Rida Rashid, Muhammad

Born 1865 in Kalamun, near Tripoli, Syria; died 1935 in Cairo. Egyptian religious and public figure; a major theorist of early Arab nationalism and an active supporter of Islamic reform. Follower of M. Abdo.

In 1898, Rida Rashid founded the journal al-Manar (The Beacon), which he published until his death. He moved to Egypt that same year. He supported the restoration of the Arabian Caliphate and the struggle against imperialism. In his Commentary to the Koran (1906), he interpreted the Koran in the spirit of Abdo, asserting that the basic tenets of Islam did not contradict social, scientific, and technological progress.

In 1912, Rida Rashid founded the School of Propagation and Teaching to train Muslim missionaries. In 1919 he went to Syria, where he served as chairman of the Syrian Congress, convoked in the spring of 1919 to formulate demands to be presented to the imperialist powers. After Syria was occupied by France in 1920, he returned to Egypt. He sought independence for Syria and Palestine. In addition to numerous articles in al-Manar, Rida Rashid wrote Islamic Unity (1921), Wahhabis and the Hejaz (1925), and The Imam Sheikh Muhammad Abdo (1931).