Colonel Ahmed Orabi or Ahmed Urabi (Arabic: أحمد عرابى, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈæħmæd ʕoˈɾˤɑːbi]; April 1, 1841 – September 21, 1911; also known as Orabi Pasha, Orabi Pasha and Ahmed Pasha Orabi el-Masri; his name was also transliterated Ahmad Arabi in older sources) was an Egyptian army general, and nationalist who led a revolt in 1879 against Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, and the increasing European domination of the country. The revolt was ultimately crushed in 1882 when the United Kingdom invaded at the request of Tewfik, thereby commencing the 74 year British occupation Egypt. Orabi was the first Egyptian national political and military leader to rise from the fellahin.
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He was born in 1841 in the village of Hreyya Razna near Zagazig in the Sharqia Governorate, approximately 80 kilometres to the north of Cairo.[1] Orabi was the son of a village leader and one of the wealthier members of the community, which allowed him to received a decent education. After completing elementary education in his home village, he enrolled at Al-Azhar University to complete his schooling in 1849. He entered the army and moved up quickly through the ranks, reaching Lieutenant Colonel by age 20. The modern education and military service of Orabi, from a fellah, or peasant background, would not be possible without the modernizing reforms of Khedive Ismail, who had done much to eliminate the barriers between the bulk of the Egyptian populace and the ruling elite, who were drawn largely from the military castes that had ruled Egypt for centuries. Ismail abolished the exclusive access to the Egyptian and Sudanese military ranks held by Egyptians of Balkan, Circassian, and Turkish origin, and conscripted soldiers, and recruited students throughout Egypt and Sudan regardless of class and ethnic backgrounds in order to form a "modern" and "national" Egyptian military and bureaucratic elite class. Without these reforms, Orabi's rise through the ranks of the military would likely have been far more restricted.
He was a galvanizing speaker. Because of his peasant origins, he was at the time, and is still today, viewed as an authentic voice of the Egyptian people. Indeed, he was known by his followers as 'El Wahid' (the Only One), and when the British poet and explorer Wilfrid Scawen Blunt went to meet him, he found the entrance of Orabi's house was blocked with supplicants. When Khedive Tawfiq issued a new law preventing peasants from becoming officers, Orabi led the group protesting the preference shown to aristocratic officers (again, largely Egyptians of foreign descent). He and his followers, who included most of the army, were successful and the law was repealed. In 1879 they formed the Egyptian Nationalist Party.
He and his allies in the army joined with the reformers, and with the support of the peasants launched a broader effort to try to wrest Egypt and Sudan from foreign control, and also to end the absolutist regime of the Khedive, who was himself subject to Anglo-French control under the rules of the Caisse de la Dette Publique. The revolt spread to express resentment of the undue influence of foreigners, including the predominantly Turko-Circassian aristocracy.
He was first promoted to Bey, then made under-secretary of war, and ultimately a member of the cabinet. Plans were begun to create a parliamentary assembly. During the last months of the revolt (July to September 1882), it was claimed that Orabi held the office of prime minister.
Feeling threatened, Khedive Tawfiq called requested assistance against Orabi from the Ottoman Sultan, to whom Egypt and Sudan still owed technical fealty. The Sublime Porte hesitated.
The British were especially concerned that Orabi would default on Egypt's massive debt and that he might try to re-gain control of the Suez Canal. They and the French therefore dispatched warships to Egypt to intimidate the nationalists, though the French later withdrew their contingent of the operation. This naval presence spurred fears of an imminent invasion (as had been the case in Tunisia in 1881) and caused anti-European riots to break out in Alexandria on the June 12, 1882. One month later, the warships opened fire on the city's gun emplacements after the Egyptians ignored the ultimatum issued by Admiral Seymour which demanded an immediate end to the installation of those emplacements. In September of that year a British army landed in Alexandria but failed to reach Cairo after being defeated at the battle of Kafr-el-Dawwar. Another army, led by Sir Garnet Wolseley, landed in the Canal Zone and on September 13, 1882 they defeated Orabi's army at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. From there, the cavalry advanced on Cairo which surrendered without a shot, as did Orabi and the other nationalist leaders.
Orabi was tried by the restored Khedivate for rebellion on December 3, 1882. In accordance with an understanding made with the British representative, Lord Dufferin, Orabi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, but the sentence was immediately commuted to one of banishment for life.[2] He left Egypt on December 28, 1882 for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). His home in Halloluwa Road, Kandy is now the Orabi Pasha Museum and Cultural Centre. During his time in Ceylon, Orabi served to improve the quality of education amongst the Muslims in the country. Zahira College, Sri Lanka's first school for Muslims, was established under his patronage. In May 1901, Khedive Abbas II, Tewfiq's son and successor permitted Orabi to return to Egypt. Abbas was a nationalist in the vein of his grandfather, Khedive Ismail the Magnificent, and was deeply opposed to the British occupation of the country. Orabi returned on October 1, 1901, and remained until his death on September 21, 1911.[3]
While British intervention was meant to be short term, British forces continued to occupy the country, instituting the ousting of Khedive Abbas II in 1914, after which Egypt once more became a sultanate, and also a British protectorate. Britain finally recognised Egyptian independence in 1922, following the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. Orabi's revolt also had a long lasting significance as the first instance of Egyptian anti-imperialist nationalism, which would later play a very important role in Egyptian history. Especially under Gamal Abdel Nasser, Orabi would be regarded as an Egyptian patriot, and a national hero and is considered an anti-imperialist hero in Sri Lanka.[4]
| Preceded by: Mahmoud Sami el-Baroudi |
Prime Minister of Egypt (in rebellion) |
Succeeded by: Muhammad Sharif Pasha |
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