Taha Hussein

Taha Husayn (Arabic طه حسين, DMG Taha Husain; * November 14, 1889, † October 28, 1973 ) is considered one of the most important and influential Arab writers of the 20th century. The first Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz Arabic literature said Taha Hussein deserved the Nobel Prize before him.

Life

Taha Hussein grew up in modest circumstances, as an infant, he was blind because of improper treatment of an eye condition. His studies at the traditional Azhar, who was then only university in Egypt, he was unable to complete, since it (probably for reasons of disagreement with the conservative professors ) fell through the trials. He therefore moved to the newly founded University of Cairo, where he came in contact with European professors. In 1914, he completed a doctorate on Abu al-' Ala al - Ma'arri ( 973-1057 ), a blind poet of Arab classical music. Taha Hussein was the first graduate of the University of Cairo.

After his graduation, he applied for a stay in France, but had to be postponed because of the outbreak of the First World War 1. Finally, he studied for five years, first in Montpellier, then at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he in 1919 on the sociological approach Ibn Khaldun Islamic society again doctorate ( Doctorat d' Etat ).

After his return to Egypt in 1919 he was a lecturer in ancient history at the University of Cairo, and later for Arabic literature. In publications, he tried to implement the acquired knowledge in France modern scientific methods and theories. In 1923 he had a controversy with the Syrian intellectuals Rafiq Bey al - ʿ Azm ( 1865-1925 ) about the role of the modern Arab history. Starting point of the controversy was a series of essays on the history of Arabic literature in which Taha Husayn took the view that the age in which disintegrated the Umaiyadenreich and the Abbasid Empire was created, " was an age of doubt, the frivolity and cynicism ." ʿ Azm accused Taha Husain then hasty, unjust judgments about the first centuries of Islamic history, which would have to be the subject of pride of the Arabs. Taha Husain accused in his response ʿ Azm, like many other scholars opposed accommodate religious worship in the East of Islamic history, which makes it impossible to consider based on criticism and real scientific research this story. Exaggerated devotion to the hero of the story, he characterized this as a typical phenomenon in times of decadence. For the understanding of history, he recommended the observance of Ibn Khaldun two rules, namely: 1 that people are all similar to each other, whatever the time and place may be different, and second that people are all different from each other, how strong may also be the external features of similarity. If you have understood this rule, then you know that the age of the Abbasids as any other age have known Ernst and firm faith, but also joke and doubt.

Taha Husain sat down in the aftermath of a reform of the Egyptian education system a. Its objectives were as free training and support for studies abroad. From 1950 to 1952 he was Minister of Education. He also worked as a translator and literary critic.

1973, the Human Rights Award of the United Nations which was awarded posthumously.

Works

• Al - Aiyām ( " The Days", 1926-1955 ), Autobiography in three volumes, in German published as: childhood days, youth in Cairo, citizens of the world between Cairo and Paris, Edition Orient, Sea Busch 1985-1989.
• Mustaqbal ath - thaqāfah fī Misr ( "The Future of Culture in Egypt " ), published in English translation in whole or part as: The Future of Culture in Egypt, American Council of Learned Societies, Washington, 1954.