The Last Nahdawi: Taha Hussein and Institution Building in Egypt

by Hussam R Ahmed

Taha Hussein (1889–1973) is one of Egypt's most iconic figures. A graduate of al-Azhar, Egypt's oldest university, a civil servant and public intellectual, and ultimately Egyptian Minister of Public Instruction, Hussein was central to key social and political developments in Egypt during the parliamentary period between 1922 and 1952. Influential in the introduction of a new secular university and a burgeoning press in Egypt—and prominent in public debates over nationalism and the roles of religion, women, and education in making a modern independent nation—Hussein remains a subject of continued admiration and controversy to this day. The Last Nahdawi offers the first biography of Hussein in which his intellectual outlook and public career are taken equally seriously. Examining Hussein's actions against the backdrop of his complex relationship with the Egyptian state, the religious establishment, and the French government, Hussam R. Ahmed reveals modern Egypt's cultural influence in the Arab and Islamic world within the various structural changes and political processes of the parliamentary period. Ahmed offers both a history of modern state formation, revealing how the Egyptian state came to hold such a strong grip over culture and education—and a compelling examination of the life of the country's most renowned intellectual.

Genres: History

306 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2021

Reviews

[Anas Taleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fav 2022
Incredible book that change my vision on who was Taha Hussein and the role that he played in the Egyptian institutions. This book shows you how great this man was and his devotion to make Egypt and the Arab world a place full of knowledge and of democracy. I highly recommend this book to all people even if they are not specialists

[عبدالرحمن · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He died shortly after having confided to Ghali Shukri that he was leaving with "much pain and little hope.".
By accepting David Scott's invitation to read the legacy of anti-colonial figures as tragedies instead of romances, this present study tells the tragic story of the life and death of an alternative Egyptian history, the story of what modern Egypt could have become.”

“the misleading feeling that we know the man or that we have figured him out. […] I slowly came to see him as someone who not only wanted to change the existing order but also proposed an alternative, which he labored to build under unpropitious circumstances. In the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and its pressing question of "where do we go from here," Hussein's project became a thought-provoking precedent as I realized that many questions that he struggled with were still pertinent.”