Google celebrated Hussein's 121st birthday with a Google Doodle
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Ṭāhā Ḥusayn
Taha Hussein was among the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a leading figure of the Arab Renaissance and the modernist movement in the Arab world. His sobriquet was "The Dean of Arabic Literature" . He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twenty-one times.
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culture · Egyptian writer (1889–1973) · linguist · translator · writer · literary critic · university teacher · politician · literary scholar · novelist · literary historian · lecturer · also Ṭāhā Ḥusayn, Taha Hussein, Ḥusayn
Born 14 November 1889 · Died 28 October 1973 · Q328765
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2010· 1 entry
1973· 3 entries
Died 1973-10-28.
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Awarded United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights (1973).
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“Knowledge is like water and air: it is every citizen's right to enjoy it for free.”
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1963· 1 entry
Career landmark: president of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo (1963–1973).
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1955· 1 entry
After his tenure as education minister ended
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1950· 4 entries
Awarded doctor honoris causa from the University of Paris (1950).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise (1950).
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Was appointed Minister of Education, in which capacity he led a call for free education and the right of everyone to be educated
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Career landmark: Minister of Education of Egypt (1950–1952).
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1946· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctorate of the University of Montpellier (1946).
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1938· 1 entry
Awarded doctor honoris causa from the University of Lyon (1938).
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1936· 2 entries
“For Egyptians, Arabic is virtually a foreign language; nobody speaks it at home, school, in the streets, or in clubs. [...] People everywhere speak a language that is not Arabic, despite the partial resemblance to it.”
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Hussein stated that "For Egyptians, Arabic is virtually a foreign language; nobody speaks it at home, school, in the streets, or in clubs
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1926· 1 entry
Brought him fame and some notoriety in the Arab world
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1919· 1 entry
Hussein returned to Egypt with Suzanne, and he was appointed professor of history at Cairo University
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1917· 1 entry
The Sorbonne awarded Hussein a second PhD, this time for his dissertation on the Tunisian historian Ibn Khaldun, who is regarded as one of the founders of sociology
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1914· 1 entry
Received a PhD for his thesis on the sceptic poet and philosopher Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri
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1908· 1 entry
Was keen to be admitted, and despite being poor and blind, he won a place
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1889· 1 entry
Born 1889-11-14.
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