Taha Hussein
He was nominated for a Nobel prize in literature fourteen times. Life. Taha Hussein was born in Izbet el Kilo, a village in the Minya Governorate in central Upper Egypt. He went to a kuttab, and thereafter was admitted to El Azhar University, where he studied religion and Arabic literature. From an early age, he was reluctant to take the traditional education to his heart. Hussein was the seventh of thirteen children, born into a lower-middle-class family. He contracted ophthalmia and became blind at the age of two, the result of faulty treatment by an unskilled  practitioner. Hussein met and married Suzanne Bresseau (1895–1989) while attending the Sorbonne in France. He originally met her when he hired her to read to him. Academic career. When the secular Cairo University was founded in 1908, he was keen to be admitted, and despite being blind and poor he won a place. In 1914, he received a PhD for his thesis on the sceptic poet and philosopher Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri. He went on to become a professor of Arabic literature there. In 1919, he was appointed a professor of history at Cairo University. Additionally, he was the founding  Rector of the University of Alexandria. Although he wrote many novels and essays, in the West he is best known for his autobiography, "Al-Ayyam" (, "The Days") which was published in English as "An Egyptian Childhood" (1932) and "The Stream of Days" (1943). However, it was his book of literary criticism "On Pre-Islamic Poetry" () of 1926 that bought him some fame in the Arab world. In this book, he expressed doubt about the authenticity of much early Arabic poetry, claiming it to have been falsified during ancient times due to tribal pride and rivalry between tribes. He also hinted  indirectly that the Qur'an should not be taken as an objective source of history. Consequently, the book aroused the intense anger and hostility of the religious scholars at Al Azhar and many other traditionalists, and he was accused of having insulted Islam. However, the public prosecutor stated that what Taha Hussein had said was the opinion of an academic researcher and no legal action was taken against him, although he lost his post at Cairo University in 1931. His book was banned but was re-published the next year with slight modifications under the title "On Pre-Islamic Literature" (1927 ). Taha Hussein was an intellectual of the Egyptian Renaissance and a proponent of the ideology of Egyptian nationalism along with what he called Pharaonism, believing that Egyptian civilization was diametrically opposed to Arab civilization, and that Egypt would only progress by reclaiming its ancient pre-Islamic roots. After Hussein obtained his MA from the University of Montpellier, he continued his studies and received another PhD at the Sorbonne. For his doctoral dissertation, written in 1917, Hussein wrote on Ibn Khaldun, a Tunisian historian, who is widely seen as the founder of modern [sociology]. Two years later, in 1919, Hussein made  his way back to Egypt from France with his wife, Suzanne, and was appointed professor of history at Cairo University. Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo. At the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo, Taha Hussein was made responsible for the completion of Al-Mu'jam al-Kabir ("The Great Dictionary"), one of the academy's most important tasks. He appointed professor of Semitic languages at Cairo University Dr. and the head of the Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Education . Taha Hussein also served as president of the academy. Taha Hussein in France. Taha Hussein left for Montpellier , enrolled in its university, attended courses in literature, history, and French, and learned formal writing. However, he was not able to take advantage of that much as he "may be used to taking knowledge with his ears, not with his fingers." Taha Hussein began learning Latin and during that period, he met Suzanne Bresseau, who would later become his wife. However, he was summoned to return to Egypt due to the poor conditions at the University of Cairo. Three months later, those conditions improved, and Taha Hussein returned to France. Positions and tasks. In 1950, he was appointed minister of  education, in which capacity he led a call for free education and the right of everyone to be educated. He also transformed many of the Quranic schools into primary schools and converted a number of high schools into colleges such as the Graduate Schools of Medicine and Agriculture. He is also credited with establishing a number of new universities. Hussein proposed that Al Azhar University should be closed down in 1955 after his tenure as education minister ended. Taha Hussein held the position of chief editor of a number of newspapers and wrote innumerable articles. He was also a member  of several scientific academies in Egypt and around the world. Works. The author of "more than sixty books (including six novels) and 1,300 articles", his major works include: Tribute. On November 14, 2010, Google celebrated Hussein's 121st birthday with a Google Doodle.