Muḥammad ʿAbduh (c. 1849-1905) was the principal representative of modern Muslim reformism in Egypt. In all his activities-as a journalist, university teacher, editor, author, judge, and Muftī of Egypt, in exile and at home-he promulgated Islam as a religion of reason and civilisation and struggled to overcome the gap between East and West by improving the educational system. 1. Biography Muḥammad ʿAbduh was born circa 1849 (cf. Adams, 19), into a family of peasants in the village of Maḥallat Naṣr (in Buḥayra province) in Lower Egypt. He