I can think of two specific examples in which Muslims before the 14th century attempted to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs:

• The Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun (d. 833 CE) was known for his interest in the pyramids, and science and philosophy in general. At the time, there were various legends explaining their purpose and existence. One such legend was that they were granaries Joseph had constructed for the Pharaoh. Interestingly, this is exactly what Ben Carson also thought. Al-Ma'mun ordered a Coptic sage named Ayyub ibn Maslamah to translate the hieroglyphs. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make much progress. The Caliph then broke into the pyramids but stopped the expedition when he came upon human remains. If you're interested, Michael Cooperson wrote a biography on al-Ma'mun in which he discusses his interest in the pyramids.

• A 13th century Iraqi writing in Mamluk Egypt during the reign of Baybars wrote The Book of the Seven Climes in which he claimed to decipher the meaning of the hieroglyphs. He was apparently known as a practitioner of "white magic." A little-known fact is that some premodern Muslim jurists considered certain forms of magic as permissible.