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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Al-Ahram:
A Diwan of contemporary life (289)
One of Egypt's top nationalist leaders at the turn of this century was Mohamed Farid, the chairman of the Nationalist Party. Systematically persecuted by the British, who occupied Egypt at the time, he fled Egypt in 1912 and spent seven years abroad. He died in Germany in 1919 and was buried there. At the initiative of a private individual, a campaign built up to bring his remains home. The campaign succeeded, and one of the nation's greatest sons came home where he was given a hero's funeral. Dr Yunan Labib Rizk * tells the sad story from the pages of Al-Ahram
illustration:
Makram Henein
The famous nationalist leader, Mohamed Bek Farid, fled Egypt in March 1912 to escape persecution by the occupation authorities. For many years, as he shuttled between Germany, Switzerland and Turkey, Egyptians heard no news of him until suddenly, on 9 October 1919 his name resurfaced on the pages of Al-Ahram.Much turbulent water had passed under the bridge in that seven-year interval. Egypt had been dragged into the allied war effort that ended with the defeat of the Central Powers and brought about the collapse of the Caliphate in Istanbul. The khedive, whose relations with the nationalists had fluctuated between animosity and alliance, no longer ruled Egypt. More importantly, all these events culminated in the most massive popular revolution Egypt experienced in its modern history.
In short, the Egypt of 1919 was no longer the Egypt Mohamed Farid had left behind. On 9 October of that year, Al-Ahram published a letter it had received from the director of Al-Ziraa newspaper, Ahmed Effendi Helmi, notifying it that Mohamed Farid's health was failing. Helmi appealed to Al-Ahram to "add its voice to ours, which is choked in pain at the news of the suffering of that great man in exile", in asking the government to permit the nationalist leader to return to Egypt. Al-Ahram was quick to heed Helmi's call. "We have no doubt that the entire public wishes that the government would kindly restore that great nationalist to his family and friends. Any action it takes towards that end would meet with heartfelt popular gratitude."
Thus, Al-Ahram reopened its readers' interest in the fate of Mohamed Farid. However, before reviewing its campaign to bring Farid back to Egypt, it is interesting to turn first to the person who alerted the newspaper to the suffering of that nationalist leader who had been "alienated from his homeland". Ahmed Helmi seems to have been more fortunate in his claim on the national memory after his death than during his life. A major thoroughfare in Shobra was named after him, as was Cairo's famous bus and taxi station. Ahmed Helmi first came into the public eye as a prominent journalist for Al-Liwa, the Nationalist Party mouthpiece founded by Mustafa Kamel. After the death of that nationalist leader, Helmi had been the natural candidate to assume the position of editor-in-chief. Instead, he resigned in protest against the attitude of Mustafa's brother, Fahmi Kamel, who had deprived Helmi from the promotion he merited. After leaving Al-Liwa, Helmi founded Al-Qotr Al-Masri, which quickly established a reputation for its outspoken criticism of the royal family. In 1909 Helmi became the first Egyptian journalist to be sentenced to prison on the charge of libelling the person of the khedive. Helmi's steadfast advocacy of the nationalist cause eventually earned him a bust that stands at the entrance to the journalists' syndicate.
Mohamed Farid, during his sojourn abroad, was greatly concerned with the events of his country. We learn of his attitudes from his memoirs, in which he wrote:
"The Wafd [the Egyptian nationalist delegation formed by Saad Zaghlul to press for Egyptian independence] would not hesitate in reaching an agreement with the British if it found them more accommodating. In my aversion to evince any dissension, I have done my best to demonstrate my approval of that party and give it my encouragement, in spite of my belief that most of its members are not fully dedicated. On 20 April 1919 the Wafd arrived in Paris. The delegation consisted of 20 members and was headed by Saad Zaghlul. As soon as I heard that news, I hastened to send a congratulatory telegram wishing him success. However, Saad did not respond."
It is not difficult to detect the conflicting emotions that swept Mohamed Farid: his zeal for the success of the cause of independence which would crown his life's aspirations and a certain envy that others, such as Saad Zaghlul, had risen to the forefront of the nationalist movement and had been charged with the actual fulfillment of his dream. If Farid had hoped that his overtures to Saad Zaghlul would gain him a place in the delegation, he was to be greatly disappointed. Abdel-Rahman Fahmi, the Wafd secretary and Zaghlul's right-hand man in Cairo, recalls in his memoirs that he had written to Zaghlul suggesting that Mohamed Farid be included in the delegation. To do so, he wrote, would "ensure the solidarity of the nation and eradicate the partisanship harbored in some people's hearts." Zaghlul responded that Farid's membership in the delegation would be detrimental to the Egyptian cause, which required "the constant sympathy of the Allies". He continues, "Mohamed Farid's collaboration with their enemies and his intercession with the khedive have greatly impaired his reputation in Europe. As you well know, the British have always levelled the accusation against the Egyptians that their nationalist movement is not indigenously inspired, but rather the product of Turkish and German intrigues and machinations. To include Mohamed Farid in the delegation would give credence to the claims of our adversaries."
Against this background, we return to Al-Ahram, which, on 15 October, featured an article entitled "Mohamed Farid in the eyes of public opinion". The offices of Al-Ahram, it reports, were flooded with letters and telegrams "requesting the government to permit the great patriot, Mohamed Farid Bek, chairman of the Nationalist Party, to return home to his country and family. We have no doubt that His Excellency the Prime Minister is inclined to sympathy for the man and to alleviating the anguish he feels at being so far away from his loved ones." The article appended another letter by Ahmed Helmi notifying readers that Farid's health had improved and that he had resumed his activities. "This will come as a relief to those who had agonised along with us over his precious health," he added.
While Helmi's assurances may have caused the directors of Al-Ahram to think that there was no longer any urgency to campaign for Farid's return to Egypt, its optimism was misplaced. Farid may have resumed his battle for the national cause, but he engaged in another battle simultaneously -- the battle against death, a battle which he soon lost.
One could well say that Al-Ahram's issue of 19 November 1919 was its Mohamed Farid edition. The article bearing his name as its title occupied half of the front page, and most of the second page was devoted to the late nationalist leader. "No one would dispute Mohamed Farid's dedication to and selfless love for his nation," the front-page article began. "His death while abroad in the course of his service to the nation is the greatest testimony in these times to the feats of courage of those who do battle for Egypt as Egypt does battle for them and to the heroism of those who charge into the arena of politics as champions of the nation's cause."
Amin El-Rifai, who had acquired considerable fame for his articles in the nationalist press and who later would acquire a broader reputation for founding Al-Akhbar, contributed a major portion of Al-Ahram's article commemorating Mohamed Farid. Mohamed Farid, he wrote, was "a valiant hero whose spirit of self-sacrifice elevated him above his fellow men, not in Egypt alone, but in the entire world, and not in contemporary times alone, but over the entire course of history."
Al-Ahram's second page records the reaction of Egypt's two largest political organisations -- the Nationalist Party and the Wafd. Mohamed Zaki, the secretary of the party to which the late leader belonged, wrote that Farid "met the inevitable fate of all men in Berlin where he had been taken to hospital for surgery to remove that malady which had no mercy on our unfortunate country." Mahmoud Suleiman, chairman of the Wafd Central Committee, issued a communiqué saying, "Farid Bek departed from this world, a victim to his dedication and effort. He is as much a hero in his death as he was in his life. The Wafd Central Committee will hold a commemorative ceremony for Mohamed Farid on Wednesday."
Also on the second page of that Al-Ahram edition, Tawfiq Diab transformed his column "Glimpses" to a sombre and emotive obituary. He wrote, "You have departed to the eternal hereafter without giving us the opportunity to kiss your withered forehead goodbye."
Shortly after Farid's death, the Nationalist Party steering committee in Europe issued a communiqué. Published in several newspapers in Switzerland, according to Al-Ahram, the communiqué said, "If Mohamed Farid has been prevented, in death, from seeing the fulfillment of his dream [the independence of Egypt] he at least was able to see his fellow citizens arise as a single man to demand a settling of accounts with the British, a process that can only be concluded upon our obtaining independence."
The Wafd Central Committee in Cairo also took the opportunity of the death of the late nationalist party leader to stage a popular demonstration. On the morning of Friday 2 January 1920, it hosted a commemorative celebration in the home of Ahmed Pasha El-Basil. The first to address the audience was Morqos Bek Hanna, deputy chairman of the Wafd Committee. Several leaders of the 1919 Revolution also spoke. Prominent among them was Father Sergius, a Coptic priest and one of the firebrands of the revolution noted for his impassioned speeches at Al-Azhar and other forums. Following the Friday prayer, Morqos Hanna concluded the meeting with the cheer: "Long live Egypt! Long live full independence!" Instead of dispersing, most members of the audience assembled outside and "marched through the streets shouting slogans demanding freedom and independence for Egypt until they reached Abdin Square where they dispersed."
It would be another five months before Mohamed Farid's name would resurface on the pages of Al-Ahram. In his book Mohamed Farid: the Symbol of Dedication and Self-Sacrifice, Abdel-Rahman Al-Rafie observed that while the Egyptian Wafd took the pains to transport the remains of 12 Egyptian students who had died in a train accident on the Italian-Austrian border in March 1920, it did not show such concern for the remains of the late nationalist leader. Professor Al-Rafie's criticism was legitimate. However, a private individual was making an effort on his own to bring Farid's body to Egypt. Less than 48 hours after it announced the death of Mohamed Farid, Al-Ahram featured a dispatch from its correspondent in Zaqaziq who reported that "the virtuous patriot, Hajj Khalil Afifi, petitioned the government to issue him a permit to travel to Berlin to bring back the body of the late Mohamed Farid." The offices of Al-Ahram received numerous telegrams lauding Afifi for his initiative and calling for a fund-raising drive to cover the transportation costs. The "noble and charitable" man, as Al-Ahram described Afifi, did not wait for the contributions of others and departed for Europe at the beginning of March 1920. After considerable difficulties, he succeeded in obtaining a permit from the German government to transport Farid's remains and set sail from Trieste to Egypt on 3 June.
On 8 June, the ship bearing Farid's body entered the port of Alexandria where it was greeted by a large throng, including Al-Ahram's representative in that city. As the port authorities' motor boat transported the coffin from the ship to the quay, he reports, members of a "cinematographic" company recorded the scene from another launch. Seamen lifted the coffin onto their shoulders and proceeded to the nearby mosque. "We should mention that the coffin is elegant. It was of mahogany and was finely engraved," comments the Al-Ahram correspondent.
Following the ceremony in the mosque, a large procession, including representatives of the various professional and labour syndicates, ranging from lawyers and doctors to barbers, newspaper salesmen and carriage drivers, escorted Farid's coffin through the streets of Alexandria to the train station. The train bearing Mohamed Farid's remains arrived in Cairo on the afternoon of Wednesday 9 June. Al-Ahram was on hand to cover the event. "Various groups of dignitaries, notables, government employees, delegations from the provinces, boy scouts and school children marching under their assorted banners poured into the square outside the Cairo train station and into adjacent streets. The police commissioner had assigned officers from every precinct to maintain order."
"The procession proceeded peacefully in spite of the great crowds, although several tramways were compelled to stop." The procession in Cairo differed from its predecessor in Alexandria in that it included a small motorcade consisting of 10 automobiles to carry women mourners. The body of Mohamed Farid had been welcomed back into the bosom of the Egyptian public whose warmth he had sorely missed during his seven-year exile.
* The author is a professor of history
and head of Al-Ahram History Studies Centre.
