One of the first Egyptian travellers to France in the nineteenth century,[1] Tahtawi published in 1834 a detailed account of his 5-year-long stay in France, Takhlis al-ibriz fi talkhis Bariz  [ar] ('The Extrication of Gold in Summarizing Paris'[2]), and from then on became one of the first Egyptian scholars to write about Western culture in an attempt to bring about a reconciliation and an understanding between Islamic and Christian civilizations.

He was an Azharite recommended by his teacher and mentor Hasan al-Attar to be the chaplain of a group of students Mohammed Ali was sending to Paris in 1826.

Originally intended to be an Imam (an Islamic religious guide) he was allowed to associate with the other members of the mission through persuasion of his authoritative figures.

[3] Many student missions from Egypt went to Europe in the early 19th century to study arts and sciences at European universities and acquire technical skills such as printing, shipbuilding and modern military techniques.

According to his memoir Takhlīṣ al-ʾibrīz fī talkhīṣ Bārīz, Tahtawi studied ethics, social and political philosophy, and mathematics and geometry.

[5] The School of Languages graduated the earliest modern Egyptian intellectual milieu, which formed the basis of the emerging grassroots mobilization against British colonialism in Egypt.