Ahmed Ameen

Ahmed Ameen

Ahmed Ameen is one of Egypt's leading intellectuals and men of letters. He lived in the first half of the 20th Century, and had a far-reaching impact on modern Arab thought.

Born in Cairo in October, 1886, Ahmed Ameen enrolled in Al-Azhar University and obtained his alameya degree (Azhar equivalent to the BA) in Islamic Judicial Education in 1911. He was appointed teacher at the Judicial School. Then, he worked as Sharia (Islamic Law) judge.

Ameen was chosen by Dr. Taha Hussein to become a lecturer at Fouad I (presently Cairo) University in 1926 where he worked until he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1939. He also assumed several other positions such as Director of Culture at the Ministry of Education, and Director of the Culture Department at the Arab League in 1947.

Ameen was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the Faculty of Arts. He was a devoted intellectual, who worked on his research with diligence and perseverance. Far from being dogmatic or conventional, he had an innovative and analytical mind. However, he always avoided raising intellectual controversies.

Achievements

Ahmed Ameen wrote more than forty books, the most important of which are:

-"Leaders of Reform in Modern Times": which contains brief biographies of contemporary Arab and Muslim intellectuals and reformers. Each of these struggled to promote science, religion and social activity, and all provided good examples for the younger generations to follow.

- The Islamic Encyclopedia in three parts: Here, Ameen gave thoughtful consideration of the intellectual and rational side of Islamic civilization. The encyclopedia is notably simple in style, rich in information and systematic in presentation. He was most interested in drawing attention to tracing the reasons of backwardness in the Islamic world.

- "The Dictionary of Egyptian Customs and Traditions", which is a valuable and in-depth study of words, phrases, customs, traditions and common sayings prevailing in Egypt since early times.

- "My Life", which is an autobiography, relating his life's journey, since being a child in a poor environment, through his struggle in the cultural, political and public life.

Other Activities:

1. In 1914, , together with other intellectuals, he formed and chaired the "Authentication, Translation and Publishing Commission", which supervised the publication of several major cultural, literary and scientific works.

2. In 1934, he founded and chaired the weekly literary magazine "Al- Thaqafa" (Culture).

3. In 1945, he supervised the creation of what was called "The People's University" which later turned into the Mass Culture Organization, currently known as the General Authority for Cultural Palaces.

4. In 1947, he supervised the foundation of the Arabic Manuscript Institute, which operated under the Arab League, with the purpose of salvaging Arabic manuscripts.