جمال الدين الأفغاني

Muhammad ibn Safdar al-Husayni, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838–1897 CE). Al-Zirikli describes him as "the philosopher of Islam in his age", and as one of those on whose shoulders the modern renaissance of the East was raised. ¹

He was born in Asadabad in Afghanistan, and travelled to India, where he excelled in the rational and transmitted sciences. He made the pilgrimage in 1273 AH, then settled in Istanbul. He went to Egypt, where he breathed the spirit of reform into it, and Muhammad Abduh became his pupil. ¹

The Egyptian government exiled him to Paris, where he founded with his pupil the newspaper al-Urwa al-Wuthqa. He then made many long journeys, and was invited to Istanbul, where he died. ¹

Al-Zirikli says that he spoke seven languages well, and that he did not produce many writings. Among his works is Risala al-Radd 'ala al-Dahriyyin (The Refutation of the Materialists), which his pupil Muhammad Abduh translated into Arabic. ¹