Plain Talk

By Mursi Saad El-Din

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On 16 July 1805 Mohamed Ali became the Wali of Egypt. This year, Egypt is celebrating two hundred years since his accession. The celebrations will take different forms including a conference organised by the Supreme Council of Culture sometime in October. Such an occasion, of course, furnishes additional motivation for the rewriting of history and revisionary accounts, a trend by no means confined to Egypt.

I am not myself a historian, but I am greatly interested in history which constitutes a good part of my readings. Unfortunately, the majority of books about Egypt's history have been written by non-Egyptians, a state of affairs which is now being redressed.

While rummaging through my books and papers I came across an issue of The Bulletin, a monthly magazine we used to publish in London. This is a special issue devoted to Mohamed Ali with articles by leading historians and intellectuals. It includes an article by Shafik Ghorbal Bey who was professor of modern history at Fouad I (now Cairo) University, and one by Abdel-Muizz Nasr who was professor of political science at Farouk I (now Alexandria) University.

In his book The History of the Nationalist Movement and the Evolution of th e System of Government in Egypt, Egyptian historian Abdel-Rahman al-Rafi'i writes that Mohamed Ali "was aware of the Egyptian people's tendencies towards freedom, their great aspirations and their discontent with the old system of government." The ruler thus shared their inclinations and hopes, it is suggested, and sought for himself control of the country through the will of the people.

While Mohamed Ali was aware of the rising power of the people, he believed, in the words of Nasr "that all the nations could be great, but only if they could find a man who knows the path by which to conduct them to greatness." In short, he assumed for himself the role of the leader.

Mohamed Ali believed in the concept of leadership in policies and in war. He spoke about his mission to prince Puckler Muskan.

"It is true, I have overcome many a severe setback; and, perhaps for this very reason, I became more closely and ardently devoted to my adopted land and had neither rest nor peace: Egypt appeared to me like a poor, naked, helpless child, which for centuries had been stupefied with sleep, to whom I was now to be everything - its father and mother, its master and servant, its teacher and judge. And often when lying sleepless on my couch, I have mused 'can a single Mohamed Ali be sufficient to rear, to clothe, to instruct, and to train this child?' Even now I feel dubious of success; yet, perhaps, in spite of every obstacle, it may be accorded to me by God, to whom I owe so much, and to whom I have always applied for direction."

Mohamed Ali had faith in Egypt and its future, and he was proud of a country which, in Nasr's words "enjoyed leadership in the civilisation of the Old World and would possibly regain this leadership in a future which he consciously would inaugurate." Again talking to prince Muskan he said that Egypt was once the foremost civilization of the world, "an example to all others. Now it is the turn of Europe. In time, perhaps, enlightenment may again have its seat here. Everything in the world is in a constant state of flux."

On the death of Mohamed Ali, the British Agent wrote to his government describing the funeral of the Pacha: "The attachment and veneration of all classes in Egypt for the name of Mohamed Ali are prouder obsequies than any which it is in the power of his successor to confer -- very rarely it be that your Lordship hear in any part of the Turkish Empire such a phrase as the following: 'If Allah would permit me, gladly would I give ten years of my life to add them to that of our old Pacha.'