Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Mostafa Lotfi al Manfalouti

Mostafa Lotfi El Manfalouti was born on December 30, 1877, in the city of Manfalout in Upper Egypt. Brought up in a family of Ulamas, he was motivated to finish his education at Al Azhar in Cairo. When first there, he met Imam Muhammad Abdou and became his student. He accompanied him throughout so that Imam Muhammad Abdou himself used to say that this student would be among the best to disseminate his principles which conformed entirely with El Manfalouti's reformatory thought. During that period, his literary talent cropped up. He began to write poetry at the age of 16, which made him the centre of attention. He was imprisoned, while still a student at Al Azhar, because he wrote a poem slandering Khedive Abbas II the then ruler of Egypt.
In disseminating his ideas, El Manfalouti relied heavily on essay-writing which he developed into a full art. El Manfalouti gained more renown from his essays than that from his novels. Orientalist Brookleman said that El Manfalouti is the most famous essay-writer in the 20th century. Moreover, he was a pioneer of the short story and the novel in general. His smooth style made his novels readable in successive editions all over the Arab world. El Manfalouti distinguished himself with:
First: Tenderness of feeling, which enabled him to visualize the miseries of society. He was known to be always seeking comfort for the miserable, the deprived and the bereaved.
Second: his ideal, moral inclination that was manifested in his call for righteousness, goodness and virtue.
El Manfalouti's most important reformatory principles were:
1. Education. 2. Social justice 3. Authenticity and modernity. 4. A special view of art. 5. Women's rights. 6. Religious reform

Abdel-Fattah al-Kussary

Born on April 15, 1905, Abdel-Fattah al-Qossari is considered one of Egypt's most distinguished comedians. He was almost always cast as an illiterate, who thinks that he knows everything when turns out that he does not. He graced Egyptian cinema in over 60 films which include:Sokkar hanemIsmail Yassin in the madhouseIbn HamidoIsmail Yassin meets Rya and SakinaMiss HanafiAs you wishShamshoun and LiblebHouse of ghostsHe wants to get marriedFriday nightThe black marketIf you were richThe accusedSi Omar
Al-Qossari died in 1965

Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol (b. 1940 - d. 1983)

Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol (b. 1940 - d. 1983)
Donqol was known for his politically-colored poetry. At the beginning, Greek mythology dominated his writing.Later, however, he relied more on pre-Islamic and Islamic imagery to modernize Arabic poetry.
Donqol's father, an Azhar graduate, who wrote classic poetry, possessed a library full of books in the various Islamic disciplines of which his son took advantage.He died, however, when Donqol was ten years old and at such an early age,the son became responsible for a mother and two younger brothers.
He completed his secondary education in Qena in 1957. In 1958, he enrolled in the Faculty of Arts,Cairo University. Before the end of his first year, he dropped out to work for a living as an employee at the Qena Court of Justice,the Customs Departments in Suez and Alexandria and the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organization.But he was always running away to poetry.
Donqol died in 1983 after a long illness.
Famous works : Al-bokaa bayn yadai Zarqaa al-Yamama (Crying on the Shoulders of Zarqaa al-Yamam) – Beirut 1969 Taaliq alla ma hadeth (Commenting on What Happened) – Beirut 1971 Maqtal al-qamar (Death of the Moon) – Beirut 1974 Al-'ahd al-aati (The Forthcoming Epoch) – Beirut 1975 Aqwaal gadida an harb al-Bassous (New Statements Regarding the Bassous War) – Cairo 1983 Awraq al-ghorfa 8 (Documents of Room No. 8)