Shawqi Daif

{{Short description|Egyptian literary critic and historian (1910–2005)}} {{Infobox scholar | name = Ahmad Shawqi Daif<br>أحمد شوقي ضيف | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | fullname = | othernames = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|1|13}} | birth_place = Um Hamam, Egypt | death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|3|10|1910|1|13}} | death_place = | alma_mater = Fuad al-Awal University | school_tradition = | main_interests = Arabic language, Arabic literature | principal_ideas = | major_works = | awards = King Faisal International Prize (1983) | influences = Ibn Maḍāʾ, Ahmad Amin | influenced = | footnotes = }}

'''Ahmad Shawqi Daif''' ({{langx|ar|أحمد شوقي ضيف}}; January 13, 1910{{spaced ndash}}March 10, 2005) was an Egyptian Arabic literary critic and historian. He is considered one of the most influential Arab intellectuals in the 20th century.<ref name=fais>[http://kfip.org/professor-ahmad-shawqi-daif/ Professor Ahmad Shawqi Daif] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229183528/http://kfip.org/professor-ahmad-shawqi-daif/ |date=2017-12-29 }} at the King Faisal International Prize website.</ref>

Daif was born in the village of Um Hamam in northern Egypt in 1910.<ref name=fais/> He earned his BA and PhD from Fuad al-Awal University,<ref name=fais/> which would later be known as Cairo University. He was later a professor of Arabic literature at his alma mater for several decades.<ref name=fais/> He was a member of the Egyptian Academy of Sciences and was president of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo for a few years.<ref name=fais/>

==Work== Daif studied Egyptian literary history under Ahmad Amin during the latter's 1939–1946 tenure. Amin stated his initial belief that Egyptians had not contributed to Arabic poetry during the Middle Ages the way other Arab populations had.<ref name=Mazyad47>A. M. H. Mazyad, ''Ahmad Amin'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRAVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA47 page 47]. Leiden: Brill Archive, 1963.</ref> Daif replied that the dearth of properly published Egyptian works from the period made such a judgement tenuous and suggested that he and Amin republish the Egyptian sections in anthologies of poetry from the period.<ref name=Mazyad48>A. M. H. Mazyad, ''Ahmad Amin'', pg. 48.</ref> Amin readily agreed, and they embarked on the long term project during which Daif wrote the preface and Amin wrote the introduction.<ref name=Mazyad48/> Fellow scholar Ihsan Abbas assisted with editing the folios for republishing from 1951 to 1952.<ref name=Mazyad47/>

Daif would later author more than 50 works in arts and literature. His study of the development of Arabic poetry during the Umayyad Caliphate is still considered to be the most important reference book on the topic.<ref name=fais/> His great work was his 100-volume ''History of Arabic Literature'', a project that took 30 years to complete, and was an overview of all poetry, literary criticism and rhetorical studies from Pre-Islamic Arabia up to the post-Abbasid era.<ref name=fais/><ref>Mursi Saad El-Din, [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/770/cu3.htm Plain Talk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605075827/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/770/cu3.htm |date=2013-06-05 }}. Al-Ahram Weekly On-Line, #770, 24–30 November 2005.</ref> The work is considered indispensable for students of Arabic literature, and some volumes have been reprinted up to 20 times.<ref name=fais/>

Daif caused minor shockwaves during the mid-20th century when he rediscovered the ancient linguistic tract of Ibn Maḍāʾ known as ''Refutation of the Grammarians''.<ref>Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. III, H-IRAM, pg. 856.</ref> Daif agreed with the central theme of the ''Refutation'': linguistic governance and analogy had rendered Arabic language education needlessly difficult and convoluted, and both took the theme as a rallying point for his calls to modernize language arts education in the Middle East.<ref>[http://acc.teachmideast.org/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=35&print=1 "The Emergency of Modern Standard Arabic,"] by Kees Versteegh. Taken from ''The Arabic Language'' by permission of the Edinburgh University Press. 1997.</ref>

==Legacy== Daif was widely respected throughout the Arab world, having earned the King Faisal International Prize for literature in 1983 as well as the Egyptian Presidential Prize for Literature in 2003.<ref name=fais/> During his career, he was also awarded two state prizes in Egypt and the Academy of the Arabic Language Prize.<ref name=fais/>

Daif had many admirers and critics. Levantine writer and diplomat Shakib Arslan considered himself a defender of Daif against traditionalist criticisms, referring to himself as "the executioner of Shawqi's enemies."<ref>Mattityahu Peled, [https://books.google.com/books?id=doHXj8WsqNMC&pg=PT122 Al-Muwailihi's Criticism of Shawqi's Introduction]. Taken from ''Modern Egypt: Studies in Politics and Society''. Eds. Sylvia G. Haim and Elie Kedourie. London: Routledge, 2005. {{ISBN|9781135780371}}</ref>

==Citations== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daif, Shawqi}} Category:1910 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Egyptian writers Category:Literary critics of Arabic Category:Egyptian historians of Islam Category:Cairo University alumni Category:Historians of Arabic literature Category:Presidents of Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo