# Rashid al-Rifai > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rashid_al-Rifai > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rashid_al-Rifai.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashid_al-Rifai > Source revision: 1314881037 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Iraqi politician **Rashid Muhammad-Said al-Rifai**, ([Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): رشيد محمد-سعيد الرفاعي) (1 May 1929 – 3 September 2009 in [Amman](/source/Amman) [*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]), was an Iraqi [academic](/source/Academic_staff), [Ba'athist](/source/Ba'athist), [ambassador](/source/Ambassador) and [minister](/source/Minister_(government)) of several establishments in [Iraq](/source/Iraq). He was most noted for his highly successful posts as [Oil](/source/Ministry_of_Oil_(Iraq)), [Planning](/source/Urban_Planning), [Housing](/source/Housing), [Communications](/source/Ministry_of_Communications) and [Transportation](/source/Ministry_of_Transport) Minister Between 1968 and 1975. Rifai is credited for playing a major role in the [development](/source/Regional_development) of the Iraqi [infrastructure](/source/Infrastructure) during this seven-year period. He was later made Ambassador by special appointment to Belgium (1975–1983), China (1983–1986) and Japan (1986–1993). After retiring in 1993, he served as an adviser to the Iraqi Foreign Minister, a member of the Iraqi Presidential Opinion Committee and a member of the House of Wisdom in [Baghdad](/source/Baghdad), Iraq until the invasion and subsequent downfall of the government on April 9, 2003. Rifai remained in Baghdad for the next three years but refused to participate in the new government on ideological bases. He left Baghdad in 2006 after the situation became intolerable and lived there with his wife, Nabiha al-Timimi in the [Hashemite](/source/Hashemite) Kingdom of [Jordan](/source/Jordan). They have four children. ## Early life Rashid al-Rifai was born in Baghdad, the [capital](/source/Capital_(political)) of Iraq at a time when it was very underdeveloped, the son of Muhammad-Said Alwan Rifai (1888-1979) a customs official who was originally from the city of [Al Musayyib](/source/Al_Musayyib) in [Babil](/source/Babil) [Province](/source/Province) south of the Capital. His mother, Fatima was a housewife until her death in 1982. As the oldest male in a family of seven children (2 girls and 5 boys), he spent most of his youth supporting his [siblings](/source/Siblings). ## Education As a child, Rashid had an above average [IQ](/source/IQ), and says that he wanted to be an [electrical engineer](/source/Electrical_engineer) ever since he could remember. After graduating from [high school](/source/High_school) with [honors](/source/Honors_student), Rifai received a [scholarship](/source/Scholarship) to the [American University of Beirut](/source/American_University_of_Beirut)(AUB), [Lebanon](/source/Lebanon) in 1949. There, while majoring in [Mathematics](/source/Mathematics), he became a member of the [Iraqi Regional Branch](/source/Arab_Socialist_Ba'ath_Party_%E2%80%93_Iraq_Region) of the pan-Arab [Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party](/source/Baath_Party) in 1953. After graduating from AUB with honors, Rifai returned to Baghdad and was subsequently employed by the Iraqi National Telephone Company. Rifai received another scholarship, this time to the [University of Bristol](/source/University_of_Bristol) in the UK after the 1958 revolution which brought down the Iraqi [Monarchy](/source/Monarchy) at the time. Once again graduating with honors after four years, he returned again to the National Telephone Company in Baghdad. Another scholarship came subsequently, this time to [Purdue University](/source/Purdue_University) in [Indiana](/source/Indiana), United States. There Rashid graduated earned his [M.Sc.](/source/M.Sc.) in Electrical Engineering with honors which culminated in yet another scholarship at [Rice University](/source/Rice_University) in [Houston](/source/Houston), [Texas](/source/Texas), this time earning him a [Ph.D.](/source/Ph.D.) in the same subject. ## Death Rashid al-Rifai died on the evening of 3 September 2009 at his home in Amman, Jordan.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] ## Bibliography ### Electrical Engineering - The Effects of Drift Field and Field Gradient on the Quantum Efficiency of Photocells, Rice University, 1966. ### Politics - Iraq and Japan, Rationale and Horizons, Dept. of International Studies, Baghdad University, 1997 - Arabic Rationale ([Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): المنطق العربي), Kodansha, 1992 ## External links - [Purdue University Wall of Fame, 1964](https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECE/People/Alumni/WallOfFame/Classes/1964/011/view) - [THE EFFECTS OF DRIFT FIELD AND FIELD GRADIENT ON THE QUANTUM EFFICIENCY OF PHOTOCELLS](http://rudr.rice.edu/handle/1911/14327) - [The Effects of Drift Field and Field Gradient on the Quantum Efficiency of Photocells.](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1966PhDT........36A) - [Japan National Press Club](http://202.133.121.87/section4/guests-middle-east-and-africa.html)[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*] - [List of Official Mourners Representing Foreign Countries and International Organizations at the Funeral Ceremony of Emperor Showa](http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/1989/1989-appendix-2.htm) - [The Iraqi Invasion: Tokyo Sees No Threat To Its Reserves of Oil](https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4DC173BF930A3575BC0A966958260) - [Statement at the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, Denmark March 10, 1995](https://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf166/gov/950310134644.htm) - [\[1\]](https://books.google.com/books?id=P94aGqvRkjEC&dq=rashid+rifai&pg=PA65) - [\[2\]](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-25-mn-792-story.html) - [\[3\]](http://rulers.org/fm2.html) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rashid al-Rifai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashid_al-Rifai) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashid_al-Rifai?action=history)). 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