TAHA HUSSEIN

born Nov. 14, 1889, Maghaghah, Egypt died Oct. 28, 1973, Cairo outstanding figure of the modernist movement in Egyptian literature. His writings, in Arabic, include novels, stories, criticism, and social and political essays. Outside his own country he is best known through his autobiography, al-Ayyam (2 parts, 192932). The first modern Arab literary work to be acclaimed in the West, it appeared in English as An Egyptian Childhood (1932) and The Stream of Days (1943). Born in modest circumstances, Taha Hussein was blinded by an illness at the age of two. In 1902 he was sent to al-Azhar seminary, Cairo, the leading orthodox centre of higher Islamic education, but was soon at odds with its predominantly conservative authorities. In 1908 he entered the newly opened secular University of Cairo, and in 1914 he was the first to obtain a doctorate there. Further study at the Sorbonne familiarized him with the culture of the West. Taha Hussein returned to Egypt from France to become a professor of Arabic literature at the University of Cairo; his career there was frequently stormy, for his bold views enraged religious conservatives. His application of modern critical methods in Fi sh-Shi' al-Jahili (1926; On Pre-Islamic Poetry) embroiled him in fierce polemics. In this book he contended that a great deal of the poetry reputed to be pre-Islamic had been forged by Muslims of a later date for various reasons, one being to give credence to Qur'anic myths. For this he was declared an apostate. In another book, Mustaqbal al-thaqafah fi Misr (1938; The Future of Culture in Egypt), he expounds his belief that Egypt belongs by heritage to the same wider Mediterranean civilization that embraces Greece, Italy, and France; it advocates the assimilation of modern European culture. Serving as minister of education (195052) in the last government formed by the Wafd Party before the overthrow of the monarchy, Taha Hussein vastly extended state education and abolished school fees. In his later literary work he showed increasing concern for the plight of the poor and interest in energetic governmental reforms. A further book of memoirs, Mudhakkirat, was published in 1967, when he was 78.