Salama Moussa

Salama Moussa (or Musa; 1887 – 4 August 1958) (Arabic: سلامه موسى‎  pronounced [sæˈlæːmæ ˈmuːsæ]), born into a wealthy, land owning Coptic family in the town of Zagazig located in the Nile delta, Egypt. Salama Musa was a journalist, writer, advocate of secularism, and pioneer of Arab socialism. He wrote or translated 45 published books; his writings still influence Arab thought and he is frequently referred to. Salama Musa campaigned against traditional religion and urged Egyptian society to embrace European culture. He looked for political and economic independence of Egypt from the British colonization. To this end he corresponded with Gandhi who provided him with his tools of economic struggle against the British hegemony over the Indian textile industry. Mousa made use of his contact with Gandhi in helping out the national Egyptian industrialist Tala'at Harb (1867-1941) to set up independent outlets for the Egyptian textile industry nationwide in Egypt - an attempt that was vehemently resisted by the British colonial powers of the time. Mousa pleaded, for instance, in his book Ha'ula'i 'allamuni (Those who inspired me, Cairo, 1953) for the independence of thought and indigenous creativity of the contemporary Egyptians and Arabs. Mousa went in his youth to England and adhered there to Bernard Shaw's Fabian Society.