13/06/2009 Head of Islamic Labor Front in Lebanon Fathi Yukon passed away Saturday afternoon after he was hospitalized for serious health problems on Friday night. Yakan was announced dead Saturday morning, but an Islamic Action Front statement later denied the Sheikh was dead, but acknowledged he was in serious condition.
Dr. Fathi Yakan is a prominent Islamic scholar and caller. he was born in Tripoli, north of Lebanon, on the 9th of February 1933.
With a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Sheikh Yakan was among the pioneers of the Islamic movement in the 1950s. He was also the General Secretary of the Lebanese Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya from 1962 until 1992 when he won his seat in the Lebanese parliament. He is a key activist on the political stage, which was very clear during the 1996 elections.
Sheikh Yakan initiated a political effort between PM Fouad Saniora and his allies on the one hand and the opposition in a bid to end the rule crisis in the wake of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon. As a key figure in the Lebanese National Opposition, he headed prayers for Sunnis and Shiites on Friday, December 8, 2006 and called in his speech for the unity of Muslims against Israeli plots and schemes.
Dr. Yakan was married to Mrs Mona Haddad with whom he had established a private Islamic university (Al-Jinan University). He has four daughters and a son.
Sheikh Yakan was known for his support for resistance movements in Lebanon and the Arab and Islamic worlds.
He described the 2006 victory as one for Lebanon and the whole nation, Sunnis before Shiites, “because the project of the resistance is not only Lebanese project but a global one.”
The Islamic scholar also played a significant role in mending fences between political parties in the region. He was the mediator between the Islamic brotherhood in Syria and President Bachar Assad. He also played the same role between Syria and Turkey between 1998 and 1999, in the wake of the Syria-Turkey crisis.
He is the author of more than 35 books, some of them were translated into many languages, including:
How do we call for Islam? Towards a unified global Islamic Movement. What does “I’m a Muslim” mean?
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