Author's note: A preliminary version of this article was presented at the conference of the Middle East Studies Association in San Francisco, November 28 to December 1, 1984. I would like to thank the Fulbright Fellowship program and Cairo University for making possible the research on which the article is based.

¹ Amin, Ahmad, Hayati (Cairo, 1961), pp. 149–50.Google ScholarCf. the translation by Boullata, Issa J., My Life: The Autobiography of an Egyptian Scholar, Writer, and Cultural Leader (Leiden, 1978), p. 99.Google Scholar

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³ The phrase also echoes Safran, Nadav's Egypt in Search of Political Community (Cambridge, Mass., 1961).Google Scholar

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¹¹ Husayn, Isma'il, “Safha min hayat al-Jami'a al-Misriyya al-Qadima,” Majallat al-tarbiyya al-haditha, 10, 4 (04 1937), 393Google Scholar. Husayn, , Passage, p. 44, mentions the walkout.Google Scholar

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¹⁸ Lampson to FO, Nov. 28, 1938, FO395/ 567/ P3361; and Blackman to Scrivener, April 24, 1942, FO370/ 663/ L1714. (FO references are to the Foreign Office records of the I nited Kingdom, Public Record Office, London.) See also Dawson, , Who Was Who, pp. 154–55.Google Scholar

¹⁹ See Hamilton, R. W., “Keppel Archibald Cameron Creswell, 1879–1974,” Proceedings of the British Academy, 60 (1974), 1–20. His ignorance of Arabic makes him an oddity in the orientalist circles.Google Scholar

²⁰ On Gibb see Hourani, Albert, “H. A. R. Gibb: The Vocation of an Orientalist,” in his Europe and the Middle East (Berkeley, Calif., 1980), pp. 104–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See the notice on Arnold by 'Azzam, 'Abd al-Wahhab, Sahifat al-Jami⊂a al-Misriyya, 2, 1 (01 1931), 82–85.Google Scholar On Minorsky, see ⊂Aqiqi, , Mustashriqun, Vol. 2, pp. 108–9.Google Scholar For Newberry, see Dawson, Who Was Who, p. 216. Autobiographical sketch by Arberry, A. J. in his Oriental Essays: Portraits of Seven Scholars (London, 1960), pp. 233ff.Google Scholar

²¹ Dawson, Who Was Who, pp. 118, 292–93. See also Vikentiev's appreciation of Golénischeff, Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts, Fouad I University, 13, 1 (May 1951), 1–9.

²² Budayr, Ahmad Fu⊃ad, pp. 195–207.

²³ Minute by Peterson, May 5, 1933, FO371/ 17023/ J1080.

²⁴ Lampson to Norton, March 1, 1940, FO371/ 24632/ J798.

²⁵ Graves, Robert, Good-Bye to All That (London, 1931), p. 433.Google Scholar

²⁶ 'Allam, Muhammad Mahdi, Majma' al-lugha al-'arabiyya fi thalathin 'amman, Vol. 2, al-Majma'iyyun (Cairo, 1966), p. 228.Google Scholar

²⁷ Storrs, Ronald, The Memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs (New York, 1937), pp. 134–35Google Scholar, and Sahifat al-Jami⊂a al-Misriyya, 2 (Jan. 1931), 26.

²⁸ Zaydan, Jurji, Tarikh adab al-lugha al-'arabiyya (Cairo, 1968), Vol. 4, p. 158.Google ScholarJansen, G. H., Militant Islam (New York, 1979), pp. 77–81Google Scholar, confirms this picture, but note the contrary view in Benda, Harry J., “Snouck Hurgronje,” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 14, pp. 340–42Google Scholar, which portrays him as sympathetic to Indonesians and opposed to die-hard Dutch colonialists. See also Waardenburg, Islam, pp. 18–27. Because Hurgronje was invited to the Egyptian University, he is occasionally included in the analysis in this article although he did not take up the invitation.

²⁹ 'Ali, Muhammad Kurd, “Aghrad al-mustashriqin,” al-Risala, 3, 114 (09 9, 1935), 1477.Google Scholar

³⁰ Ign. Guidi, , L'Arabie antéislamique (Paris, 1921), p. 31.Google Scholar

³¹ Nallino, Carlo, La littérature arabe des origines à l'époque de la dynastie umayyade, trans. Pellat, C. (Paris, 1950).Google Scholar

³² A religious invocation with which Muslims traditionally opened speeches or books. CUA, Box 19, Folder 544, contains Massignon's daily lesson outline, written in Arabic in his own unusual hand. Massignon, L., “L'histoire des doctrines philosophiques arabes à l'Université du Caire,” Revue du Monde musulman, 21 (1912), 149–57, is the French text of his first lecture.Google Scholar

³³ See CUA, Box 6, Folder 86, Syllabus (1910–1911) for the course “Histoire des Doctrines Philosophiques.”

³⁴ Sir Chirol, Valentine, The Egyptian Problem (London, 1920), p. 225.Google Scholar

³⁵ Products of these efforts included Hanotaux, Gabriel, ed., Histoire de la nation égyptienne, 7 vols. (Paris, 1931–1940);Google Scholar the Précis de l'histoire d'Egypte, 4 vols. (Cairo, 1932–1935) by various historians; Douin, Georges, Histoire du règne du Khédive Ismaïl, 3 vols. (Rome, 1933- ); and publications of archival documents edited by J. Deny, G. Douin, H. Nahoum, E. Driault, and others.Google Scholar

³⁶ Husayn, Passage, pp. 5–6.

³⁷ Amin, My Life: The Autobiography of an Egyptian Scholar, Writer, and Cultural Leader, p. 68.

³⁸ Husayn, al- Tarbiyya al-haditha, 386, 392–93.

³⁹ Husayn, Passage, p. 44, which also mentions ridicule of the orientalists' Arabic.

⁴⁰ 'Allam, Majma⊂iyyun, p. 228.

⁴¹ Husayn, al-Tarbiyya al-haditha, 386–87.

⁴² Ibid., p. 392.

⁴³ Husayn, Passage, p. 35.

⁴⁴ Ibid., p. 54, and Husayn, al-Tarbiyya al-haditha, 392.

⁴⁵ Husayn, al-Tarbiyya al-haditha, 391–92.

⁴⁶ ' Azzam, Sahifat 2: 83, 84.

⁴⁷ al-Nowaihi, Mohammed, “Towards a Reappraisal of Classical Arabic Literature and History: Some Aspects of Taha Husayn's Use of Modern Western Criteria,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 11, 2 (1980), 192–93.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Amin, My Life, pp. 45, 52. The following three quotations are from pp. 73, 89, and 149–50.

⁴⁹ Farid, Salim, “Ahdath ma⊂a al-asatidha al-mustashriqin bi-l-Jami⊂a al-Misriyya,” Sahifat al-Jami⊂a al-Misriyya, 1 (05 1, 1929), 114.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Husayn, Passage, p. 55, and interview with Dr. Suhayr al-Qalamawi, Cairo, Feb. 16, 1983.

⁵¹ Zaydan, Jurji, Tarikh al-tamaddun al-Islami (Cairo, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 12. (Original edition: 5 vols., Cairo, 1902–1906.)Google Scholar For Zaydan generally see Philipp, Thomas, Gurgi Zaidan: His Life and Thought (Beirut, 1979).Google Scholar

⁵² Zaydan, , Tamaddun, and Tarikh adab al-lugha al-⊂aribiyya, 4 vols., (Cairo, 1910–1914). (Reprinted, with introduction by Shawqi Dayf, Cairo [1960s].)Google Scholar

⁵³ Zaydan, letter to his son Emile, October 12, 1910, translated in Philipp, , Zaidan, p. 212.Google Scholar Analysis of incident by Philipp, , pp. 63–65.Google Scholar See also the accounts in al-Hilal, 19 (December 1910), 177–81, and CUA, Box 2, Folder 126, Minutes of the Council of Administration, Nov. 8, 10, and 12, 1910.

⁵⁴ Philipp, Zaidan, p. 236, mentions a manuscript in the archives of the American University of Beirut entitled “Misr al-'Uthmaniyya.” Zaydan had prepared it for his Egyptian University course.

⁵⁵ CUA, Box 2, Folder 126, Minutes of the Council of Administration, Nov. 10, 1910, and Husayn Mu⊃nis in his introduction to the 1968 edition of Zaydan, , Tamaddun, Vol. I, p. 9.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Husayn, Passage, pp. 40–41.

⁵⁷ The following analysis is based on Zaydan, , Tamaddun, Vol. 1, pp. 21–79.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ al-Nu'mani, Shibli, “Naqd tarikh al-tamaddun al-Islami,” al-Manar, 15, 1 (01 2, 1912), 58–67.Google Scholar (Reprinted by al-Manar with other reviews as Kitab intiqad tarikh al-tamaddun al-Islami [Cairo, 1912], and reprinted in al-Jindi, Anwar, al-Islam wa al-thaqafa al-⊂arabiyya fi muwajahat tahdid al-isti⊂mar wa shubhat al-taghrib [Cairo, n.d.].) Much has been written on Rida;Google Scholar see for example, Kerr, Malcolm H., Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Rida (Berkeley, 1966).Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Jami⊂i, al-Jami'a al-Misriyya wa al-mutjama', p. 10. Zaydan first called for a “madrasa kulliyya Misriyya” in al-Hilal, 8, 9 (Feb. 1, 1900), 264–67. For Marshall, see Marshall to Tyrrell, August 1907, F0371/ 249/ 28843, and Marshall, J. E., “A Plea for a University for Egypt Made by the Author in December 1904,” L'Egypte contemporaine, 13 (1922), 625–28.Google Scholar See also Artin, Jacoub, Considérations sur l'instruction publique en Egypte (Cairo, 1894), pp. 166–67.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Husayn Mu'nis, introduction to Zaydan, Tamaddun, Vol. 1, pp. 8, 10.

⁶¹ In Muslim doctrine dhimmis were Christian and Jewish subjects who enjoyed protection and certain rights but were not legally equal to Muslims.

⁶² Fahmy, Mansour, La condition de la femme dans la tradition et l'évolution de l'Islamisme (Paris, 1913), p. v.Google Scholar For Fahmi and Nagib Mahfuz's fictional portrait of him, see Reid, Donald M., “The ‘Sleeping Philosopher’ of Nagib Mahfuz's Mirrors,” The Muslim World, 74, 1 (1984), 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Biographical notices on Fahmi include Ahmad Fu⊃ad al-Ahwani, Majallat Kulliyat al-Adab, Cairo University (December 1959), pp. 1–6; Majma⊂ al-lugha al-⊂aribiyya fi thalathin ⊂Amman, Vol. 2: al-Majma⊂iyyun (Cairo, 1966), 225–27; al-Zirikli, Khayr al-Din, al-A⊂lam, 5th ed. (Beirut, 1980), Vol. 7, p. 302;Google ScholarJami⊂, at Fu⊃ad al-Awwal, al-Kitab al-fiddi li-Kulliyyat al-Adab 1925–1950 (Cairo, 1951), pp. 25–26;Google Scholar and Adams, Charles, Islam and Modernism in Egypt (London, 1933), pp. 250–51.Google Scholar

⁶³ This and the following paragraph are based on CUA, Box 2, Folder 129, Minutes of the Administrative Council, Dec. 5, 1913; and Box 2, Folder 130, Minutes, Jan. 14, 1914. The attempt to impound the offending thesis failed at least in part. The National Union Catalogue, Pre-1956 Imprints, 165: 543, lists six American libraries that hold copies. One would hardly expect more for what was, after all, only a Sorbonne thesis by an unknown doctoral candidate.

⁶⁴ Budayr, Ahmad Fu⊃ad, p. 152.

⁶⁵ Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798–1939 (London, 1962), pp. 164–70, analyzes Qasim Amin's ideas.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Haykal, Muhammad Husayn, Mudhakkirat fi al-siyasa al-Misriyya (Cairo, 1951), Vol. I, p. 46. Roger Allen called my attention to the Haykal-Fahmi connection.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Fahmy, Condition, p. 166.

⁶⁸ Ibid., p. 6, n. 5.

⁶⁹ Ibid., pp. 15–16.

⁷⁰ Ibid., p. 23.

⁷¹ CUA, Box 3, Folder 136, Minutes of the Council of Administration, July 22, 1920; and Box 3, Folder 137, Minutes, April 18, 1921.

⁷² Philipp, Zaidan, p. 44. On Taha Husayn generally see Cachia, Pierre, Taha Husayn: His Place in the Egyptian Literary Renaissance (London, 1956)Google Scholar, and al-Sakkut, Hamdi and Jones, Marsden, A'lam al-adab al-mu'asir fi Misr, Vol. 1: Taha Husayn (Cairo, 1975).Google ScholarIbrahim, 'Abd al-Mun'im al-Dissuqi al-Jami'i, Taha Husayn wa al-Jami'i al-Misriyya (Cairo, 1981), focuses specifically on Taha's role in the university.Google Scholar

⁷³ Husayn, Taha, Hadith al-araba⊂a⊃ (Beirut, 1980), pp. 638–45Google Scholar, and Husayn, Passage, pp. 41–42. al-Khudari, Muhammad, Muhadarat fi bayan al-akhta' al-'ilmiyya wa al-tarikhiyya allati ishtamal 'alayha kitab “Fi al-shi'r al-jahili” (Cairo, 1928), attacks Taha's book.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Husayn, Passage, pp. 64–65.

⁷⁵ Husayn, Taha, Falsafat Ibn Khaldun al-ijtima'iyya wa naqd, trans. 'Inan, M. 'Abdallah (Cairo, 1925), p. 8Google Scholar, and Passage, pp. 120–21.

⁷⁶ Husayn, Passage, p. 137.

⁷⁷ For the On Pre-Islamic Poetry affair and its aftermath, see Jami⊂i, Taha Husayn, pp. 26–46; Al-Nowaihi, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 189–207; and the sources on Taha cited above.

⁷⁸ Analyzed in Hourani, Arabic Thought, pp. 183–92.

⁷⁹ Jami'i, Taha Husayn, pp. 51–67, follows Taha's career crisis in the 1930s.

⁸⁰ “Islah 'azim fi wizarat al-ma'arif,” al-Manar, 34 (April 1932), 299–305. Al-Manar, 27 (May 13, 1926), 120, contrasts “the religious university of al-Azhar” with the “godless Egyptian University.”

⁸¹ See the lists of delegates in Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Congress of Orientalists, Oxford, 1928 (London, 1929), and subsequent Proceedings (in various languages) of the congress.

⁸² Primary documents on the Khalaf Allah affair are Allah, Muhammad Ahmad Khalaf, al-Fann al-qasasi fi al-Qur⊃an al-Karim, 3rd ed. (Cairo, 1965) and the running debate between Khalaf Allah and his critics in al-Risala beginning September 15, 1947.Google Scholar My account also relies on Jomier, J., “Quelques positions actuelles de l'exégèse coranique en Egypte révélées par une polémique récente (1947–1951),” Mélanges, Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales de Caire, Vol. 1 (1954), 39–72Google Scholar, and Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, Contemporary Islam and the Challenge of History (Albany, N.Y., 1982), pp. 46–53.Google Scholar

⁸³ Sa'fan, Kamal, Amin al-Khuli (Cairo, 1982), pp. 166–67, 172, 176.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ The short quotation appears in Jomier, Mélanges, p. 48, and the long, in Haddad, Contemporary Islam, p. 50.

⁸⁵ Majallat al-Azhar, 19 (Muharram 1367 [1947]), 89.

⁸⁶ Bahi's, massive polemic is al-Fikr al-Islami al-hadith wa salatuh bi-al-isti'mar al-gharbi (Cairo, 1975). The book was in its eighth edition in 1975, showing heavy and continuing demand for it.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ Hamzaoui, Académie, p. 107.