مناهج الألباب المصرية في مباهج الآداب العصرية

Rifa'a Rafe' al-Tahtawi: One of the leaders of the scientific renaissance in Egypt and the Arab world during the nineteenth century. The title of pioneer of enlightenment in the modern era; Because of its impact on the development of modern Egyptian and Arab cultural history. He was chosen as an honorable imam and a companion to the first scientific mission sent by Muhammad Ali Pasha to France after Sheikh Hassan al-Attar nominated him for this task and gave him the honor of the Sultan. Refa'a Rafe' al-Tahtawi was born in 1801 AD in the city of Tahta in Upper Egypt. His father took care of him when he was young, despite his financial hardship that forced him to move his family from one village to another, until he settled in Cairo. Rifa'a had memorized the Holy Qur'an, studied grammar and language, and had memorized many of the texts circulating in his time. When he reached the age of sixteen, Rifa'a completed his studies at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif. Fortunately, he studied under Sheikh Hassan Al-Attar. He was broad-minded, traveled a lot, and read books on geography, history, medicine, mathematics, literature and astronomy. Rafa'a came out as a professor with a broad horizon, deep knowledge. Rifa'a graduated from Al-Azhar at the age of twenty-one. Muhammad Ali Pasha chose him to be the imam of the scientific mission to France, based on the recommendation of his teacher, Hassan al-Attar, and there he decided not to return until after he was a useful person for his country and society. So; He worked on learning French, reading the most important and useful books, and translating what he could from them with his explanation and interpretation. Al-Tahtawi was keen to make a comparison between the state of science in France and its state in Egypt. Al-Tahtawi returned to Egypt in 1831 AD, after spending five years in Paris researching, learning, translating and authoring, and the summary of his hard effort was embodied in his most important book, “The Redemption of Al-Bariz fi Takhlees Baris.” Historians consider this book one of the most important books of the cultural renaissance that Written in the nineteenth century. Refa'a al-Tahtawi died in 1873 AD at the age of 72, after he presented a pioneering renaissance project that benefited the cultural and scientific movement in Egypt, and built upon it by his successors from the Egyptian Renaissance generation in the early twentieth century.