Egyptian scholar. Al-Tahtawi was an Egyptian scholar who described his appreciation of European society in his published diary, was responsible for the translation of European books into Arabic, and who promoted the idea of modernisation in Egypt. Al-Tahtawi went to Paris in 1826 as a religious teacher and was enthralled by the idea of the European Enlightenment whose vision reminded him of Falsafah. He loved the way everything worked properly in Paris, was impressed by the rational precision of French culture, by the literacy of even the common people, and intrigued by the passion for innovation. He longed to help Egypt enter this brave new world. Al-Tahtawi returned to Egypt in 1831 and, in 1836, he was the head of the School of Languages in Cairo. He supervised the translation of many books on history and geography in Translation Bureau in 1841. When Abbas I came to power in 1848 al-Tahtawi was sent to Khartoum but he came back in 1854. Riffah Al-Tahtawi who was born at Tahta, Egypt, and he wanted his people to adopt Western technology.