Abdul Karim Al-Ghazzali

Egyptian inventor who created the first Arabic-language typewriter

Abdul Karim Al-Ghazzali (1908-1978) revolutionized Arabic literature and bureaucracy by inventing the first practical Arabic typewriter in 1938. A self-taught engineer from Alexandria, he recognized the limitations of adapting Latin-based typewriters for Arabic script, which reads right-to-left and uses contextual glyph variations. His Al-Ghazzali Typewriter featured a unique keyboard layout and movable type system accommodating 28 Arabic letters and diacritics. The invention was showcased at the 1939 New York World's Fair, where it won an engineering innovation award.

Al-Ghazzali's typewriter became essential for governmental and literary work across the Arab world during the mid-20th century, enabling mass production of Arabic publications. His 1945 patent inspired later innovations like the Arabic teletype machine. Despite his technical contributions, Al-Ghazzali remained obscure compared to Western inventors due to limited international recognition. His legacy is preserved in Cairo's Egyptian Science Museum, where a working model is displayed. Modern Arabic digital typography experts acknowledge his foundational role in script adaptation challenges, with his principles influencing Unicode standards for Arabic script encoding.