Özet:

The process, which started with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798, went far beyond a classical military operation and became a milestone for Arabic literature, as it caused the restructuring of many institutions of the country shortly after the occupation. Because Mehmed Ali Pasha's campaign to send students to countries such as Italy and France for education to compete with Europe was not only limited to military and technical fields, but also in Egypt with the translation movements led by Rifā'a Rāfi'ı̄ at-Tahtāwı̄. It paved the way for the revival of literature, especially in poetry and prose, and ultimately the emergence of the first works of modern Arabic literature. Hasan al-Attar, his teacher from Azhar University, had a special place in Tahtāwı̄'s life. Because Attar is a person who has seen the French occupation closely, observed many activities such as bringing printing technology, establishing laboratories and libraries during the three years they stayed in Egypt, and had the opportunity to think for a long time about how and why the country was exposed to the occupation of France. In summary, Attar decided that the reason for this backwardness was that only religious education was considered sufficient in the education system. Because he tried to convey to his students that they had reached an advanced level due to the fact that previous scholars had studied other sciences such as mathematics, astronomy, medicine and science along with religious sciences. Tahtāwı̄ was also influenced by what his teacher Hasan al-Attar told and believed that the country's prosperity and welfare would only be possible by providing education by Western standards. His teacher, Attar, also enabled Tahtāwı̄ to join the student committee to be sent to Paris as an officer due to his hard work and fondness for science. Although Tahtāwı̄ was assigned to follow the religious obligations of the students sent to Paris in 1826, to guide them and monitor their expenses, he learned French very well in addition to these duties and started translation activities as soon as he returned to his country. This hard work and effort of his has led to the appreciation of many French scientists, especially Edme François Jomard, who is responsible for the student body in France. Again, with his letter of recommendation to Mehmed Ali Pasha, Tahtāwı̄ took office in important institutions when he returned to Egypt. He saw translation activities as bringing the acquis created by Europe over the centuries to his country in a short way. As soon as he left Egypt, started to write his work in the style of a novel-travel book, Tahlîsu'l-İbrîz fî Telhîsi Bâriz which he would call Refinement of Pure Gold Paris Summary. During his five years in Paris, he never stood idle and constantly improved himself. Despite graduating from Azhar University and being brought up in an environment where an attitude of suspicion mixed with hatred prevailed in the country, he observed France with an impartial attitude, disregarded the pros and cons, and succeeded in elevating himself to a position where he could objectively analyze the point of the Western world in particular France. Because Tahtāwı̄ knew the positive effects of the translation activities started in the Abbasid period on the Islamic world, he offered to open a School of Languages for a similar study to be carried out in Egypt, and the administration of the period accepted this offer. The students who graduated from here contributed to their country by translating important books into Arabic over time. Tahtāwı̄ introduced the novel genre to Egypt by translating Fenelon's Télémaque (Telemak). He guided many poets by transferring new literary movements in poetry. In addition, he wanted to present the theater he frequently visited in Paris to the taste of the Egyptian people, and transferred this job to his student Muhammed Osman Celâl due to his intense translation activities. Muhammed Osman also translated many works of French playwrights Molière and Racine into Arabic. Apart from these, Tahtavi also gave the first examples of stories, newspaper articles and interviews. The works that Tahtāwı̄ both copyrighted and translated into Arabic inspired writers and poets and enabled them to produce Western-style literary works. All these efforts of Tahtāwı̄ made him a pioneer and symbolic figure in the intellectual awakening of modern Arabic literature in Egypt.

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