A Distinguished Lyon University Who Translated Quran
He was the founder and former director of the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the Faculty of Literature and Humanities of the University of Lyon, who continued to work in the field of translating the Quran and Arabic literature until the age of 99.
In an article, the Nabaa Tunis website has briefly examined the life of Ghedira”
Birth and Education
Mohamed Ameur Ghedira was born on October 27, 1926, in the city of Monastir, Tunisia, into a patriotic and educated family of Berber origin who had immigrated to Tunisia from Morocco. He grew up with his brother, Hamadi Ghedira - who was an agricultural engineer and later became the president of the National Union of Farmers and eventually the Minister of Agriculture - his sister Zahra and four half-siblings from his father’s first wife.
On October 1, 1932, little Mohamed, along with four of his friends, enrolled in the Franco-Arabic school in Monastir. There he pursued his primary education and was taught by the best teachers there, in particular the school principal and mathematics teacher, Henri Petche, a former soldier in the French army during World War I who lost his sight there, and his wife Madame Petche, a French language teacher, and Muhammad Zohra, a Tunisian teacher.
After obtaining his primary school leaving certificate, he immediately passed the entrance exam to the College of Al-Sadiqiyah in Tunis, where he studied under the best French and Tunisian teachers, in particular Abdelwahab Bekir, Professor Mahmoud Al-Masadi, and Sheikh Ben Ashour.
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In 1946, he traveled to France to continue his studies in Arabic language and literature at the Sorbonne. In 1949, he received his bachelor’s degree and in 1952, he successfully passed the exam to teach Arabic language and literature, becoming one of the few outstanding teachers in the field in colonial Tunisia.
A career path from Tunisia to France
After returning from France, the young teacher taught at the Sadiqiyah School from 1952 to 1954 and then at the Montpellier Girls’ High School. In 1955, he was invited to teach at the University of Lyon, which at that time did not have a department of Arabic language and literature, while at the same time teaching students preparing for the entrance exam at the Sorbonne. In Lyon, he met his life partner, Anne-Marie, a French teacher at that high school. In 1962, they had a son, Jean Amer (director of the French National Railways), and two daughters, Lucille (a journalist for a Paris newspaper) and Aline (an agricultural engineer).
In 1961, he prepared a comprehensive plan for the establishment of the State Secretariat (then the Ministry of Culture) in Tunisia and presented it to the then President Habib Bourguiba. On October 7, Bourguiba appointed Professor El-Chadly El-Kulaibi to head the newly established State Secretariat for Culture and the Media. El-Kulaibi reluctantly accepted the position, but soon left after being asked to translate President Bourguiba’s speeches into French.
After careful consideration with his wife, he decided to return to France in the autumn of 1964. He went to Lyon, where he founded and managed the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Lyon until his retirement in 1996, at which time he received a medal of honor from the university in recognition of his lifetime of service.
Prolific and outstanding intellectual works
From 1953 until the last few years, Professor Mohamed Ameur Ghedira published dozens of articles and research in Tunisia and abroad in many Tunisian magazines, journals and newspapers, including: Al-Nadwa, Al-Fikr, Al-Wahda, Al-Amal Al-Tunisi, etc. Similar articles were also published in specialized French and foreign academic magazines and journals since 1964.
In 1957, Ghedira translated the Holy Quran into French and published it by Editions du Flot in Lyon.
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Ghedira has also published several books in Arabic and French, published by several reputable publishing houses in Tunisia, France and other countries.
He also has many unpublished works related to fields of Arabic language and literature and translations into French.
He passed away on June 13, 2025, at the age of 99. His body was laid to rest in the Islamic cemetery of Lyon, where his wife had been buried in 2009, in the presence of his children, grandchildren, colleagues, friends and family members living in France.
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