Muhammad Ali the Illiterate Made Egypt a Power and a Modern State
The Horizon
He arrived in Egypt in 1801, finding it a theater of chaos.
He allied with the Mamluks against the Ottoman governor, then turned against them.
He sided with the people and the scholars, emerging as their advocate and defender.
He orchestrated one of the most famous bloody incidents in the Citadel in 1811.
He invited approximately 500 princes to a celebration, and upon their arrival, he had them killed.
He eliminated everyone, getting rid of his last rivals for power in Egypt.
He invaded Sudan, aided the Ottomans in Greece, and then fought them.
He sent his son, Ibrahim Pasha, who defeated the Ottoman armies.
The Charlatan Who Deceived a City’s Residents
A charlatan came to one of the cities, selling his strange wares.
Every day, his goods became more popular, and the wise man was puzzled by this.
He was an Albanian officer in the Ottoman army, sent to Egypt to expel the French. He did not know Arabic and was illiterate until the age of forty-five. Yet, through remarkable cunning and boundless ambition, he eliminated his rivals and forced the Sultan to appoint him governor of Egypt. He nearly brought down the empire. This man is Muhammad Ali Pasha.
He arrived in Egypt in 1801, finding it a theater of chaos and conflict among three powers: the Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the Al-Azhar scholars, who represented the people.
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He skillfully played all sides. He allied with the Mamluks against the Ottoman governor, then turned against them when they burdened the people with taxes. He sided with the people and the scholars, appearing as their lawyer.
In 1805, Al-Azhar scholars gathered and decided to depose the governor and appoint Muhammad Ali, in one of those moments when the people imposed their will.
However, the Mamluks remained a threat. So, he orchestrated one of the most famous bloody incidents, the Citadel Massacre, in 1811. He invited about 500 of their princes to a celebration in the Citadel. After they arrived, he closed the gates on them, and rain of bullets poured from the top of the walls.
He eliminated them all, getting rid of his last rivals in Egypt.
So how did this man transform Egypt from a province into a major power?
After monopolizing power, he began his project. He confiscated lands, making them state property, and monopolized trade and agriculture. With the proceeds, he built a modern army on the European model, a naval fleet, and sent missions to Europe.
His goal was to build a strong state independent of the Ottomans. With his new army, he expanded beyond Egypt, invading Sudan. He aided the Ottomans in Greece, then turned toward the Levant. He sent his son, Ibrahim Pasha, who defeated the Ottoman armies, seized the Levant, and advanced even to the outskirts of their capital. The empire nearly collapsed, but European powers, led by Britain, intervened, preventing him from continuing and forcing him to retreat, limiting himself to ruling Egypt and Sudan, with a guarantee of hereditary rule for his family.
From an illiterate officer to the founder of modern Egypt, Muhammad Ali proves that ambition and cunning forge power, but the struggle of great powers can halt any project.
The Charlatan Who Deceived a City’s Residents
It is said that a charlatan came to one of the cities. People gathered around him, buying his strange wares. Every day, his goods became more popular.
One day, a wise and reformist man visited the city. He was astonished by the people’s eagerness for the charlatan and asked about the reason for the heavy crowd around him. They told him that this man sold pieces of land in Paradise and issued title deeds for them. Whoever died with this deed would enter Paradise and reside in the land he had bought there.
The man was puzzled as to how to convince this huge number of people that this man was not telling the truth, and that those who bought from him had fallen victim to his deception and fraud.
In the end, the shrewd man found a brilliant solution.
The wise man approached the charlatan and asked him, “What is the price of a piece in Paradise?” The charlatan told him that a piece cost 100 dinars.
The wise man said, “If I wanted to buy a piece from you in Hell, would you sell it to me?”
The man was surprised, then said, “Take it for free.”
The wise man replied, “No, I will not want it unless I pay you for it and you give me a deed for it.”
He said, “I will give you a quarter of Hell for a hundred dinars, which is the price of a single plot in Paradise.”
The wise man asked him, “And if you want to buy it all?”
The Dajjal replied, “You must give me four hundred dinars.”
Immediately, the wise man paid the Dajjal four hundred dinars and asked him to issue a deed for the transaction, calling upon a large number of people to witness it.
Once the deed was completed, the wise man called out in a loud voice: “O people, I have bought all of Hell, and I will not allow any of you to enter it. It has become my property by virtue of this deed. As for you, Paradise is all that remains for you, and you have no other dwelling besides it, whether you purchase plots or not.”
At that, the people dispersed from around the Dajjal, since they had secured their exemption from the Fire through the wise man’s deed. The Dajjal realized that he had been outwitted by those who had believed in him.
