Rashid al-Rifai

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Rashid Muhammad-Said al-Rifai (1 May 1929 – 3 September 2009) was an Iraqi scholar, Ba’athist, diplomat and government minister. He is best known for leading the Oil, Planning, Housing, Communications and Transportation ministries from 1968 to 1975, helping to develop Iraq’s infrastructure.

He served as ambassador to Belgium (1975–1983), China (1983–1986) and Japan (1986–1993). After retiring in 1993, he advised the Iraqi Foreign Minister and was a member of the Presidential Opinion Committee and the Baghdad-based House of Wisdom until the 2003 invasion and fall of the government. He stayed in Baghdad for three more years but refused to join the post-2003 government on ideological grounds. He left Baghdad in 2006 and lived in Jordan with his wife Nabiha al-Timimi; they had four children.

Rashid al-Rifai was born in Baghdad to Muhammad-Said Alwan Rifai, a customs official from Al Musayyib in Babil province, and Fatima, a housewife. He was the oldest of seven children and showed strong potential from a young age, dreaming of becoming an electrical engineer. He earned a scholarship to the American University of Beirut in 1949, where he studied Mathematics and joined the Iraqi Ba’ath Party in 1953. After graduating with honors, he returned to work for the Iraqi National Telephone Company. He later earned scholarships to the University of Bristol, Purdue University (M.S. in Electrical Engineering) and Rice University (Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering). He passed away on 3 September 2009 in Amman, Jordan.