Books by Rifa'a al-Tahtawi

About the author

Rifa'a al-Tahtawi (1801–1873), from Tahta in Upper Egypt, was a young scholar of al-Azhar when he was sent to Paris in 1826 as the religious guide of an Egyptian student mission. He spent five years there, learned French and recorded everything he saw in Takhlis al-Ibriz, a classic of Arabic travel writing.

Back in Egypt he founded the School of Languages, translated or supervised the translation of many European books and edited the official gazette. He is one of the founders of the Arab renaissance of the nineteenth century, and his ideas on education, the nation and women's learning prepared the way for later reformers.