CAIRO Egypt AP Aisha Abdul-Rahman Egypt's leading female Islamic writer philosopher and literary critic died Tuesday in hospital after a heart attack. She was 85. Abdul-Rahman was admitted to a hospital in Cairo on Saturday after suffering a stroke Egypt's Middle East News Agency said. Better known Bent el-Shati or the daughter of the shore Abdul-Rahman was born in 1913 in the northern town of Dumyat overlooking a lake near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Challenging tradition she received her primary education at home at a time when women were not encouraged to go to school. She continued her studies and graduated from Cairo University in 1939 with a B.A. in literature and then a Ph.D. in 1950 under Egypt's greatest writer Taha Hussein. She spent some 10 years as the head of the Arabic and Islamic departments at Ain Shams University in Cairo and also taught at several Arab universities. She wrote more than 40 books on Islamic teachings dozens of literary books and novels as well as hundreds of researches and daily columns in several newspapers. Abdul-Rahamn received several awards for her outstanding career from the governments of Egypt Morocco and Kuwait. She was married to Sheik Amin el-Khouli who was her teacher in Cairo University during her undergraduate days. He died some years ago. The couple is survived by a son and a daughter. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known. UR; my/vj APW19981201.1183.txt.body.html APW19981201.0839.txt.body.html