Mustafa Kamil Pasha : (1874-1908) son of an Egyptian army officer: trained as a lawyer at the French law school in Cairo & the Law Faculty at the University of Toulouse in France: supported Egypt’s Khedive, Abbas Hilmi II, who strongly opposed the United Kingdom’s occupation of Egypt & Sudan: sought co-operation with France & the Ottoman Empire: realising its folly appealed mainly to fellow Egyptians to end of the British occupation: called on Khedive Abbas to grant constitutional government to his subjects. In 1900, Kamil founded the newspaper Al-Liwa’ (The Standard) & a boys’ school open to Egyptian Muslims, Christians, & Jews. His cause was strengthened by the Dinshawäy Incident in June 1906 in which four peasants were hastily tried & hanged for having assaulted uniformed British officers who were shooting pigeons in their village. He was supported strongly by Mohammad Farid, prominent member of Egypt & Sudan’s aristocracy. With Farid’s assistance, Kamil founded the National Party in December 1907, two months before his death. His funeral was the occasion for a massive demonstration of popular grief. Farid, who spent his last penny supporting the country’s national liberation movement, became the leader of the National Party after Kamil’s death. Kamil is remembered as a fervent Egyptian nationalist, & an articulate advocate of Egyptian independence. The current Egyptian national anthem (Bilady) is thought to have been inspired by one of Mustafa Kamil’s speeches: “If I weren’t an Egyptian, I would have wished to be an Egyptian.”
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