He was born on November 14, 1889 in Izbet el Kilo, Egypt, and died on October 28, 1973 in Cairo, Egypt. He was an Egyptian intellectual, writer, translator, and literary critic. He was referred to as "the dean of Arabic literature." He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 14 times. He has written over 60 books and 1,300 articles. It is considered a symbol of the new Arab humanistic culture and a revivalist of literature throughout the Arab world. He distinguished himself as an insightful critic, an excellent stylist, writer, author of memories from his childhood and several short novels.

At the age of three, he lost his eyesight irretrievably because of an unqualified doctor, which did not prevent him from getting an education. He studied Arabic religion and literature. He holds a PhD from the Sorbonne in Paris and a professor from Cairo University. He worked scientifically, initially dealing with the history of the ancient world, later focused his interests mainly on Arabic literature.

During his studies in France, he met and married Suzanne Brosseau, who helped him in his daily life and delighted him with her open mind. In his works, he calls her an angel and a fairy. She was called "sweet voice". This name came from her ability to read to him as he tried to improve his knowledge of the French language. Suzanne became his wife, best friend and mother of his two children, and was his lifelong mentor.

In 1950–1952 he was the minister of education in Egypt. He introduced a number of reforms, the most important of which introduced free education. He transformed many Koran schools into elementary schools and transformed many high schools into colleges, such as the Graduate Schools of Medicine and Agriculture. He is also credited with founding a number of new universities. Taha Hussein has served as editor-in-chief of many newspapers and has written countless articles. He was also a member of several scientific academies in Egypt and around the world.

Taha Hussein is famous for his penetrating and direct criticism of classical Arabic poetry from the Jahiliyan period, accusing it of its artificiality and lack of authenticity. This criticism was the cause of indignation and protests by conservative scholars from Al-Azhar (university). He put trust in his mind first. He argued that this poetry could have been written during the time of Islam in the 9th century, he argued that the Koran was regarded as a historical document. A huge scandal broke out and even the state authorities reacted, but in the end they sided with it. He undertook a thorough criticism of the classic poets - Al-Mutanabbi and Al-Ma'arri. He was also the author of several novels (mainly the autobiography: Al-Ayyam - days).

After retiring from active life in the civil service, he devoted himself entirely to scientific and literary activities, speaking on social, literary and cultural matters, publishing numerous articles in newspapers in the Arab world.

By 1933, in his published works, he presented various areas of his interests, which he later continued. These were critical literary, philological and historical works related to the religious ideology of Islam, sketches on ancient and European literature and culture with translations, studies in Arabic literature and Arab-Muslim culture, as well as own literary works.

He was a great expert in classical Arabic and European literature (he translated French and Greek classical works into Arabic).

Through his literary and critical literary works, he set the direction of the artistic development of the new Arab literature, which caused fierce disputes between modernists and conservatives who represented different artistic and ideological tendencies.

Mental acuity and rich knowledge combined with a new scientific method, the beauty of language and style allowed him to become a leading Arabic humanist.

His favorite character (to whom he often returned and referred to) was a blind poet and philosopher of the classical era - Abu'l-'Ala al-Ma 'arri. In 1915, he wrote a doctoral dissertation about him, and later wrote several other studies about him.

Almost all of Tah Hussein's works have gained great popularity in most Arab countries, have been published many times and are still being reprinted, they had a profound impact on Arab readers, found many followers, deepened the developing Arabic literature, influenced the beauty of her outer garment - language and style . Reading the works of Taha Hussein is a real pleasure for anyone interested in the Arabic language and Arabic literature. It is to him that contemporary Arabic literature owes to a large extent its high artistic level, bringing it closer to the level of European literature.

The most important writings

• Days (الأَيَّام) - great autobiographical novel, the most important work, 1929, was serialized in al-Hilal magazine, appeared in 3 volumes, there are very few dialogues
• About pre-Islamic poetry - a book with literary criticism, made him famous in the Arab world, due to doubts about the authenticity of the Koran and poetry, he exposed himself to the anger and hostility of many religious scholars and traditionalists, because of this book he lost his position at the university
• Criticism of prose - a philological publication, a critical edition of a classic Arabic work on rhetoric,
• Hafiz wa Shawqi - a monograph about two of the most famous poets of Egypt
• On the margin of his biography - a monograph about the Prophet Muhammad, he is interested here in the first period of Arab-Muslim history and culture
• With al-Mutanabbi - a monograph devoted to the most famous poet of the classical era
• The Tree of Misfortune - a novel, shows a wide range of social and moral relations in a small town