A selfless philanthropist; Beaurecueil’s memory reflects in minds of adopted children

“Father Serge had a kind heart. [He loved] to help children-in-need. He would take them to his home and raise them up,” says Alireza who was raised and fed by Serge de Beaurecueil, a French philanthropist who dedicated his life to raise and feed Afghan children who had lost their parents.

Born on August 27, 1917 in Paris, Serge de Beaurecueil began to learn Arabic when he was 14. In 1950s, he established Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies in Cairo. During his 17 years of stay in Egypt, Serge was interested in Islamic mysticism and later he took particular interest in Khawaja Abdullah Ansari (1006–1088), a Sufi poet who lived in Herat, Afghanistan. His love for Ansari, pushed him to learn and master Persian language and later he published a serious work on Khawaja Abdullah Ansari, titled as Ansariyat, which included two Arabic interpretation of Manazel-al-Sa’irin written by Khawaja Ansari.