Ahmad Amin (Arabic: أحمد أمين), (1954-1886) was an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

historian and writer. He wrote a series of books on the history of the Islamic civilization (1928–1953), a famous autobiography (''My Life'', 1950), as well as an important dictionary of Egyptian

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

(1953).

Biography

After receiving his education in the University of Al-Azhar, he worked as

qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...

until 1926. He then taught

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

, where he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts, until 1946. Ahmad Amin was one of the most brilliant intellectuals of his time: he was editor of the literary journals ''Al Risalah'' (1933) and ''

Al Thaqafa ''Al Thaqafa'' (Arabic: ''Culture'') was a monthly cultural and literary magazine which was in circulation between 1939 and 1953 in Cairo, Egypt. The magazine was founded by Ahmad Amin Ahmad Amin (Arabic: أحمد أمين), (1954-1886) was a ...

'' (1939), founder of ''Ladjnat al-ta'lif wa l-tardjama wa-l-nashr'' ("Literary Committee of Translation and Publication"). He also contributed to another magazine entitled '' Al Hilal'' from 1933 to his death in 1954. He worked as head of the culture department at the Egyptian Ministry of Education before leading the cultural division of the Arab League. He is most famous for his long history of Islamic culture, in three volumes (''Fajr al-islam'', 1928 ; ''Duha l-islam'', 1933–1936 ; ''Zuhr al-islam'', 1945–1953) which is the first attempt of its kind in the modern history of the Muslim world. He also left an autobiography (Hayati, 1950) while his main articles were published under the title ''Fayd al-khatir''. He lectured on Egyptian literary history between the years of 1939 and 1946. It was during this time that Amin stated his initial belief that Egyptians had not contributed to Arabic poetry during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the way other Arab populations had. Amin's student

Shawqi Daif Shawki (also spelled Shawky, Shawqi, Shawqi, Shoghi) ar, شوقي, french: Chaouqui or tr, Şevki), is a masculine Arabic given name and surname. It may refer to: Given name *Shawqi Aboud, Iraqi football manager *Shawki Awad Balzuhair (born 1981 ...

claimed that the dearth of properly published Egyptian works from the period made such a judgement tenuous, and suggested that he and Amin republish the Egyptian sections in anthologies of poetry from the period. Amin agreed to write the introduction while Daif wrote the preface, while fellow scholar Ihsan Abbas assisted the team with editing the folios for printing from 1951 until 1952.

References

Bibliography

* 1978, ''My Life. The Autobiography of an Egyptian Scholar, Writer and Cultural Leader'', traduction et introduction de Issa Boullata, Leyde, E. J. Brill, 241 p. * Avril 2011, ''Autobiographies d'intellectuels égyptiens : Ahmad Amin, Salāma Mūsā, Tawfiq al-Hakim, Subjectivité, identité et vérité'', Martine Houssay

External links

* Biography of Ahmad Amîn by Emmanuelle Perri
Le creuset et l'orfèvre: le parcours d'Ahmad Amîn (1886–1954)
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Amin, Ahmad 20th-century Egyptian writers 20th-century Egyptian historians 1886 births 1954 deaths Al-Azhar University alumni Cairo University faculty Egyptian magazine founders