Arab scholar 'cracked Rosetta code' 800 years before the West

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5030324-102285,00.html
Dr Okasha el Daly, was fealtured prominently in the Oberserver this weekend, discussing his research into early arabic research into Egypt. From the Observer website: "An expert in both ancient Egypt and ancient Arabic scripts, El Daly spent seven years chasing down Arabic manuscripts in private collections around the world in a bid to find evidence that Arab scholars had unlocked the secrets of the hieroglyph. He eventually found it in the work of the ninth-century alchemist, Ibn Wahshiyah. 'I compared his studies with those of modern scholars and realised that he understood completely what hieroglyphs were saying.' "