The Revival of Philosophical Thought in Egypt: Zakī Najīb Maḥmūd’s Account of the Study and Publication of the Islamic Philosophical Heritage and the Translation Movement of Western Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

This article is a translation of the first chapter of Min Zāwīyah Falsafīyyah (“From a Philosophical Perspective”) by the Egyptian philosopher Zakī Najīb Maḥmūd, published in 1982. The significance of this text lies in the period in which it was written—during a major shift in Maḥmūd’s intellectual orientation. At this stage, he distanced himself from the strict empiricism and logical positivism that characterized his early works, such as Nahw Falsafah ‛Ilmīyyah, and, like many Arab intellectuals after the Arab defeats by Israel in the wars of 1967 and 1973, turned his attention toward the Arab–Islamic intellectual heritage, approaching modernity and Western philosophy with a more critical eye.
In this text, Maḥmūd begins his analytical narrative of the revival of philosophical life in Egypt by tracing its stagnation to its roots. He attributes the decline of philosophical thinking in the Arab world to al-Ghazālī’s Tahāfut al-Falāsifah, which, in his view, closed the door of rational inquiry for more than seven centuries. The reopening of that door, in the mid-nineteenth century, was the outcome of a broad intellectual movement grounded on two essential principles—reason and freedom. This movement sought liberation from ignorance, superstition, and mere scholastic commentary on earlier texts, and the revival of rational thought based on experience and sound logical argumentation.
Focusing on Egypt’s intellectual efforts since the early twentieth century, Maḥmūd identifies three major currents as evidence of this philosophical resurgence:

The Heritage Revival Movement: an academic endeavor centered on the critical study and publication of foundational works of Islamic philosophy (including those of al-Kindī, Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Rushd, and al-Ghazālī);
The Translation Movement: a systematic effort to render Western philosophical schools into Arabic, encompassing texts from Aristotle and Plato to Descartes, Hume, and Russell;
The Emergence of Specialized Writings and Philosophical Schools: facilitated by the establishment of universities, the professionalization of philosophical research, and the rise of modern Egyptian philosophers such as ‛Abdul-Ḥamīd Ṣabrā, Zakarīyyā Ibrāhīm, and Yaḥyā Huwaydī.

Maḥmūd concludes that these developments represent the most effective means for the awakening of reason and the growth of critical thinking. The ultimate mission of philosophy in this era, he asserts, lies in reconciling freedom and reason.