Arabic Literature in Egypt

Egypt is considered the gateway of the Arabs to the world and the gateway of the world to the Arabs. Indeed, it is the heart of the Arab world, from which the Arab world was ruled for a period of time during the Ayyubid and Fatimid dynasties. It was also the inspiration for the periods of liberation from occupations during the last century. Additionally, Egypt contains the most important university in the Islamic world, Al-Azhar, which has spread moderate Islamic thought to all Islamic countries. Since June 962, Al-Azhar has been continuing to play the same role. Further, Al-Azhar has a great role in preserving the Arabic language and preparing scholars for various arts. It has a traditional method of education including the conventional oral-teaching methods and new methods, the Western methods of university education, adopted since the last century.

The most important section in Arabic language is the Arabic literature, which has preserved the vocabulary and linguistic structures of the Arabic language distinctively throughout history, starting with the famous elegies, passing through poems, Maqamat, novels, stories, and other arts.

Najeeb Mahfouz

Since the beginning of the nineteenth century in Egypt, Egyptian literature has flourished in its various genres, where literary schools - that had been lost and Arabic poetry collapsed - appeared as the most important school was the school of the poet Mahmoud Sami al-Baroudi, whose the most significant poem was of the longing poetry - Is there a doctor or a therapist for the disease of love? His students included the Prince of Poets (Shawqi), the poet of the Nile (Hafiz Ibrahim), and the poet and activist (Maslouh). After that, the schools multiplied, including the Diwan School, founded by the poets Shukri, al-Mazauni, and al-Aqqad, then the Apollo School, founded by the poets Abu Shadi, Naji and Taha, and then many other schools. Besides, other literature arts have appeared that did not exist before, such asthe article writing, by Egyptian writers in newspapers, of whom the most famous are al-Manfalouti, al-Aqqad, Heikal, and Hussein. As for the art of rhetoric, the Egyptian Sheikhs and leaders played a major role in the revolutionary issues in Egypt and the Arab world, in particular poverty, inflation, and foreign occupation. The most well-known ofthem are Sheikh Muhammad Abduh, the leader Mustafa Kamil, and the revolutionary poet Maslouh.

Edwar Kharrat was an outstanding writer from the 1960s generation. He founded a literary magazine called Gallery 68, and this magazine raised the voice of the leading writers at that time.

The art of the story in Egyptian literature was not in this form, as there was what is called the Maqamat. The first to take this art a big step forward was Mouwaylihi towards the art of the novel with its origins that we know today. After him, serious attempts to develop this art ceased until Heikal published his first novel, Zaynab, and al-Manfalouti, who translated French novels in an enjoyable style. Then, the renaissance began, and among those who contributed to it was Najeeb Mahfouz. As for the story, its form was not complete until years after the novel. The credit for the pioneeringis due to Muhammad Taymour, and among its most famous figures are Mahmoud Taymour and Tawfiq Yusuf.

Of the arts of Arabic literature, the performing theater originated in Egypt in the early twentieth century by immigrants from the Levant, such as Qabbani and Eid and George Abyad. They worked with Egyptians like Al-Rehani and Youssef Wahbi who formed theater companies that presented works that were Egyptianized based on European theater (mostly French). Pioneers in writing were also found, such as Yakob Sanu, followed by Mahmoud Taymour and Ibrahim Ramzi who wrote plays, up to Tawfiq al-Hakim.

This is part of Egypt's role in poetry, literature, and its renaissance. Egypt has distinguished itself in all kinds of Arabic poetry, such as national poetry, romantic poetry, and others.

Taha Hussein

It is worth mentioning that the writer Taha Hussein was nicknamed the Dean of Arabic Literature. This indicates the status of Egyptian writers and poets on the Arab level. Among the most famous of what Taha Hussein wrote is "Our Modern Literature: All about it!" in addition to 47 books in literature, poetry, stories, and other arts of Arabic literature.

The writer Najeeb Mahfouz received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. The novel "Children of Our Neighborhood" is considered one of his most famous novels and was one of the works that was mentioned when he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

This is the role of Egyptian writers and poets. Egypt is really still the gateway to Arab culture. In Egypt, there is the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo, which puts new words, or interprets or derives from old words to keep up with the rapid pace of civilization. It also publishes the latest findings in grammar and morphology.