In 1833, the well known Azharite, Shaykh Rifa'a al-Tahtawi (1801-1873), wrote a short biography of Peter the Great in a glossary to one of his translations, explaining what he believed were unfamiliar aspects of European geography, culture and society. In 1850 Ahmad al-Tahtawi (d. 1880) translated from French a book solely devoted to Peter the Great. The same year an Arabic manuscript was written by another Azharite, Shaykh Muhammad 'Ayyad al-Tantawi (1810-1861), who conveyed his impressions of Russia and Peter the Great's reforms. These early biographies of Peter the Great were the first of many that followed throughout the 19th century, in Egypt as well as in other regions of the Arab speaking world. They were read and sold decades later, and had a lasting impact on Arabic discourse and historical writing. Written decades before interest in Russia became significant in the Arab speaking world, these three early texts present a fascinating example of Arabic observations of Europe. Indeed, while the 19th century Arab Nahda has been the subject of much recent research, the rich Arabic discourse on European history written within it has not yet been adequately explored. This paper focuses on the shifting social and geopolitical context in which these texts were written and their authors' motivation in writing them. I will show how biographical writing – a long-standing, respectable genre in Arabic literature – was used to depict a European ruler, dead for over a century, exhibiting an early interest in aspects of European history in general and in Russian in particular. Most importantly, I argue, these biographies serve as a way for the authors to reflect upon their own societies, using Russia as an example to explore the notion of reform and progress. Indeed, these litterateurs were particularly intrigued with the huge importance the Tsar, depicted as the founder of modern Russia, placed on the acquisition of education and knowledge as a tool for reform (similar to that sought by the litterateurs themselves). I argue that their texts should be read as reflections of their writers upon their own societies and that these biographies offered the writers and their readers an opportunity to evaluate Peter the Great's reforms and Russia's "progress" without advocating imitation.