Taha Hussien

Taha Hussien

Taha Hussein, an Egyptian writer and critic, was nicknamed the Dean of Arabic Literature. He changed the Arabic novel, the creator of the autobiography in his book Al-Ayyam, published in 1929. He is considered one of the most prominent figures in the modern Arab literary movement. Taha Hussein's ideas and attitudes are still controversial today.

1 - the emergence of Taha Hussein Dean of Arabic literature

Taha Hussein Ali bin Salama was born on Friday, November 15, 1889.He was the seventeen of his father Hussein's sons, and his fifteen eleven brothers, in the village of Kilo, near Maghagha, one of the cities of Minya Governorate in the Upper Egypt. The years until they were affected by ophthalmic extinguished light in them forever; due to ignorance and not to bring his family to the doctor, but summoned the barber who prescribed a treatment that went with his eyesight, and his father, Hussein Ali, a small employee of the thin case in the sugar company. His father introduced him to the book of the village of Sheikh Mohammed Gad the Lord to learn Arabic and arithmetic and recitation of the Koran and memorized in a short period amazed his teacher and his relatives and his father, who was sometimes accompanied to attend the dhikr, and listen to Antara bin Shaddad and Abu Zaid Hilali.

Taha Hussein entered the Al-Azhar Mosque for religious study and learned more from the Arab sciences in 1902, where he got what he facilitated from the culture, and obtained his degree that entitles him to specialize in the university, but he was fed up with it. Forty years in view of the monotony of the study, the sterility of the curriculum, the lack of development of teachers and elders and methods and methods of teaching.

When the Egyptian University opened its doors in 1908, Taha Hussein was the first to join it.He studied modern sciences, Islamic civilization, history and geography, and a number of oriental languages ​​such as Abyssinia, Hebrew, and Syriac.He continued to attend Al-Azhar classes and participate in his linguistic, religious and Islamic seminars. He continued this work until 1914, the year he received his doctorate and the thesis is: "The memory of Abu Ala," which caused an uproar in religious circles, and in the symposium of the Egyptian parliament, where a member of parliament accused him of disturbing and heresy and out of the principles of the true religion.

In the same year, in 1914, the Egyptian University sent him to Montpellier, France, to pursue specialization and increase the branches of knowledge and modern sciences, he studied at its French University and literature, psychology and modern history. He remained there until 1915, the year of his return to Egypt, where he stayed about three months during which he sparked multiple battles and discounts, the great focus between the teaching of Al-Azhar and the teaching of Western universities, which led officials to decide to deprive him of the grant to cover the expenses of his studies abroad, but interventionSultan Hussein Kamel prevented the implementation of this decision, he returned to France again to pursue educational attainment, but in the capital Paris studied at the university various scientific trends in sociology and Greek and Roman history and modern history, during which he prepared his second doctoral thesis entitled (((Philosophy of Ibn Khaldun In 1918, he completed his post-graduate diploma in Romanian law and succeeded with distinction. In those years, he married Susanne Bresso, a Swiss-French national who helped him learn more in French and Latin. Western culture to a large extent.

This lady had a great impact in his life, so I played him the role of the reader and I read a lot of references, and provided him with books that were written in Braille so as to help him to read himself, as was the wife and friend who pushed him to progress has always been loved by Taha Hussein, and what he said that "Since he heard her voice his heart did not know the pain," Taha Hussein had two sons: Amina and Mounis.

In 1955, Taha Hussein went on a pilgrimage, and his journey lasted 19 days. He was received by King Saud, princes, dignitaries, notables, writers and media people, and was celebrated by all cultural institutions and scientific bodies. He was also received by the Al-Azhar mission, including Sheikh Mohamed Metwally El-Shaarawy. Taha Hussein expressed his happinessWith this faithful journey to the Hijaz, he said: «My visit to the Hijaz has left a strong and wonderful effects in myself, can not be imagined in an interview or conversations. According to you, it is the home from which the light of Islam shone, and the Arab-Islamic civilization originated. What I know about the diameter of the earth has affected the minds, hearts and tastes of the people as they have affected this country, and the Hijaz in particular.

As for his feelings towards “Mecca” and “Medina”, Taha Hussein said: “These are the holy cities to which the hearts of Muslims fall, those who visited them and those who did not visit them, and I was only one of those Muslims who visited Mecca and Medina since Allah started the true religion of the people. ». After his visit to the city of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and the Prophet's Mosque, the men of the press and notables of Medina tried to listen to Dr. Taha Hussein, his charming statement, and his wonderful logic, and to win the victory of the public in Mecca and Jeddah, but grabbed the saying, despite the urgency He repeated the repeated attempts, apologizing for not talking by saying: «I did not have to speak in the city of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and I had to raise my voice has said God: (Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet)».

Journalist Ali Hafez wrote: “Taha Hussein was seen standing at al-Hudaybiyah, taking a handful of dirt and kissing her. He was also asked how he felt about the airstrip? He said: «As for my opinion, it is the opinion of every Muslim who appreciates the cradle of Islam the right amount, and wishes to be bright light in the future of its days as it was bright light when God singled out his dignity, sent (peace be upon him) as a witness and a promising and a vow, and calling to God with his permission and a shining light , And revealed the Koran guidance for people and evidence of guidance and separation ». Asked about his first and most recent Islamic works, he said: A book on the margin of biography, the latest of which is the Mirror of Islam. He was also asked about the personality that impressed him, said: «First Messenger of Allah, and second: Omar bin al-Khattab, and third: Ali bin Abi Talib».

2 - ideas of Taha Hussein

Taha Hussein called for a literary renaissance, and worked on writing in an easy and clear manner while preserving the vocabulary and rules of the language, and his views raised many and many accusations against him, and Taha did not care about this revolution or these strong opposition, but continued to call for renewal and modernization, He presented many opinions that were characterized by extreme audacity and frankness has taken on those around him and ancestors of intellectuals and writers their traditional methods of teaching Arabic literature, and poor level of teaching in public schools,

He also called for the importance of clarifying Arabic literary texts for students, in addition to the importance of preparing teachers who teach the Arabic language, literature to be a great deal of culture and ability to follow the innovative approach, and not stick to the traditional form of teaching.

One of the important oppositions that Taha Hussein faced in his life was that when he published his book "The Pre-Islamic Poetry". .

3 - Awards received by Taha Hussein

He has won various positions and awards, including representing Egypt at the Christian-Islamic Civilization Conference in Florence, Italy in 1960.He was elected as a member of the Indian-Egyptian Cultural Council, supervising the Institute of Higher Arab Studies, and being an arbitrator in the Italian and Swiss literary body. Swedish awarding the Busan Prize. He was nominated by the Egyptian government for the Nobel Prize, and in 1964 the University of Algiers awarded him an honorary doctorate.In 1965, Taha Hussein won the Nile Pendant, in addition to the presidency of the Arabic Language Academy. In 1968, the University of Madrid awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 1971, he presided over the Council of the Federation of Language Associations in the Arab World, and was again nominated for the Nobel Prize. UNESCO International in Uruguay is a literary tribute. Taha Hussein also served as Egypt's Minister of Education.

4- The death of Taha Hussein

Taha Hussein died on Sunday 28 October 1973 at the age of 84 years.