TheEgyptianization

of Historical Writing
(1881 1951)
Azmi Muharom
MA Asia
2015-2016

Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2015

www.hse.ru

Chronologies

French Occupation (17981801)

Muhammad Ali Pasha
dynasty (18051953)
Muhammad Ali Pasha alMas'ud ibn Agha (1769
1849)
Urabi Revolution, 1879-1882
British Occupation (18821922)
Egyptian Nationalist party,
1882
Egyptian University,1908
Kingdom of Egypt (1922Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2015

If I weren't an
Egyptian,
I would have wished
to be an Egyptian
Mustafa Kamil Pasha

Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2015

Pioneer

Mustafa Kamil (1874-1908), studied in University of Toulouse

Opus Magnum: News paper Al-Liwa (Standard) (1900) and
Masalah al-Sharqiyyah (The Eastern Question) (-??-)
1.Major source problem is Crusaders
2.The British occupation were enemy of all muslim
3.Lamented fight among Muslim and Pan-Islamism
4.EgyptianTurkish unity
Muhammad Farid (1868-1919)
He is turk ancestry, writes about Muhammad Ali and Ottoman
Empire.
Opus Magnum : Saj (-??-)
1. success in blending the traditional and modern of the
Islamic tradition in historiography
2. he influence of the chronicle, for example, a staple form in
traditional Islamic historiography,
Abdullah Nadim (1845-1896) with Kamil and Farid made
Egyptian Nationalist party (1882) as the first political party in
Egypt
Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2015

Egyptianization in British Occupation

Egyptianization in British occupation,

Not only Egyptian but Immigrant Syirian and Lebanese
Jirijs Hunayyin (??) published Al-Atyan wal-darb fil-Qutr al-Misri
(Land and Taxation in Egypt)
Yaqub Artin (1842-1919) published two books on Egyptian history
and a number of articles in the Bulletin de lInstitut gyptien
Yaqub Sarruf (18521927) introduced nationalism and Darwinism to
Egypt
Farah Antun (18611922) introduced the works of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (171278) and Ernest Rnan (182392).
Salim Al-naqsh (?1884) in his Misr lil-Misriyyin (Egypt for
Egyptians)
Jurji Zaydan (18611914) editor popular magazine alhilal
Mustafa Kamil, Yaqub Sarruf and Jurji Zaydan advocates national
university, Egyptian University (1908).
Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2014

Al-Azhar University (975), Darul Ulum (1872), Egyptian University

(1908)

Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2014

Jurji Zaydan and Egyptian University

Jurji Zaydan is the dean of Syrian Egyptian historians

and also knowed as the dean of Arab historians of his
day
Published five-volume Tarikh al-Tamaddun al-Islamin
(History of Islamic Civilization) (1902-06)
Acknowledged the importance of the Prophet
Muhammad and the significance of Islamic civilization
Refused to describe the rise of Islam from the orthodox
Muslim perspective, as a triumph of Gods will over its
enemies
The true history of the nation, he wrote, is the history
of its civilization and culture, not the history of its wars
and conquests
Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2015

Egyptian University and Professionalization

In 1919, the university welcomed first

generations:
1. Taha Husayn (18891973), studied in
Sorbonne, lecture of History of the Ancient
East and Philosophy of History. worked with
Emile Durkheim and Paul Casanova
orientalism. Later became Minister of
education
2. Muhammad Rifat Bey (1865-1974),
studied in Liverpool, he published English
book The Awakening of Modern Egypt
(1947). Later became Minister of education
Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2014

Egyptian University and Professionalization

3. Muhammad Shafiq Ghurbal (18941961), studied

in London, earning PhD under supervision Arnold J.
Toynbee (1889-1975), he published English book The
Beginnings of the Egyptian Question and the Rise of
Mehemet Ali (1928). Not minister but under several
governments
4. Muhammad Ibrahim Sabri (??) studied in
Sorbonne under supervision of Alphonse Aulard
(18491928), an expert on the French Revolution.
Writed in french La Rvolution gyptienne (191921)
rivalled Ghurbals The Beginnings of the Egyptian
Question and the Rise of Mehemet Ali. Later he is
Director of Dar al-Kutub (the National Library)
Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2014

After First Generation of Egyptian University

since the 1920s historical study in Egypt had entered a new

phase
it had become an academic discipline researched and
taught by professional historians. Like their Western
counterparts, these historians all based their writings on
carefully examined sources, mostly comprised of
government archives.
This also expanded on the Islamic tradition, developed
sophisticated techniques in the employment of archival
material in recording and writing history
In addition
Higher School of Economics , Moscow, 2015

After First Generation of Egyptian University

In addition they played a leading role in establishing professional

societies in Egypt.

The Institut dgypte, founded mostly by Westerners (1859), was a

reincarnation of Napoleons Institut gyptien (1798). The members
such as Rifa'at al-Tahtawi and Yaqeb Artin, then Also Taha Husein
and Ghurbal.
1945, Ghurbal had already founded the Royal Association for Historical
Studies (later Egyptian Association for Historical Studies),
1949, the association published the Royal Egyptian Historical Review in
both Arabic and English and after 1952, the journal was renamed the
Egyptian Historical Review.

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