Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed

Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed Pasha(15 January 1872-1963) was an Egyptian intellectual, anti-colonial activist, the first director of Cairo University. He was an influential person in the Egyptian Nationalist movement and used his position in the media to strive and gain an independent Egypt from British rule. He was also one of the architects of modern Egyptian nationalism as well as the architect of Egyptian secularism and liberalism. He was fondly known as the Professor of the Generation. He was one of the fiercest opponents of pan-Arabism, insisting that Egyptians are Egyptians and not Arabs. He is considered to one of the most influential scholars and intellectuals in the history of Egypt.

Early Life

Lufti was born in the rural village of Berqin, near Al Senbellawein in the Dakahlia Governorate on 15 January 1872. He was educated in the traditional kuttāb, a government school in Manṣūra, the Khedivial Secondary School in Cairo and the School of Law in Cairo. While at law school, Al-Sayyid made contacts with influential people such as Muhammad Abduh and Hassuna al-Nawawi. Abduh played a pivotal role in Lufti’s experience with his reformist movement as well as his ideology concerning politics.

Writings and Scholarly Work

After graduating from the law school, Lufti entered the legal department of government services and worked there until 1905, then under the British administration of Lord Cromer. After his work there, Lufti became editor-in-chief of a newspaper called al-Jarida in 1907. The paper was prominent for writing enlightened and liberal materials and attracted the attention of many liberal activists. The writings Lufti composed for the al-Djarida during his time as editor-in-chief are considered his most important and influential works. He described in his newsletter liberal beliefs about the freedom of Egypt and how people must stand up take action. It was because of these liberal views Lufti created such a name for himself within the media and government of Egypt.

Dinshaway Incident

The Dinshaway incident was a violent clash that occurred in June 1906 between Egyptian peasants in the village of Dinshaway and British soldiers who were pigeon hunting in the area. The British had occupied Egypt in 1882 and used British soldiers to help put down the Urabi Rebellion, an Egyptian constitutionalist movement. On June 13, 1906 five British officers were hunting for pigeons in the village of Dinshaway, an area that needs approval from a headsman in order to hunt. The hunt was approved but the headsman was not present on the hunt with the officers. While on the hunt, a village floor caught fire causing angry peasants to surround the officers, when the officers’ rifles were shot injuring four of the villagers. This resulted in the attack and robbing of the officers involved with the hunt. After the incident, fifty-two villagers were arrested for crimes of violence against British officers. The trial for the villagers was administered by none other than Ahmed Lufti-al Sayyid. With his position as editor-in-chief of the al-Djarida, Lufti was able to spread word quickly of the incident and the treatment and violence directed towards the villagers. He participated as attorney in the trial after finding out that his daughter was directly involved, which prompted Lufti to take action. A statement by Lufti describing the brutality of the incident read, “They fell upon Dinshwai, and spared neither man nor his brother. Slowly they hanged the one and flogged the other.” It was the Dinshwai incident which triggered the creation of the first Egyptian political party created by Lufti.

Hizbal-Umma

In 1907, after the Dinshaway Incident, Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed founded Egypt's first political party, el-Umma (the Nation), which came as a reaction to the 1906 Dinshaway Incident and the rise of Egyptian nationalist sentiment. Lufti’s earlier work with the al-Jarida helped his cause from the numerous writings he published in the paper along with his gaining support upon the Dinshwai incident. His involvement during this time is considered to be one of the most pivotal roles in the evacuation of British forces in the twentieth century. It was also in 1907 that Lufti published the al-Jarida a collection of his own nationalist ideas and opinions on political issues, whose statement of purpose read: "Al-Jarida is a purely Egyptian party which aims to defend Egyptian interests of all kinds." Lufti introduced to the Arab public the ideas of British philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill during this time and Mill’s definition of liberalism.

Intellectual Contribution

Ahmed Lutfi al-Sayyid was an outright liberalist and believed in equality and rights for all people. Lufti’s contribution to Egypt in terms of intellectual ideas and movements redefined history in Egypt. He was considered one of the first Egyptian officials to introduce Mill’s works and reading to the general Arab public so they could educate themselves on liberalist concepts. He believed that people should have a say in what goes on in their government and country, and that all people had certain civil rights that could not be taken away. He was a staunch emphasizer of anti-colonialism and the negative effects it has on countries, which is what led to him being such an active member of the anti-British involvement in Egypt. He also took a strong stance against the Pan-Arabism view that was held during that time which emphasized a unification of all Arab countries and people into on entity. He believed that Egyptians were different from other Arabs and had their own separate beliefs and cultural aspects.

Later Years

In 1915, Lufti was appointed as director of the National Library of Egypt. While working for the library, Lufti did a substantial amount of work including translations from Aristotle through the French versions. He was a member of the Egyptian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference held in Versailles in 1919, where he pleaded for the independence of Egypt from Britain.Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed was also the first director of the Egyptian University, inaugurated on Monday 11 May 1925. He was a close friend of Taha Hussein, and resigned his post as university director as a protest against the Egyptian government's decision to transfer Hussein from his university position in 1932. He resigned again in 1937 when the Egyptian police broke into the court of the Egyptian University. During his presidency of the Egyptian University, the first promotion of females graduated with a university degree.

In addition, Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed held various positions such as the minister of education, the minister of interior, the director of the Arabic language assembly, a member of the senate, and the director of House of Books. He died in 1963.

Influences and Legacy

A bulk of Lufti’s political influences came from Western rhetoric that he had encountered through his time studying at the law university. His primary influencers were Aristotle, John Locke, Bentham, Mill, Spencer, Rousseau, Comte, and Le Bon. Lufti saw Egyptian Nationalism as the direct result of historical and environmental factors, which is why he was against Pan-Islamic, Pan-Arab, and Pan-Ottoman ideologies. Lufti was against religion as a basis for nationhood and instead advocated that social and political utility was more important. Lufti’s teachings and works were considered so important that he was dubbed ustād̲h̲ al-d̲j̲īl or “Professor of the Generation.”

See also

• Liberal Egyptian Party
• Egyptian nationalism