Economic Ideas of Rifa`ah Al-Tahtawi*

Jami`al-Azhar (al-Azhar Mosque University) has been the oldest and most renowned seat of Islamic learning and education in Egypt. During the nineteenth century it had been very faithful to its past pattern and courses of studies. It was hardly affected by the developments that were taking place elsewhere in the world in social and natural sciences (al-Jabarti, 1985, 1: 276). In general, its teachers ceased to produce original work. The overall environment was that of imitation and repetition. Writing a commentary or commentary over commentary, on an earlier work, was considered a great achievement. There was dearth of creative and innovative writings. However, some of its graduates were ignited with new spirit of change and reform when directly or indirectly they came across modern world of learning in theory and practice. Rifā‘ah Rāfi ‘ al-Tahtāwī was one such personality. The present paper studies economic ideas of this modernized Azharite graduate of the nineteenth century Egypt