Shawqi Daif

Ahmad Shawqi Daif (; January 13, 1910 – March 10, 2005) was an Egyptian Arabic literary critic and historian. He is considered one of the most influential Arab intellectuals in the 20th century.

Daif was born in the village of Um Hamam in northern Egypt in 1910. Daif replied that the dearth of properly published Egyptian works from the period made such a judgement tenuous and suggested that he and Amin republish the Egyptian sections in anthologies of poetry from the period. Amin readily agreed, and they embarked on the long term project during which Daif wrote the preface and Amin wrote the introduction. The work is considered indispensable for students of Arabic literature, and some volumes have been reprinted up to 20 times. Daif agreed with the central theme of the Refutation: linguistic governance and analogy had rendered Arabic language education needlessly difficult and convoluted, and both took the theme as a rallying point for his calls to modernize language arts education in the Middle East.

Legacy Daif was widely respected throughout the Arab world, having earned the King Faisal International Prize for literature in 1983 as well as the Egyptian Presidential Prize for Literature in 2003.