WRITER

Rifa'a al-Tahtawi

1801 - 1873

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Rifa'a Rafi' at-Tahtawi (Arabic: رفاعة رافع الطهطاوي, romanized: Rifāʿa Rāfiʿ aṭ-Ṭahṭāwī; 1801–1873) was an Egyptian writer, teacher, translator, Egyptologist, and intellectual of the Nahda (the Arab renaissance). One of the first Egyptian travellers to France in the nineteenth century, Tahtawi published in 1834 a detailed account of his 5-year-long stay in France, Takhlīṣ al-ʾibrīz fī talkhīṣ Bārīz ('The Extrication of Gold in Summarizing Paris'), and from then on became one of the first Egyptian scholars to write about Western culture in an attempt to bring about a reconciliation and an understanding between Islamic and Christian civilizations. In 1835 he founded a School of Languages in Cairo, and he was influential in the development of science, law, literature, and Egyptology in 19th-century Egypt. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Rifa'a al-Tahtawi has received more than 155,389 page views. His biography is available in 23 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 21 in 2019). Rifa'a al-Tahtawi is the 1,733rd most popular writer (up from 2,263rd in 2019), the 287th most popular biography from Egypt (up from 323rd in 2019) and the 19th most popular Egyptian Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 160k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 57.31

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 23

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.26

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.74

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Imam in Paris
Muslims, france, Paris (france), description and travel, Travel
2011
Imam in Paris
Muslims, france, Paris (france), description and travel, Travel
2011

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Rifa'a al-Tahtawi ranks 1,733 out of 7,302. Before him are Ken Wilber, Sabino Arana, Alexander Grin, Håkan Nesser, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, and Arthur Machen. After him are Augusto Roa Bastos, Robert de Boron, Stanisław Wyspiański, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, William Carlos Williams, and Joan Didion.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1801, Rifa'a al-Tahtawi ranks 25. Before him are Princess Sophie of Sweden, Prince Charles of Prussia, Moritz von Jacobi, George Biddell Airy, Vladimir Dal, and William H. Seward. After him are Zénaïde Bonaparte, Albert Lortzing, Infanta Isabel Maria of Braganza, David Farragut, Marie Laveau, and Karl Baedeker. Among people deceased in 1873, Rifa'a al-Tahtawi ranks 24. Before him are Muhammad IV of Morocco, Pauline Therese of Württemberg, Urbano Rattazzi, Sheridan Le Fanu, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, and Princess Charlotte of Württemberg. After him are Viktor Hartmann, José Antonio Páez, Jean Chacornac, Friedrich Wieck, Wilhelm Marstrand, and Charles II, Duke of Brunswick.

Others Born in 1801

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Others Deceased in 1873

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In Egypt

Among people born in Egypt, Rifa'a al-Tahtawi ranks 287 out of 642. Before him are Amr Moussa (1936), Henuttaneb (-1350), Pope Theophilus of Alexandria (310), Amr Diab (1961), Bakenranef (-700), and Ali az-Zahir (1005). After him are Arnuwanda II (-1400), Al-Mansur Ali (1242), Abū Kāmil Shujāʿ ibn Aslam (850), Al-Mu'azzam Isa (1176), Hassan Fathy (1900), and Saad el-Shazly (1922).

Others born in Egypt

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Among WRITERS In Egypt

Among writers born in Egypt, Rifa'a al-Tahtawi ranks 19. Before him are Dionysius Thrax (-170), Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888), Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy (1928), Achilles Tatius (200), Ahmed Shawqi (1868), and Ibn al-Farid (1181). After him are Herodas (-300), Edmond Jabès (1912), Tawfiq al-Hakim (1898), Anastasius Sinaita (630), Ibn Taghribirdi (1410), and Apollonius Dyscolus (200).

Egyptian born Writers

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