At a glance
Era 11- Dates
- 1849-1905 CE
- Who
- Egyptian scholar and Grand Mufti who worked to renew Islamic learning
- Era
- Colonialism & Renewal
ProfileMuhammad Abduh
Muhammad Abduh was born in 1849 in the Nile Delta and studied at al-Azhar, where he became a student and friend of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. After the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 he was exiled for supporting the Urabi revolt, and in Paris he and al-Afghani published a journal calling Muslims to unite.
He returned to Egypt, became a judge, sat on the board of al-Azhar, and in 1899 was appointed Grand Mufti. He worked to reform teaching at al-Azhar, the Sharia courts and the Arabic language, and supported schools for girls.
He taught that Islam is a religion of reason and that the weakness of the Muslims came from blind imitation and ignorance, not from the faith. His book The Theology of Unity set out these ideas. His student Rashid Rida spread them through the journal al-Manar. Abduh died in 1905.
Meet them inWhere they appear on the road
SourcesSources for this profile
The books, lectures and maps behind this page are listed on our Sources page.