Jurji Zaydan

Jurji Zaydan was born into a Greek Orthodox family in Beirut and studied medicine at the Syrian Protestant College before immigrating to Cairo. In 1892, he founded the legendary cultural and scientific monthly Al-Hilal, which he edited until his death, making it the most influential periodical in modern Arab intellectual history.

Zaydan single-handedly popularized the modern Arabic historical novel, publishing twenty-two captivating novels dramatizing pivotal episodes of Islamic history from the pre-Islamic era to the Ottoman Tanzimat. His monumental academic works, including Tarikh al-Tamaddun al-Islami (History of Islamic Civilization), introduced modern historiographical methods to the Arab world.