What does NAHDA stand for? 

Nahda

The Nahda (Arabic: النهضة‎, romanized: an-nahḍa, meaning "the Awakening" or "the Renaissance"), also referred to as the Arab Renaissance or Enlightenment, was a cultural movement that began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Egypt, then moved to Ottoman-ruled Arabic-speaking regions including Lebanon, Syria and others. It is often regarded as a period of intellectual modernization and reform. In traditional scholarship, the Nahda is seen as connected to the cultural shock brought on by Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798, and the reformist drive of subsequent rulers such as Muhammad Ali of Egypt. However, recent scholarship has shown that the Middle Eastern and North African renaissance was a cultural reform program that was as "autogenetic" as it was Western inspired, linked to the Ottoman Tanzimat and internal changes in political economy and communal reformations in Egypt and Syro-Lebanon.The renaissance itself started simultaneously in both Egypt and Greater Syria. Due to their differing backgrounds, the aspects that they focused on differed as well; with Egypt focused on the political aspects of the Islamic world while Greater Syria focused on the more cultural aspects. The concepts were not exclusive by region however, and this distinction blurred as the renaissance progressed. In the Ottoman-ruled Arabic regions, the 19th century Tanzimat reforms were a major influence and motive. These brought a constitutional order to Ottoman politics and engendered a new political class, as well as the later Young Turk Revolution, which allowed proliferation of the press and other publications.

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