Lecture outline for Egypt, 19th and 20th centuries

centrality to Middle East, Northeast African and Mediterranean worlds

Napoleonic invasion

Muhammad Ali and the new dynasty
        modernization
                cotton production, but much more: railroads, some industry
                urbanization speeded
        expansion
        Western education
        creating strong, interventionist state
successors “rule” until 1952 and military officers’ coup

growing imperial interests
        Suez is key, esp for British: much more direct relations to India, Gulf interests
        British takeover in 1882
        sub-imperialism: occupation of Sudan
                fluctuating, troubled relationship with Sudan throughout 20th c

the “modernists”
        strong emphasis on reform and change, but with local initiative
        al-Afghani, Abduh are heroes
        then Hasan al-Banna and the Society of the Muslim Brothers

“liberal” regime, 1922 ff
        British now do the outside (defense and foreign affairs)
        Egyptian elites do the inside (economy, interior)
                political parties, parliament
        kings over the process, 1936ff, Faruq
        Israel’s creation, sense of failure in this and subsequent wars

1952ff, the military officers, the secular, nationalist and military regime
        Naguib, then Nasser
        Nasser as the “Arab” nationalist and socialist (cf Bulliet film: 1952, 1956, 1967...)
                USSR support for Aswan Dam
        ultimately not able to deliver on key issues amid demographic growth, great expectations
                employment, economy, Palestine

so, authoritarian regime
        intervening everywhere
                al-Azhar becames state institution, even
        but not able to control everything or produce results, esp in cultural realm
        Muslim Brothers and other Islamists suppressed but never eliminated
        radicalization, esp from Sayyid Qutb: much further than MB
                takfir and jahiliyya, reworking of the early history

“The more radical groups have adopted a doctrine of direct combat against the state.  They are inspired by the teaching of Sayyid Qutb (d 1966) whose Signs of the Road has become an influential manifesto.  The central view of the book is that sovereignty belongs to God and all human authority derives from God’s sovereignty.  In human societies there is no middle ground between Islam and jahiliya, between an Islamic and a pagan way of life.  Egypt in his view had become a jahiliya society and the primary tasks of good Muslims must be retreat (hijra), excommunication (takfir) of the false Muslims, the waging of jihad, and the reconversion of Egypt to Islam.  This is an uncompromising revolutionary point of view.”  Lapidus, 634

current compromise
        ulama and other Muslim forces, including some Islamists, shape the agenda
                modifying a secularist regime, compromising freedoms (cf sociologist S Ibrahim)
        strong US support and aid, since Camp David of 1979
        Muslim Brothers: a kind of moderate Islamist movement
        virulent minority dissent, at home and abroad
                Sadat assassination onward
                Islamic jihad: linking with Osama