these videos that Professor Ghaban was a master of his subject matter. Upon learning of his death, his colleagues at al-Azhar University wrote the following: “He was a man of gentle demeaner, calm and well-mannered, known for his good style and distinguished speech. He was a great teacher and, like a father to his students, he never denied them assistance or kindness.”

Yahya Ghaban died from injuries he sustained during an Israeli bombing in Dayr al-Balah. Some sources cite 3 November 2023 as the date of death, while others cite 11 November or 13 November. He was 37 years old.

Photo credit: IPS