Remembering a legend: ‘Dean of Arabic Literature’ Taha Hussein

CAIRO – 15 November 2021: The Dean of Arabic Literature, Taha Hussein, was born on November 15, 1889, to become an addition to the Egyptian renaissance.

Hussein was the seventh child among 13 children born in a middle-class family.  At a young age, Hussein had an eye infection, and due to poor handling of his condition and not receiving the necessary treatment, he was blinded at the age of three.

As a child he received education at the “Kuttab”,(local teaching group more often found in the countryside) before pursuing his higher education in Al-Azhar University.

Hussein joined the National University after it was established in 1908. In 1914 he was the first graduate of this university, where he obtained his doctorate with his thesis on the poet and philosopher Abu el-Alaa el-Maari.

He obtained his second doctorate in social philosophy in 1917 from the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1919, he obtained a diploma in Roman civilization from the same university. 

Also in 1919 after obtaining his diploma, he was appointed professor of history at the Egyptian University.

He took office as Minister of Education in 1950, and was able to put his slogan "Education is like the water we drink and the air we breathe" into effect.