The days by Taha Hussein

The days for Taha Hussein It was destined for "Taha Hussein" that the lights of his sight would go out, but his heart was a lantern that illuminated his heart. He is that child who was overwhelmed by despair of life and was driven to suicide, then turned into an exceptional personality that perhaps will not be repeated, and achieved what millions of the sighted were unable to do. "The days" is not just an autobiography, but a experience that is suitable for benefit for successive generations, as well as suitable for studying the conditions of Egyptian society in the twentieth century, and understanding its deterioration and the spread of ignorance within it. The author left the countryside to Al-Azhar in search of Islamic knowledge, but he did not find his goal there; he then headed to the Egyptian university, which sent him to France to complete his studies; so he drank from Western culture, and returned to Egypt to spread the light of knowledge he received. It is the experience of the "Dean of Arab Literature" who turned disability into willpower. The Egyptian writer did not gain the fame that "Taha Hussein" achieved in the world, he is the young man who traveled to France, and Europeans knew him for his openness and ideas that changed many of the old cultural constants, and he is also a model of a poor blind man who challenged difficulties to become a thinker, writer, and lecturer respected by cultural circles in Europe and its universities, which competed to host him and grant him honorary doctorates. After the publication of "The Days" in 1929, an English translation of its first part was published in London under the title "Egyptian Childhood," which introduced the West to the personality of this ambitious man who won all his personal and intellectual battles, which even led to his excommunication and trial. In 1932, a translation of the second part was published under the title "The Lake of Days," and in 1967, an English translation of "Taha Hussein's" memoirs was published under the title "A Road to France," which is considered in Europe as the third and final part of his autobiography. The "Encyclopedia Britannica" describes the translation of "The Days" as "the first modern Arabic literature known to the West," and a copy of this translation exists in the libraries of European organizations working in the field of serving the visually impaired, some of which study it to learn from how to overcome difficulties and achieve personal dreams despite the disability of losing sight. "Abu Al-Ala Al-Ma'arri" and "Taha Hussein" are inevitably linked, as they are the blind men who saw what the eye cannot bear to see. If they liked what they saw, they expressed it in writing; some understand their meaning, and some fail to perceive their insight, but they accepted and immortalized. "عرض لي أن أدرس حياة أبى العلاء، ذلك الذى أبغضته ونفرت منه، ولست أدري لم حبب إلى البحث عن هذا الرجل؟ ولم كلفت به الكلف كله؟ ومع أن كتبه قد ضاع أكثرها، فقد خيل لى أنى أستطيع أن أجد فيما بقى منها ما يشفى غليلى. وقد سمعت الناس يتحدثون عن اللزوميات فلا يتفقون فيها على رأى، وسمعتهم يصفون أبا العلاء بالإسلام مرة وبالكفر مرة.. ورأيت بينى وبين الرجل تشابها فى هذه الآفة المحتومة، لحقت كلينا فى أول صباه، فأثرت فى حياته أثرا غير قليل. كل ذلك أغرانى بدرس أبى العلاء، وأنا أحمد هذا الإغراء وأغتبط به». Hussein, the author of the previous words, narrated them in his book "Renewal of the Memory of Abu Al-Alaa," which was published in 1914. From here, their journey together began, as Al-Ma'arri was spiritually accompanied by Hussein through books, and Hussein saw himself in his predecessor. No wonder that there are shared incidents between them, which Hussein discovered while reading Al-Ma'arri, increasing the bond and strengthening the friendship and connection.