Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥë (; born 1858, died 1930) was an Egyptian author and journalist of the Nahda. He edited and published Fatra Min az-ZamÃÂn, a serialized literary work of social and political satire, compiled and published as a book entitled Hadith Isa bin Hisham in 1907.
He was born in 1858 into a family of silk merchants. He was arrested for distributing a political leaflet authored by his father, IbrÃÂhëm al-Muwayliḥë in the period before the ûUrabi revolt. Although he was originally sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted; he was exiled and went to Italy to join his father. The two went to Paris in 1884 and helped JamÃÂl ad-Dën al-AfghÃÂnë and Muḥammad ÿAbduh with the publication of the anti-colonial Islamic revolutionary journal al-ÿUrwa al-wuthqÃÂ.
The Muwayliḥës were expelled from France following the fourth issue of their newspaper al-IttiḥÃÂd, which was sharply critical of the Ottoman sultan.' After a brief time in London, they were invited to Istanbul and moved there in 1885.' With access to the FÃÂá¹Âih library, Muḥammad had access to important works of Arabic literature and transcribed a number of them, including works of Abà « l-ÿAlÃÂþ al-MaÿarrëâÂÂhis favorite poet.'
In 1887, Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥë returned to Egypt. He wrote for Al Muqattam under a number of pseudonyms.' He met the Englishman Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and gained access to the circle of Princess NÃÂzlë FÃÂá¸Âil which included Muḥammad ÿAbduh, Saÿd Zaghlà «l, Aḥmad Fatḥë Zaghlà «l, QÃÂsim Amën, Muá¹£á¹ÂafàFahmë, , and ḤÃÂfiẠIbrÃÂhëm.'
The newspaper Miá¹£bÃÂḥ al-sharq (âÂÂLamp of the eastâÂÂ), edited by Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥë and his father IbrÃÂhëm, was launched on April 14, 1898.' In this newspaper, Muḥammad published Fatra Min az-ZamÃÂn, a serialized literary work of social and political satire.'
Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥë was a famous critic of Egypt's poet laureate Ahmed Shawqi, particularly after the first volume of his anthology ash-Shawqiyat was published.In at least two dedicated articles, al-Muwayliḥë accused Shawqi of a kind of experimentation he considered heretical: he saw Shawqi's publishing of an autobiography as boastful and unprecedented in Arabic poetry; his prose, unbecoming of a poet whose single expressive voice should be poetry; his Western influence from his studies in Europe, "repugnant" and unworthy of the proud Arabic poetic tradition.
These discussions about tradition, authenticity, and formality against experimentation, vulgarity, and Westernization were typical of the Nahda and transcended language and literature, reaching more broadly into other changes happening in culture and society at the time.
Professor Gaber Asfour, Director-General of the , requested this edition of Roger Allen.
Translations
This translation was developed from Roger Allen's doctoral dissertation, completed under the supervision of Muhammad Mustafa Badawi at Oxford in 1968.
Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥë appears in Samia Mehrez's Cairo Literary Atlas.