View source for Mohammed Hussein Heikal

{{For|the Egyptian journalist and news analyst|Mohamed Hassanein Heikal}}
{{short description|Egyptian writer}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Mohammed Hussein Heikal<br/><small>محمد حسين هيكل</small>
|image         = File:صورة شخصية محمد حسين هيكل.jpg
|alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by the blind and visually impaired's speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
|caption       = Photograph of Heikal
|birth_name    = 
|birth_date    = {{Birth date|1888|08|20}}
|birth_place   = [[Mansoura]], [[Egypt]]
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|1956|12|08|1888|08|20}}
|death_place   = [[Cairo]], Egypt
|nationality   = Egyptian
|other_names   = 
|occupation    = 
|years_active  = 
|known_for     = 
|notable_works = 
|party         = [[Liberal Constitutional Party (Egypt)|Liberal Constitutional Party]] 
}}
'''Mohammed Hussein Heikal'''{{efn|Also spelt ''Haikal'', ''Haekal'', or ''Haykal''.}} ({{langx|ar|محمد حسين هيكل}} {{IPA|arz|mæˈħæmmæd ħeˈseːn ˈheːkæl}}; August 20, 1888 – December 8, 1956) was an [[Egyptians|Egyptian]] writer, journalist, politician. He held several cabinet posts, including [[List of Ministers of Education of Egypt|minister of education]].

==Life==
Haekal was born in Kafr Ghannam, [[Mansoura]], [[Ad Daqahliyah]] in 1888. He obtained a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in Law in 1909 and a PhD from the [[Sorbonne University]] in [[Paris]] in 1912. While a student in Paris, he composed what is considered the first authentic Egyptian novel, ''[[Zaynab (novel)|Zaynab]]''. After returning to Egypt, he worked as a lawyer for 10 years, then as a [[journalist]]. He published articles in ''[[Al Jarida]]''. He was the cofounder of ''[[Al Siyasa]]'' newspaper, the organ of the Liberal Constitutionalist party for which he was also an adviser<ref name=hde>{{cite book|author=Arthur Goldschmidt Jr.|title=Historical Dictionary of Egypt|year=2013
|page=388|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-8025-2|edition=4th|location=Lanham, MD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQNSAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA388}}</ref> and was also elected as its [[editor-in-chief]]. In 1937, he was appointed as minister of state for the interior ministry in [[Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha]]'s second government. In November 1940 he was appointed minister of education to the [[First Cabinet of Sirri Pasha|cabinet]] led by [[Hussein Sirri Pasha (1894–1960)|Hussein Sirri Pasha]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The New Cairo Cabinet|url=https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/pls/1940/11/18/01/article/10/?e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxTI--------------1|access-date=26 February 2022|work=The Palestine Post⁩⁩|date=18 November 1940|location=Cairo|archive-date=26 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226122724/https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/pls/1940/11/18/01/article/10/?e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxTI--------------1}}</ref> In this post he introduced several reforms, including decentralization, by establishing educational zones and making programs and curricula nationally oriented. He was greatly influenced and inspired by the comprehensive reforms of [[Mohammad Abduh]], [[Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed]] and [[Qasim Amin]]. One of his [[protégé]]s was the historian [[Husayn Fawzi Alnajjar|Husayn Fawzi al-Najjar]].

Heikal is the father of seven children: Ateya, Taheya, Hussein, Hedeya, Bahiga, [[Fayza Haikal]], and Ahmad. Fayza teaches [[Egyptology]] at the [[American University in Cairo]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2019}}

==Writing==
Many critics have considered the novel Zeinab, written by Heikal 1913, as the 'first modern Egyptian novel.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Elkhadem |first=Saad |date=1978-01-01 |title=On the Rise of the Egyptian Novel |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/IFR/article/view/13281 |journal=International Fiction Review |language=en |issn=1911-186X}}</ref> However, some scholars have debated this, with Elliot Colla reaching a conclusion that this label had more to do with "the needs of national institutions such as the cinema, the Parliament, or Cairo University, at moments of formation or reformation than it does with the texts themselves."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Colla |first=Elliott |date=2009-01-29 |title=How Zaynab Became the First Arabic Novel |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00573.x |journal=History Compass |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=214–225 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2008.00573.x |issn=1478-0542|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Colla went on to conclude that Zaynab became recognized as part of the national literary tradition not at the moment of its initial production but in subsequent circumstances of reception and reproduction tied to other non-literary significances.

His works include:
*''[[Zaynab (novel)|Zeinab]]'', (زينب) 1914.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-20 |title=محمد حسين هيكل.. لماذا رفض وضع اسمه على "زينب" أول رواية مصرية؟ |url=https://www.youm7.com/story/2023/8/20/%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%84-%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%B6-%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%87-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A8-%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84/6278063 |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=اليوم السابع |language=ar}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
*''Biographies of Egyptian and Western Personalities'', 1929.
*''The Life of Muhammad'', 1933. (حياة محمد)
*''In the House of Revelation'', 1939. (فى منزل الوحى)
*"Ten days in the Sudan" (عشرة أيام فى السودان)
*Sayyidina ''[[Umar|Al Farouq Omar]]'', 1944/45.
*''Memories on Egyptian politics'', 1951-53. (مذكرات فى السياسة المصرية)
*''Thus Was I Created'', 1955.
*''Faith, Knowledge and Philosophy'', published in 1964.
*''The Islamic Empire and sacred places'', published in 1964.
*''Egyptian short stories'', published in 1967.
*Sayyidina ''[[Uthman Ibn Affan]]'', published in 1968.
*''Mehraj-ud-din beigh'', Arabic master

==Further reading==
* (in German) Baber Johansen: ''Muhammad Husain Haikal. Europa und der Orient im Weltbild eines ägytischen Liberalen.'' (Series: Beiruter Texte und Studien, BTS, 5) Ergon, Würzburg and al-Furat, Beirut 1967
* Ibrahim Fawzy Ibrahim. ''[https://caus.org.lb/en/product/the-arab-future-al-mustaqbal-al-arabi-no-535-september-2023/ The dilemma of modernization and the crisis of Egyptian liberal thought: a new reading in an ancient fictional text.]'' The ARAB FUTURE (AL MUSTAQBAL AL ARABI), No. 535, September 2023.

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070213120653/http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Arts%26Culture/Literature/Novels/ProminentNovelists/070903020000000015.htm Heykal] from Egypt state information service.

==External links==
*[https://archive.org/details/haykal-the-life-of-muhammad The Life of Muhammad], English translation by [[Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi]].

{{Egyptian writers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heikal, Mohammed Hussein}}
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1956 deaths]]
[[Category:Egyptian newspaper founders]]
[[Category:Paris-Sorbonne University alumni]]
[[Category:Ministers of education of Egypt]]
[[Category:Egyptian pashas]]
[[Category:People from Mansoura, Egypt]]
[[Category:20th-century Egyptian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Egyptian journalists]]
[[Category:Members of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo]]