Person

Taha Hussein

1889–1973 · 20th century · Also known as Ṭāhā Ḥusayn, The Dean of Arabic Literature

Taha Hussein was an Egyptian writer, a leading figure of the Arab Renaissance and of modernism in the Arab world, known as the Dean of Arabic Literature. Blind from the age of two, he studied at Al-Azhar and the new Cairo University, then at Montpellier and the Sorbonne, which awarded him a doctorate on Ibn Khaldun in 1917. His On Pre-Islamic Poetry (1926), which doubted the authenticity of much early Arabic poetry, angered religious scholars, and he lost his post at Cairo University in 1931. An Egyptian nationalist who rejected pan-Arabism, he became Minister of Education in 1950 and called for free education; in the West he is best known for his autobiography Al-Ayyam (The Days).

Taha Hussein
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ArabicLiteratureLiberalismLegacy

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Taha Hussein. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/taha-hussein
MLA
“Taha Hussein.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/taha-hussein. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Taha Hussein.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/taha-hussein.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Taha Hussein’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/taha-hussein (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻