Egyptian nationalism is based onEgyptians andEgyptian culture.[1] Egyptian nationalism has typically been acivic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of theirethnicity orreligion. Egyptian nationalism first manifested itself asAnti-English sentiment during theEgyptian revolution of 1919.
The early Egyptian protonationalism was shaped by foreign invasions and conquests. TheAssyrian conquest and theBattle of Carchemish led to the figure ofNebuchadnezzar becoming the archetype of the Eastern conqueror, a figure representing foreign domination, an outsider and a prototypical enemy of Egypt.
The Egyptian attitude towards the subsequentPersian conquest led byCambyses II and theMacedonian conquest led byAlexander the Great is somewhat conflicting.Herodotus, drawing from native Egyptian tradition, portrays Cambyses, on one hand, as a brutal conqueror, who desecrated sacredApis bull cult, the view that is also supported by latterCambyses Romance and theChronicle of John of Nikiou, where he is also identified with Nebuchadnezzar. On the other hand, Cambyses is depicted as half Egyptian, a grandson ofApries.[2]
Alexander is portrayed in the same duality – while he is also depicted as half-Egyptian through his alleged fatherNectanebo inAlexander Romance, his new capitalAlexandria is seen as an evil (or "Typhonic") foundation destined to be destroyed, withMemphis being restored as the rightful seat of the gods. This could be explained by the existence of two traditions – a folk one, trying to Egyptianize foreign conquerors and represent them as a continuation of a native royal tradition, and a priests elite one – portraying hardships of Egypt as a cosmic battle between order and chaos, symbolised by godSet (identified withTyphon). Thus, enemies of Egypt are often labeled "Typhonic" or minions of Seth. This idea is also reflected in Herodotus' description of Egyptian borders – their eastern limit isLake Serbonis, where Typhon is said to be concealed and where Cambyses beat Egyptian army at theBattle of Pelusium.Avaris, the capital ofHyksos, who conquered Egypt in the17th century BC, is also described as "Typhonic" byManetho.[3]
Other texts that could be considered a part of Egyptian "Königsnovelle" and shaped early Egyptian protonationalism areOracle of the Lamb,Oracle of the Potter and the Dream of Nectanebo.[2]
Both theArabic language and theancient Egyptian language areAfroasiatic languages sharing a common origin.[4] The rule ofMuhammad Ali of Egypt led Egypt to a more advanced level of industrialization in comparison with Egypt's neighbors, along with more discoveries of relics of ancient Egyptian civilization.[1] TheUrabi movement in the 1870s and 1880s was the first major Egyptian nationalist movement that demanded an end to the alleged despotism of the Muhammad Ali family and demanded curbing the growth of European influence in Egypt, it campaigned under the nationalist slogan of "Egypt for Egyptians".[1]
One of the key figures in opposing British rule was the Egyptian journalistYaqub Sanu whose cartoons from 1870s onward satirizing first the Khedive, Ismail the Magnificent, and then Egypt's British rulers as bumbling buffoons were very popular in the 19th century. Sanu was the first to write in Egyptian Arabic, which was intended to appeal to a mass audience, and his cartoons could be easily understood by even the illiterate. Sanu had established the newspaper Abu-Naddara Zarqa, which was the first newspaper to use Egyptian Arabic in March 1877. One of his cartoons mocked Ismail the Magnificent for his fiscal extravagance which caused Egypt's bankruptcy in 1876, leading Ismail, who did not appreciate the cartoon, to order his arrest. Sanu fled to Paris, and continued to publishAbu-Naddara Zarqa there, with its issues being smuggled into Egypt until his death in 1912.[5]
The period between 1860 − 1940 was characterized byEl-nahda, renaissance or rebirth. It is best known its renewed interest inEgyptian antiquity and the cultural achievements that were inspired by it. Along with this interest came an indigenous, Egypt-centered orientation, particularly among the Egyptian intelligentsia that would affect Egypt's autonomous development as a sovereign and independent nation-state. The first Egyptian renaissance intellectual wasRifa'a el-Tahtawi. In 1831, Tahtawi undertook a career in journalism, education and translation. Three of his published volumes were works of political and moralphilosophy. In them he introduces his students toEnlightenment ideas such assecular authority and political rights and liberty; his ideas regarding how a modern civilized society ought to be and what constituted by extension a civilized or "good Egyptian"; and his ideas on public interest and the public good.
Tahtawi was instrumental in sparking indigenous interest in Egypt's ancient heritage. He composed several poems in praise of Egypt and wrote two other general histories of the country. He also co-founded with his contemporaryAli Mubarak, the architect of the modern Egyptian school system.
After the British occupation of Egypt began in 1882, Egyptian nationalism became focused upon ending the occupation.[1] They had support from Liberals and Socialists in Britain.Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, ananti-imperialist, criticized the British occupation in three widely circulated books:The Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt... (1907),Gordon at Khartoum (1911), andMy Diaries: Being a Personal Narrative of Events, 1888-1914 (2 vols. 1919–20). Historian Robert O. Collins says:
The most vigorous English advocate of Egyptian Independence, Blunt was both arrogant and irascible, his works scathing, discursive, and at times utterly ridiculous. Immature and unfair, both he and his writings must be used with caution, but even the dullest of men will come away stimulated if not aroused and with fresh insights to challenge the sometimes smug attitudes of British officials in Whitehall and Cairo. Of course, to them Blunt was anathema if not disloyal andEdward Malet, the British Consul-General at Cairo from 1879 to 1883, replied to Blunt's charges in his posthumously publishedEgypt, 1879-1883.[6]
Mustafa Kamil Pasha, A leading Egyptian nationalist of the early 20th century, was greatly influenced by the example of Meiji Japan as an 'Eastern' state that had successfully modernized for Egypt and from the time of theRussian-Japanese war consistently urged in his writings that Egypt emulate Japan. Kamil was also a Francophile like most educated Egyptians of his generation, and the French republican values ofliberté, égalité, fraternité influenced his understanding of what it meant to be Egyptian as Kamil defined the Egyptian Identity in terms of loyalty to Egypt. Kamil together with other Egyptian nationalists helped to redefine loyalty to al-watan ("the homeland") in terms stressing the importance of education, nizam (order), and love of al-watan, implicitly criticizing the state created by Mohammad Ali the Great, which was run on very militarist lines. After theEntente Cordial of 1904 ended hopes of French support for Egyptian independence, a disillusioned Kamil looked east towards Japan as a model, defining Egypt as an "Eastern" country occupied by "Western" Great Britain, and suggested in terms that anticipated later Third World nationalism that Egyptians had more in common with people from other places controlled by Western nations such asBritish India (modern-dayIndia,Pakistan, andBangladesh) and theDutch East Indies (modern-dayIndonesia) than they did with the nations of Europe.
Egyptian nationalism reached its peak in popularity in 1919 when revolution against British rule took place in response to wartime policies imposed by the British authorities in Egypt duringWorld War I. Three years of protest and political turmoil followed until Britain unilaterally declared the independence of Egypt in 1922 that was a monarchy, though Britain reserved several areas for British supervision. During the period of theKingdom of Egypt, Egyptian nationalists remained determined to terminate the remaining British presence in Egypt. One of the more noteworthy cases of Egyptian nationalism occurred in December 1922 when the Egyptian government laid claim to the artifacts found in the tomb of KingTutankhamun, which had been discovered by a British archaeologist namedHoward Carter in November 1922, arguing that they belonged to Egypt and Carter could not take them to Britain as he planned. The dispute finally led to the Egyptians posting an armed guard outside of Tutankhamun's tomb to prevent Carter from entering it. In February 1924, the Egyptian government seized control of the tomb and with it all of the artifacts found there, saying that they belonged to Egypt. On 6 March 1924, the Prime MinisterSaad Zaghloul formally opened the site of Tutankamun's tomb to the Egyptian public in an elaborate ceremony held at night with the sky lit up by floodlights, which reportedly attracted the largest crowd seen in Luxor. The reopening turned into an anti-British demonstration when the British High Commissioner,Field Marshal Allenby, arrived when the crowd was demanding immediate British withdrawal from Egypt.[7] The dispute over who owned King Tutankhamun's treasures took place against the backdrop of a movement in the Egyptian liberal elite known asPharaonism which extolled ancient Egypt as a national symbol and portrayed Egypt as a Mediterranean nation.
Many prominent Egyptian figures in the first half of the twentieth century adopted Egyptian nationalism and rejectedpan-Arabism.Taha Hussein, theDean of Arabic Literature, stated in his bookThe Future of Culture in Egypt, published in 1936, that "For Egyptians, Arabic is virtually a foreign language; nobody speaks it at home, school, in the streets, or in clubs. [...] People everywhere speak a language that is not Arabic, despite the partial resemblance to it."[8]Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, the first director of theEgyptian University, the director of the Arabic language assembly, member of the senate, and the director of House of Books, insisted that Egyptians are Egyptians and not Arabs.[9] He believed that Egyptians were different from Arabs and had their own separate beliefs, identity and cultural aspects.[10]
The nationalisticYoung Egypt Party in the 1930s led byAhmed Hussein advocated British withdrawal from Egypt and the Sudan, and promised to unite the Arab world under the leadership of Egypt, through the Young Egyptian Society made it clear in the proposed empire, it was Egypt that would dominate,[11] as it was later seen with the brief unification with Syria in 1958. At the same time, It was condemned byHassan al-Banna, the founder and Supreme Guide of theMuslim Brotherhood, as glorifying a period ofjahiliyyah. In a 1937 article, Banna dismissed "Pharaohism" for glorying the "pagan reactionary Pharaohs" likeAkhenaten,Ramesses II the Great andTutankhamun instead ofMuhammad and his companions and for seeking to "annihilate" Egypt's Muslim identity.
In January 1952, British forces surrounded an Egyptian police station and demanded they surrender a group offedayeen guerillas who had taken shelter there and leave the canal zone. After the Egyptians shot and killed a British negotiator, the British commander present ordered an attack on the police station; 50 policemen were killed in the ensuing firefight, and the rest were captured. The capital of Egypt, Cairo, overflowed with anti-British violence in a riot on 26 January 1952 known as the "Black Saturday" or "Cairo Fire" riot. The Black Saturday riots led to the development of theFree Officer movement, consisting of a thousand "middle-level" officers, overthrowingKing Farouk.[12] After theEgyptian Revolution of 1952 that overthrew the monarchy and established a republic,Gamal Abdel Nasser rose to power on themes that were based on Arab nationalism. Nasser saw Egypt as the leader of the Arab states and saw Egypt's role as promoting Arab solidarity against both the West and Israel.[12]
In 1952 Nasser produced a half programmatic entitledThe Philosophy of the Revolution. It offers and account to how he and other officers who overthrew the monarchy on July 23 of that year came to a decision to seize power and how they planned to use their newly won power. Under Nasser, Egypt'sArab identity was greatly played up, and Nasser promoted a policy ofpan-Arabism, arguing that all of the Arab peoples should be united together in a single state under his leadership. Egypt was briefly united with Syria under the name theUnited Arab Republic from 1958 until 1961 when Syria abandoned the union. Nasser saw himself as the successor of Mohammad Ali Pasha, who had sought to found a new dynasty to rule the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. Nasser came to embrace pan-Arabism as the best way to liberate Egypt and the Arab world from imperialistic control and to achieve great power status; Nasser viewed the Arab world as so intertwined that it is effectively "One Nation divided by colonial powers".
Nasser's successors,Anwar Sadat andHosni Mubarak continued to emphasize Arab nationalism and identity but based on Egypt's distinctiveness within the Arab world as Sadat changed Egypt's official name from the "United Arab Republic" to the "Arab republic of Egypt". Sadat, upon taking office in 1970, announced that his first policy would be "Egypt first".[13] In December 1970, Sadat announced in a speech that Egypt would be willing to make peace with Israel provided the latter returned the Sinai peninsula, making no mention of the West Bank, Gaza Strip or the Golan Heights. Sadat in a speech said
Let there be no more war or bloodshed between Arabs and Israelis. Let there be no more suffering or denial of rights. Let there be no more despair or loss of faith.[14]
After the1973 October War had boosted his image and the Egyptian army's image in Egypt, Sadat began a comprehensive attack on Nasser's legacy, including his pan-Arabist policies, which were portrayed as having dragged Egypt into poverty, a long grinding war in Yemen, and subservience to theSoviet Union. In contrast to thesecularist Nasser, Sadat began a policy of playing up Egypt's Muslim identity, having the constitution amended in 1971 to say thatSharia law was "a main source of all state legislation" and in 1980 to say that Sharia law was the main source of all legislation which was controversial in Egypt with many opposing it, although over time Egypt would become more conservative following the discovery of oil in Gulf states, which led to Egyptians going there for work and returning with the conservative Muslim ideology ofWahhabism. Though Sadat was not an Islamic fundamentalist, under his rule Islam started to be portrayed as the cornerstone of Egyptian national identity. Sadat had chosen to launch what Egyptians call the Ramadan/October War in 1973 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the code-name for the initial assault on the IsraeliBar Lev Line on the Suez Canal wasOperation Badr, after Muhammad's first victory, both gestures that would have been unthinkable under Nasser as Sadat chose to appeal to Islamic feelings. Sadat and Mubarak also abandoned Nasser's conflict with Israel and the West. Sadat chose to engage inIslamism as he released Islamists from prisons to combatCommunist influence.
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