Today marks the birthday of the great writer and thinker Tawfiq Al-Hakim, born on October 9, 1898. He is one of the cultural icons of Egypt and the Arab world, considered among the most influential writers and thinkers of his time within society. He enriched the Arabic library with numerous novels, stories, articles, biographies, and studies.

Tawfiq Ismail Al-Hakim was born in Alexandria. His father was an Egyptian wealthy farmer working in the judiciary in Delengat, Beheira Governorate, and his mother was Turkish, daughter of a retired Turkish officer. His mother, proud of her Turkish origin, kept him isolated from his rural family and peers, which led him to turn inward to his intellectual world.

He attended primary school in Damanhur and later moved to Cairo to continue his secondary education at Muhammad Ali Secondary School. This distance from his family gave him some freedom to pursue interests such as music, acting, and theater, frequenting George Abyad’s troupe, which satisfied his artistic inclinations.

During the 1919 revolution, he participated in demonstrations with his uncles and was arrested and imprisoned in the Citadel prison. His father managed to transfer him to a military hospital until his release. He resumed his studies in 1920, earned his baccalaureate in 1921, and enrolled in the Faculty of Law, graduating in 1925.

After graduation, he briefly worked as a trainee lawyer. Through family connections, his father secured support for him to study in Paris in 1925 to pursue a doctorate in law. In Paris, he visited the Louvre, cinemas, and theaters, gaining broad literary and artistic culture, especially in Greek and French literature.

Al-Hakim abandoned law studies to focus on theatrical literature and stories, frequently attending French theaters and the opera. His parents recalled him in 1927 after only three years without obtaining the doctorate, and he returned to Egypt in 1928.

Back in Egypt, he worked as Deputy Public Prosecutor in mixed courts in Alexandria, then in civil courts. In 1934, he joined the Ministry of Public Education as an inspector of investigations, later becoming director of the music and theater department in 1937, and then director of social guidance at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

He resigned from government work in 1944 but returned in 1954 as director of the Egyptian National Library. That year, he was elected an active member of the Arabic Language Academy. In 1956, he was appointed a full-time member of the Supreme Council for Arts and Letters with the rank of Undersecretary of State. In 1959, he became Egypt’s delegate to UNESCO in Paris, returning to Cairo in early 1960 to resume his role at the Supreme Council for Arts and Letters. Later, he served as an advisor and board member at Al-Ahram newspaper in 1971.

Al-Hakim enriched Arabic literature with many works translated into English, French, and other languages. His works include novels such as “Return of the Spirit,” “The Enchanted Palace” (with Taha Hussein), “Diaries of a Deputy in the Countryside,” “A Bird from the East,” “Ashab,” “Temple Dancer,” short novels, and stories like “The Devil’s Covenant,” “The Sultan of Darkness,” and “Justice and Art.” His plays include “The People of the Cave,” “Scheherazade,” “Solomon the Wise,” “King Oedipus,” “The Society Theater,” “Isis,” “The Confused Sultan,” and “The Council of Justice.”

He also authored numerous texts and studies, including “The Tree of Governance” (political texts), “The Wise Man’s Staff” (dialogue texts), “Reflections on Politics” (intellectual texts), “Reciprocity” (intellectual texts), and “The Political Tree of Governance” (political texts).

Al-Hakim received many awards: the Republic Medal in 1957, the State Prize in Literature in 1960, the First Class Arts Medal, the Nile Collar in 1975, and an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Arts in 1975. His name was given to the Hakim Theater troupe (1964–1972) and to the Mohamed Farid Theater from 1987 onward.