Muhammad Abduh

Muhammad Abduh was born in 1849 and began teaching advanced Islamic texts at Al-Azhar University before he'd even finished his own studies there. By 1877 he held the rank of ʿālim and taught logic, theology, ethics, and politics; the next year he added professorships in history at Dar al-ʿUlūm and Arabic literature at Madrasat al-Alsun. He wrote prolifically for Al-Manār and Al-Ahram, became editor of Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya in 1880, and briefly co-published the pan-Islamist anti-colonial newspaper al-ʿUrwa al-Wuthqā with his mentor Jamāl ad-Dīn al-Afghānī. His major works included Risālat at-T…