Abdul Qadr al-Jabarti

An Egyptian historian who preserved cultural memory during the French invasion of Egypt.

Abdul Qadr al-Jabarti (1753–1825) was a scholar and chronicler whose writings illuminated Egypt's resistance to Napoleon's 1798 invasion. A theologian and calligrapher, he documented daily life, political upheavals, and the clash between local culture and colonial forces in his seminal work The History of Egypt Under the French Occupation. His accounts, written in Arabic, challenged Eurocentric narratives by centering Egyptian perspectives on events like the Battle of the Pyramids. Jabarti’s work also promoted literacy and Islamic education, establishing a mosque-school in Cairo that taught Quranic studies and mathematics. Despite imprisonment for his anti-colonial views, he remained a moral authority. His legacy is studied today through translations like this volume, and his manuscripts are archived at the Egyptian National Library. Jabarti’s influence persists in modern debates on postcolonial historiography and cultural preservation.