This paper explores a moment in the first half of the nineteenth century, through investigating the early writings of two contemporary foundational figures: Leopold Zunz (1794-1886), known as the founder of Modern Jewish Studies, and Rifa' al-Tahtawi (1801-1873), regarded as a pioneer of the Nahda, the modern Arab renaissance. Both men are often identified in the secondary literature as the first moderns in their respective fields. And both figures utilize a concept of science/knowledge in their early writings, central to that which they advocate (Zunz uses the term Wissenschaft and for al-Tahtawi, it is 'ilm/'ulum). Through focusing on the ways in which each depicts and utilizes "science," this paper offers possibilities for new ways in which to think about a concept of modernity (and of Europe) in the early nineteenth century. Both Zunz and al-Tahtawi identify an ideal universality to science while being committed to the particularity of the Jews, in the case of Zunz, or of Arabic and Islam, in the case of al-Tahtawi. It is this particularity that comes to link each figure with the subsequent respective development of Jewish or Egyptian nationalism, which are entwined with changing conceptualizations of literature, history and language. Both men strive to weave or to locate their people's particularities within a universalist vision. This interplay and dependency between the particular and the universal forms a basis for the programs and justifications of each. This paper also examines differences between Zunz's and al-Tahtawi's depictions and uses of science, connected with their different contexts, i.e. one is Jewish, one Muslim; one was raised in Europe and one outside of it. Thus it is not surprising that their writings exhibit differing relationships to Europe, to European imperialism, to universality and to Christianity. For example, Zunz argues for the integration of Jews within Europe (and Jewish science into universal science), while al-Tahtawi maintains a distinction between the sciences of the Franks and those of the Islamic lands, critiquing the Franks’ worldview as partial while advocating for the incorporation of many of their sciences into the lands of Islam. Through focusing on science and its connection with certain shared themes across the early writings of these two figures, this paper aims to suggests new ways in which to think about modernity (and Europe).