Consider the mission entrusted to Rifa’a al-Tahtawi, the great Egyptian scholar sent to Europe by Mohammed Ali in 1826 to learn about Western civilization and to try to forge an understanding between it and Islam. But everywhere in the Arab world, without exception, reformists have been jailed, killed, or reduced to political impotence.
伊斯兰也有其自身的改革者。就拿被赋予塔哈塔威（Rifa’a al-Tahtawi）的任务来说吧。1826年，这位伟大的埃及学者被穆罕默德·阿里（Mohammed Ali）派往欧洲学习西方文明并试图构建它和伊斯兰教之间的谅解。但在阿拉伯世界的每一处，改革者无一例外地遭到了监禁、杀戮或被政治阉割。