Abd al-Mutaal al-Saidi
- Died
- 1391 AH
- Born in
- -
Abd al-Mutaal al-Saidi (1313–1383 AH / 1894–1966 CE) was an Egyptian Azhari scholar, reformer, and literary specialist who served as a professor at al-Azhar's Faculty of Arabic Language and actively campaigned for the modernization of Islamic curricula and educational institutions .
Life and career
Abd al-Mutaal al-Saidi was born in 1313 AH (1894 CE) in the village of Kafr al-Nujaba in the Dakahlia Governorate of Egypt . His father died when he was only one month old, and he was raised by his mother . He pursued religious and linguistic education at the Ahmadi Mosque in Tanta, graduating in 1336 AH (1918 CE) . He initially taught at the Ahmadi Mosque before joining the faculty of al-Azhar University, where he was appointed professor in the Faculty of Arabic Language in 1368 AH (c. 1948/1949 CE) .
Reformist views and controversies
Al-Saidi was an outspoken proponent of educational and intellectual reform at al-Azhar, advocating for the revival of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) and the replacement of pedantic, medieval instructional manuals with modern pedagogical textbooks . He chronicled the institutional struggles of the university in his historical study Tarikh al-Islah fi al-Azhar (History of Reform in al-Azhar), noting that his reform advocacy spanned more than twenty years and subjected him to professional opposition and the deprivation of certain rights .
In Arabic rhetoric, he authored Bughyat al-Idah, a four-volume pedagogical commentary on al-Khatib al-Qazwini's classical treatise al-Idah, designed to eliminate scholastic digressions and focus directly on core rhetorical principles and poetic citations . His approach prompted public scholarly debates within al-Azhar, notably with Muhammad Abd al-Mun‘im Khafaji, against whom al-Saidi published Tanwir al-Tullab to critique adherence to traditional marginalia . He was also a regular contributor to cultural and literary periodicals, engaging in intellectual exchanges with figures such as Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad and Zaki Mubarak .
Death
Al-Saidi died in 1383 AH (1966 CE) according to biographical notices prefacing his works . Other references place his death after 1377 AH (1958 CE), and later records date it to 1391 AH (1971 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Bughyat al-Idah li-Talkhis al-Miftah fi Ulum al-Balagha is a four-volume analytical commentary and pedagogical annotation on al-Khatib al-Qazwini's classical rhetorical handbook, al-Idah fi Ulum al-Balagha. Designed as an accessible, direct commentary on Arabic rhetoric, it extracts essential insights from earlier commentaries while avoiding superfluous dialectical disputations and pedantry, presenting the subject in clear prose with practical review exercises and analyses of poetic proof-texts.