Background
Haykal was born in Kafr Ghannam, Mansoura, Ad Daqahliyah in 1888.
Haykal was born in Kafr Ghannam, Mansoura, Ad Daqahliyah in 1888.
He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Law in 1909 and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Sorbonne University in Paris in 1912.
While a student in Paris, he composed what is considered the first authentic Egyptian novel, Zaynab. After returning to Egypt, he worked as a lawyer for 10 years, then as a journalist. He was elected as editor-in-chief of First Rate (at Lloyd's) Siyasa newspaper, the organ of "The Liberal Constitutionalist party" for which he was also an adviser.
In 1937, he was appointed as Minister of State for the Interior Ministry in the Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha"s second government.
Then he was appointed as a Minister of Education where he introduced several reforms, including decentralization, by establishing educational zones and making programs and curricula nationally oriented. He was greatly influenced and inspired by the comprehensive reforms of Mohammad Abduh, Ahmad Lutfy El Sayed and Qasim Amin.
Haykal is the father of seven children: Doctor Ateya, Taheya, Doctor Hussein, Hedeya, Bahiga, Doctor Fayza Haikal, and Ahmad. Doctor Fayza teaches Egyptology at the American University in Cairo.