Al-Taḥtāwī, Rifā`ah Bek Rāfi`

Japanese: タフターウィー（英語表記）al-Taḥtāwī， Rifā`ah Bek Rāfi`

[Origin] 1801. Taffeta
[Died] 1873. Cairo Egyptian scholar. A great contributor to the modernization of Egypt. Born into an old family in Takhta, Upper Egypt, he entered Al-Azhar University in 1817 to study. In 1824, he was appointed as an imam (guiding spirit) of the army. In 1826, he was included in the first group of French students dispatched by Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali in his capacity as an imam, and stayed in Paris until 1831, during which time he mastered French. He also came into contact with Orientalists such as A. Sacy, Caussin de Perceval, and Amédée Jobert, and studied Greek philosophy, mythology, ancient history, mathematics, geography, physics, etc., and became familiar with the works of Racine, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and others. After returning to Egypt, he taught French at the Medical School in Cairo, and worked at the Military Academy, translating French mathematics and military books into Arabic. In 1836, he became the principal of the School of Foreign Languages, and also directed the attached translation office. He translated many French books, many of which were used as textbooks. He became editor of the first official gazette, "al-Waqā'i` al-Miṣriyyah" (Egyptian Affairs), established by Muhammad Ali, and made it an interesting and rich source of reading material, making it the forerunner of modern newspapers. He was thus at the forefront of the Arab literary revival (Nahdha) movement, but when Muhammad Ali died in 1848 and his grandson Abbas came to power, he was transferred to Khartoum in the Sudan, where he translated F. Fenelon's "Telemaque". After Abbas's assassination, he returned to Cairo and held many important positions, including being the head translator of the Napoleonic Code and founding the first girls' school. In his later years, he retired from all public positions and devoted himself to writing. His writing was clear and yet retained the flavor of Arabic. The number of Western documents translated into Arabic by his students alone is said to reach 2,000.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1801. タフタ
[没]1873. カイロ
エジプトの学者。エジプト近代化の功労者。上エジプトのタフタの旧家に生まれ，1817年アズハル大学に入って勉学。 1824年には軍隊のイマーム (導師) に任じられた。 1826年エジプト副王ムハンマド・アリーが派遣した最初のフランス留学生団にイマームの資格で加えられ，1831年までパリに滞在，この間にフランス語に習熟した。また A.サシ，コサン・ド・ペルスバル，アメデー・ジョベールその他の東洋学者と接触し，ギリシア哲学，神話学，古代史，数学，地理学，物理学などを学ぶとともに，ラシーヌ，ボルテール，ルソー，モンテスキューその他の著書に親しんだ。帰国後はカイロの医学校でフランス語を教え，また陸軍士官学校に勤めてフランスの数学書や軍事書をアラビア語に訳した。 1836年外国語学校の校長となり，付設の翻訳所も指導。多くのフランス書を訳したが，その多くは教科書として用いられた。ムハンマド・アリーが創設した最初の官報"al-Waqā'i` al-Miṣriyyah" (エジプトの出来事の意) の編集者となり，これを読み物としてもおもしろく内容豊富なものにし，近代式の新聞の先駆とした。こうしてアラブの文芸復興 (ナハダ) 運動の先頭に立っていたが，1848年ムハンマド・アリーが死に，孫アッバースが政権を握ると，スーダンのハルツームに左遷され，そこで F.フェヌロンの『テレマック』を訳した。アッバースが暗殺されたあと，カイロに帰り，多くの要職につき，ナポレオン法典の翻訳の主任となったり，最初の女学校を創立するなど，功績が多かった。晩年はすべての公職を退き，もっぱら著述に従った。その文章は平明で，しかもアラビア語の香気を失わなかった。彼の門下生たちがアラビア語に訳した西欧文献のみで 2000種に達するといわれている。

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