Ahmed Qassem Al-Jumaa was born in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq in 1938, and was ranked fourth in Islamic archeology in the world in the resort of Helwan in 1975 after the British scientist Creswell and the German Hertzfeld and the Egyptian scientist Farid Al-Shafei. He documented the ancient buildings of Mosul during the first Hijri centuries, and drew himself hundreds of engineering plans. and decorative elements of antiquities.

Birth and upbringing

Ahmed Qasim Al-Jumaa was born in 1938 in the city of Mosul, the center of Nineveh Governorate, in northern Iraq, from a family engaged in agriculture and gardening. In his childhood, he participated in agriculture with his father in the orchards of Nineveh village (the left coast of the city).

He completed his primary studies in Mosul, then moved to the city of Hit in Anbar Governorate to complete the intermediate stage with his brother, who was a teacher there, then returned to Mosul and graduated in the middle school.


Scientific study and training

He applied to study at the College of Commerce at the University of Baghdad, but his father refused, so he changed to the College of Law, so his father refused again, so in the end he chose the College of Archeology because he lived in the village of Nineveh, which is considered the most important archaeological area.

On the left side of the city of Mosul in Nineveh Governorate, northern Iraq, on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, he had an incentive to search for the nature of these antiquities, and his personality related to field research helped him.

Al-Jumaa obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Islamic Archeology from the University of Baghdad, with a grade of “very good.”

Then he was transferred to teach at the University of Mosul in 1970, then he went to Cairo University in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and obtained a master’s degree in Islamic archeology with the grade “Excellence” in 1971, and his academic thesis was recommended for printing and exchange with foreign universities.

In 1975, he obtained his Ph.D. from the same university, graduating with honors, and it was again recommended that his academic thesis be printed.

In 1989 he was promoted to the rank of Professor, then in 2008 he was awarded the title of Leading Professor, and in 2010 he was promoted to Associate Professor.

And because of Ahmed Al-Juma’a’s distinctive method in studying antiquities (between rooting, analysis and investigation) and providing them with documents of the ancient buildings of Mosul during the first Hijri centuries;

He was ranked the fourth scholar in Islamic antiquities in the world in Helwan Resort in 1975.

Ahmed Al-Jumaa excavated the sites of the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River in search of antiquities (Al-Jazeera)

Jobs and responsibilities

Ahmed Al-Jumaa held several positions and jobs at the University of Mosul, including:

  • University Center Director.

  • Director of the Center for Archaeological and Cultural Research.

  • Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Director of the Cultural Center.

  • Secretary General of the University of Mosul Libraries.

  • Assistant to the President of the University for Administrative and Cultural Affairs.

  • Director of the Office of the Presidency of Mosul University in Nineveh Governorate.

  • Outside the university, he was a member of the Higher Committee for the Reconstruction of Nineveh Governorate.

Achievements

  • He documented the ancient buildings of Mosul during the first eight Hijri centuries.

  • Excavations at the Mosul Dam sites on the Tigris River (northern Nineveh Governorate).

  • He painted hundreds of geometric designs and decorative elements for antiquities by himself.

  • He practiced conservation of antiquities with the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France.

  • He was selected as a scientific expert in the UNESCO and the dictionary of scientific terms in the Arab League.


Publications and achievements

Ahmed Al-Jumaa encourages research more than writing books, because research involves analysis, research and investigation, and he has 15 books, some of which were stolen and others burned during the Islamic State’s control of the city of Mosul between 2014 and 2017, the most important of which are:

  • Arab Islamic decorative arts in 1982.

  • The originality of the Arab civil systems in 1990.

  • The originality of planning architectural installations among the Arabs in 1990.

  • The role of Basra in the Arab scientific heritage in 1990.

He also published about 91 papers for him, supervised 45 master's and doctoral students, and attended more than 96 scientific conferences inside and outside Iraq, in addition to his attendance as a visiting professor at 3 British universities, including Cambridge and Oxford, and 5 Yemeni universities in Sana'a, Taiz, Dhamar and Aden, as well as Iraqi universities.