What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us. Muhammad al-Muwaylihi

the day and the focus of everyone’s attention. I’m fed up, and so are our readers, with all the confusion and bungling, not to mention the slanderous criticisms being leveled at you. I’ve come to get some idea of the situation from you since you have a complete mastery of the whole picture. I can then pass it on to our readers and claim distinction from my colleagues by providing plausible statements and clear rationales. That will rid you of all the criticisms and abuse. As the saying has it, if you want information, ask someone who knows.

       6.9

      MINISTER The whole thing is quite straightforward; there’s no cause for concern and nothing for people to be worried about. The Sudan is being governed jointly by the Egyptian government in which we are ministers and the British government represented by Lord Cromer. At the moment, we are considering together ways of organizing the government there and introducing Western culture and civilization instead of the primitive barbarianism which subsists there at the moment. We are entirely unconcerned about the stupid prattle of those ignorant meddling fools who are unable to grasp what lies in the inscrutable future. Sudan is going to be a veritable garden for Egypt; it will provide us with all our wants. It is the place where we find the source of Egypt’s Nile and so it will also be the source of its welfare and mainstay of its power and pride. The Sudanese people are still primitive; they don’t have ingrained in them the customs of Oriental civilization with all its futilities, delusions, opulence, and luxury. The corrupt character and nasty traits which are so common in Oriental countries have not become so deeply rooted in their nature; in fact, quite the opposite, their thoughts are like their own land, virgin. All this bride lacks is a dowry made up of the jewels of civilization. The country will then reveal its true beauty and shine radiantly over all other ideas. It’s as if you are planting a seed in their soil; the fruit it produces will be better than any other fruit.

      The Sudanese are not like the Egyptians. They’re serious and energetic; they have a sense of purpose and élan, they persevere with whatever they’re doing and have a strong willpower. It won’t take them long to reach a quite sophisticated level of civilization. In Africa their position will become like that of the people in South America. In this era of ours what project is more worthy, glorious, memorable, and long-lasting than this one? Every time I think about the enormous pride and prestige it brings, I find it easy to ignore the idiotic things people say, the envy that people feel, and the criticisms of my detractors. All the yelling and screaming, fault finding, and prevarications are of no import. The whole of the Sudan is in Egyptian hands; the only trace of the occupation is two hundred English soldiers.

       6.10

      REPORTER Since you seem to be so enthusiastic about the future of the Sudan, Sir, and so concerned about its administration and coordination of government arrangements, how is it that you haven’t traveled to Khartoum along with the others to put your concern to work and confirm reports by seeing everything for yourself?

      MINISTER I don’t have to put up with the hard journey all the way up there. The late Saʿīd Pāshā only stayed there for half an hour even though it had taken him months to get there. Lord Cromer is representing the British government, the Financial Adviser is representing the Egyptian government, and the Sirdar is my personal representative.

      REPORTER Were you happy about Lord Cromer’s speech? Did it conform with your intentions?

      MINISTER Certainly! The device Lord Cromer has come up with to put the Sudanese government under the control of the Sirdar instead of the British and Egyptian governments is a very subtle maneuver which shows considerable shrewdness. By so doing, his intention is that the Sudanese government will be rid of the fetters imposed by capitulations, treaties, and debts. He couldn’t say it had been annexed by England because that would have involved the violation of company contracts, and he didn’t want to have it declared as annexed to Egypt since that would put it under the same restrictions as our present government. So he put it under the Sirdar’s control, or, in other words, under martial law. In that way, things can be organized without any opposition or objection—what a marvelous way of doing things!

       6.11

      You’re aware of the story about the Greek general who was in charge of the Athenian government? One day, people met as was the custom in their republic. The general asked them if they knew who ruled the world. When they said they didn’t, he told them that it was the little boy who was standing at his side, his son. He pointed out that the boy ruled his mother, his mother ruled him (the general), he ruled Athens, and Athens ruled the world. One day, I should ask the Egyptian people if they know who rules the world’s great continent. When they say they don’t, I’ll reply that I’m the Egyptian Minister of War, I have authority over the Sirdar, he rules the Sudan, and Sudan commands Africa.

      REPORTER If you realized, Sir, that I was standing by the door all the time you were talking to yourself, watching and listening to you, you wouldn’t carry on pretending like this.

      MINISTER All is lost! As if I didn’t have enough to worry about! My chamberlain is so negligent and doesn’t use his wits to keep people out of my office. In that case, I’ve no alternative but to ask you to keep everything you’ve heard a secret and not publish any part of it in the newspapers. I hope you’ll be kind enough to turn a blind eye to my dissimulation. Such things are forced on me by the prestige of the office I hold. This is what happens when the occupying power does all the thinking and arranging. Their actions are all like cast iron whereas we keep weaving excuses for ourselves like a spider. Meanwhile, all the other people get the rewards and presents.

       6.12

      REPORTER Don’t be so sad and resentful that they’re the ones getting rewards and not you. They can quote a number of reasons for their good fortune. The Sirdar has got his for putting up with so many troubles in the war, for the stratagems he’s devised against the enemy, and for saving his country the need to gather a large force together for the battles in the Sudan. He’s only been using a token number so as to give some semblance of their being there as part of a cooperative effort during the battle, whereas in fact it’s Egyptian soldiers who do all the work. Lord Cromer has got his title for advising his government to lend the Egyptian government eight thousand pounds at a time of desperate need and then forgoing it at the right moment so that it could be used as capital for setting up the Anglo-Egyptian Company to control the Sudan. Buṭrus Pāshā got his title because he didn’t object to receiving this gift from Cromer’s government so that the latter could make full use of this opportunity. Zubair secured the return of his sons because he gave advice which proved useful in the conquest of the Sudan. Wingate got his promotion for his efforts to keep track of enemy information. They’ve all been rewarded for good reasons, but they couldn’t come up with anything you’ve done to help them in the Sudanese campaign.

       6.13

      MINISTER Let’s leave aside the question of rewards. Why didn’t they at least maintain some semblance of form in their dealings with me? It wouldn’t do them any harm. They could have taken me with them to the Sudan and suggested on my recommendation that the Minister of Finance be appointed to the cabinet, instead of appointing him over all our heads direct from London. In everything Lord Cromer has done, said, and projected regarding the Sudan he seems to have wanted to bring the nineteenth century to a strange end; namely to get the Sudanese government to reintroduce the feudal system and tax farming just as it was during the Middle Ages. It’s as if he’s tired of organizing the Egyptian government along the lines of contemporary Western civilization and is eager to try something new by turning a loathsome and objectionable concept into something commendable. But I can’t believe in the inversion of basic truths. Something that people unanimously condemn continues to be unacceptable. In any case, the upshot of it all is my chief concern and that comes within my responsibility. Talking of responsibility…

       6.14

      The Reporter said: The Minister pressed his bell button, and the chamberlain came in. The Minister instructed him to call the accounts secretary. The chamberlain came back after a while and told him that the secretary was busy with the Adjutant General and could not come. The Minister told him to go back and