Rifa'a at-Tahtawi

Rifa'a at-Tahtawi

Rifa'a Rafi 'at-Tahtawi ( Arabic رفاعة رافع الطهطاوي, DMG Rifāʿa Rāfiʿ aṭ-Ṭahṭāwī ; * 1801 in Tahta , Egypt ; † 1873 ) was an Egyptian author, teacher, translator, Egyptologist and representative of the Nahda .

Tahtawi was one of the first Egyptian scholars who came into close contact with Western civilization and made it the subject of his studies. He stayed in Paris from 1826 to 1831 as the imam of a group of students who were part of an Egyptian embassy of Muhammad Ali Pasha . During this time he observed all aspects of Western life. His report on his stay in Paris ( Taḫlīṣ al-ibrīz fī talḫīṣ Bārīz ) was published in 1849 and is still of interest today as one of the few documents of the 19th century from which the Islamic view of the West at that time can be understood.

As an expert on Egyptian culture, Rifa'a at-Tahtawi campaigned for the protection of cultural monuments after his return to Egypt. He contributed to "awakening a new public awareness of the value of Egyptian antiquities". Tahtawi was involved in the decree issued on August 15, 1835 for the protection of antiquities. So far there had been no regulation on the trade and export of Egyptian art treasures. This decree banned the export of "chiseled stones and objects".

Works

• Taḫlīṣ al-ibrīz fī talḫīṣ Bārīz. Bulaq, Cairo 1849.
• A Muslim discovers Europe. Report on his stay in Paris 1826–1831. Ed. and translated by Karl Stowasser. Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-32796-6 (German translation with annotations).
  • Excerpt from Andreas Meier (ed.): The political mission of Islam. Programs and Criticism between Fundamentalism and Reforms. Original voices from the Islamic world. Peter Hammer Verlag , Wuppertal 1994, ISBN 3-87294-616-1 , pp. 50-54.
• To imam in Paris. Account of a Stay in France by an Egyptian Cleric (1826-1831). Introduced and translated by Daniel L. Newman. New edition. Saqi, London 2011, ISBN 978-0-86356-407-9 (English translation with notes and extensive introduction).

literature

• Literature by and about Rifa'a at-Tahtawi in the catalog of the German National Library
• Tahtawi in Paris ( Memento from May 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) - Article by Peter Gran from Al-Ahram Weekly Online Edition 568 (January 10-16, 2002)
• Johannes Stephan: How one should understand the others and how one can write about them. The Paris report Rifā ʿ a Rāfi ʿ aṭ-Ṭahṭāwīs (1801–1873) as a multifaceted mediation of 'culture' . In: zeitblicke . tape 11 , no. 1 , 2012 ( online [accessed September 12, 2013]).

Web links

Refaa El-Tahtawi on arabworldbooks.com , English, accessed July 1, 2015.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Francesco Tiradritti, Araldo De Luca: The Treasury of Egypt - The famous collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Frederking & Thaler, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89405-418-2 , p. 17.