al-Azhar wa Atharuhu fi al-Nahda al-Adabiyya al-Haditha
- Author died
- 1406 AH
- Editions
- al-Maṭbaʻah al-Munīrīyah bi-al-Azhar al-Sharīf
al-Azhar wa Atharuhu fi al-Nahda al-Adabiyya al-Haditha (al-Azhar and Its Impact on the Modern Literary Renaissance) is a three-volume historical and literary study by the Egyptian scholar Muhammad Kamil al-Fiqi (d. 1406 AH / 1986 CE), documenting the contributions of al-Azhar and its scholars to the modern Arabic literary and intellectual revival in Egypt .
Purpose and Scope
Al-Fiqi authored the work to examine a subject he considered novel and largely unaddressed in systematic scholarship, noting that peers initially discouraged him due to the vastness of the topic and the absence of consolidated references . He completed the work on the 9th of Ramadan, deliberately linking his completion date to the historical founding day of al-Azhar .
In selecting figures for biographical and literary analysis, al-Fiqi adopted two strict methodological boundaries:
- He restricted his study to deceased figures, intentionally omitting living contemporaries to avoid any suspicion of flattery or bias .
- He limited his biographical profiles to scholars who both began and completed their education exclusively at al-Azhar, excluding figures who completed their studies at other institutions (such as Hafni Nasif, Muhammad Abd al-Muttalib, and Ahmad Miftah) to prevent critics from attributing their literary achievements to external institutions .
Structure and Contents
The book is organized into three volumes, divided chronologically and thematically across the disciplines of modern Arabic literature and culture:
Volume One: Institutional Foundations, Translation, and Journalism
The first volume opens with the history of al-Azhar from its Fatimid establishment through the Ottoman period, detailing traditional teaching methods, curricula, and foundational texts . It then transitions to the modern period, beginning with the intellectual shock of the French campaign in Egypt (1798–1801) . The author details how Muhammad Ali Pasha relied almost exclusively on Azhari scholars to staff his new specialized schools (such as the School of Medicine and Madrasat al-Alsun) and to lead educational missions to Europe . Al-Fiqi treats modern higher educational institutions—such as Dar al-Ulum, the Egyptian University, and Madrasat al-Qada al-Shar'i—as extensions and offshoots of al-Azhar .
The volume also examines Azhari contributions to translation and authorship, profiling pioneers like Rifa'a al-Tahtawi, Ibrahim al-Nabrawi, and Ahmad Hasan al-Rashidi . It assesses the role of Azhari editors and proofreaders (mushahhihun) who preserved and standardized Arabic publications, such as Muhammad Qatta al-Adawi and Ibrahim al-Dasuqi . Finally, it surveys Azhari leadership in early journalism, including official gazettes like al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya, reformist periodicals like al-'Urwa al-Wuthqa, and journals established by figures such as Abd Allah Nadim and Ali Yusuf .
Volume Two: Oratory and Modern Prose
The second volume covers modern Arabic oratory (khitaba) and prose composition (kitaba) . It categorizes oratory into political, religious, and judicial domains, presenting biographical and rhetorical analyses of figures such as Abd Allah Nadim, Sa'd Zaghlul, Sheikh Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi, and Ibrahim al-Hilbawi .
In prose, the volume explores administrative (diwani), scholarly, and artistic prose styles, as well as the transition from rhymed ornamentation to modern journalistic clarity . It includes dedicated biographical and literary chapters on prominent Azhari prose authors, including Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, Abd Allah Fikri Pasha, Muhammad Abduh, Abd al-Karim Salman, Abd al-Majid al-Sharnubi, Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaluti, and Muhammad Shakir .
Volume Three: Linguistics and Poetry
The third volume focuses on language scholars and modern poetry . It studies prominent Azhari linguists and essayists, including Abd al-Aziz al-Bishri, Hasan Quwaydar al-Khalili, Abd al-Hadi Naja al-Abyari, Husayn al-Marsafi, Hamza Fath Allah, Sayyid al-Marsafi, and Husayn Wali .
It then addresses poetic development, investigating the views of Azhari scholars toward verse, their relationship to modernization and meter, and the prevailing characteristics of Azhari poetry . The volume provides detailed studies of earlier and transitional Azhari poets such as Isma'il al-Khashshab, Hasan al-Attar, Ali al-Darwish, Muhammad Shihab al-Din, Ali Abu al-Nasr al-Manfaluti, Ali al-Laythi, and Abd al-Rahman Qara'a . The work concludes with an analysis of Azhari scholars as direct mentors to the leading revivalist poets of the era, notably the mentorship of Husayn al-Marsafi to Mahmud Sami al-Barudi, Muhammad al-Basyuni al-Bibani to Ahmad Shawqi, Muhammad Abduh to Hafiz Ibrahim, and Abd al-Rahman Qara'a to Muhammad Abd al-Muttalib .
Sources
Al-Fiqi relied on a wide range of historical, biographical, and literary sources, citing classical and modern works including al-Khitat and al-Suluk by al-Maqrizi, Subh al-A'sha by al-Qalqashandi, 'Aja'ib al-Athar by al-Jabarti, al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya by Ali Mubarak, al-Wasilah al-Adabiyya by Husayn al-Marsafi, as well as literary histories by Jurji Zaydan, Louis Cheikho, and Ahmad Izzat Abd al-Karim .
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