Zeinab Mohamed's blog

Merry Christmas to all the Egyptian Orthodox Christians

Merry Christmas to all the Egyptian Orthodox Christians all over the world.

The 7th of January became a national day in Egypt both Christians and Muslims take it as day off according to one of Mubarak's fewest wisest decision he had ever taken

In the occasion I would like to share with you some shots I took from the Saint Constantine Church in Cairo , I was invited last month to attend the wedding ceremony of my neighbour and my childhood Friend.

It is an Orthodox church ,its style of building reminds with the Byzantine style, I wanted to take more photos but I could not because there was a wedding

 

Happy New year

�www.kiwee.com

Happy New year

Happy Eid 2007

It is only late for 24 hours ;)

10

 

Happy Eid 1000 times

to all the world

I am sorry that I could not say it early yesterday as we as a family had a busy schedule ,slaughtering in the early morning and an engagement party at night , one of my relatives had her engagement party yesterday and it was one hell of a party till the early hours of the morning ,so you can imagine how busy I was

Anyhow it is the second day of the Eid and people are still to each other Happy Eid :)

Princess Farial Interview

Here is the exclusive interview of Princess Farial with Amr Adeeb on Orbit network

 

The real Facebook groups

I was not an active member in facebook except when I found the Egyptian Royal groups which unfortunately turned in to more than "Anti-Revolution" groups , already I am thinking of living them anyhow I found in Facebook some interesting groups I want to share with you

1- Egypt defeated Israel in 1973 group

2- Mohamed Naguib group : The only group dedicated to the late President

3-Rafaat El-Hagan group : The only group dedicated for the Egypt's legendary Spy Rafaat El-Hagan

Please join these groups :)

Cover boy 4

Ok I promise you this will be insh Allah the last one in that series until another Egyptian appears on the time cover :)

We stopped at the death of President Sadat in 1981 , President Sadat as you know all was followed by President Mubarak who is ruling from 1981 till now 2007. President Mubarak ruled Egypt more than anyone in the 20th century , beating the record of King Fouad I who ruled Egypt for 19 years where as Mubarak reached his 26th year in the presidency this year 2007 !! Yet after all those years ,he appeared just like King Fouad I only Once on the time cover , in fact King Fouad I was much luckier than Mubarak as he appeared on the cover of the magazine alone but Mubarak who appeared after 4 years of his rule on the 28th of October 1985 with accompanied with other three leaders not to mention the cover story was not about him

President Mubarak photo appeared with the photos of late Arafat ,late American President Reagan and Prime minister Craxi of Italy

The Cover story was about the famous Achille Lauro hijacking incident .That terrible incident caused an international

Mubarak on the cover of the Time

crisis at that time , in fact if you review it in a perfect world ,it will cause an international crisis , the Reagan cabinet who was just won for another time in the white house handled it in a very dangerous way that made Reagan pay a big price.

Why it was dangerous at least for the Egyptian side , well check again the story , after refusing to the demands of the PLOs hijackers "who did during the early peace talks between Israel from a side and Jordan and PLO from another side"  and throwing the old man from the ship in a terrible way agreed after two days of negotiations the hijackers agreed to abandon the liner for safe conduct and were flown towards Tunisia aboard an Egyptian commercial airliner, Egypt Air Boeing 737 yet during the flight with no previous announcement to Cairo Reagan was  proud that he plane was intercepted by United States Navy fighters " F-14" on October 10 and directed to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella, a N.A.T.O. base in Sicily, where the hijackers were arrested by the Italians after a disagreement between U.S. and Italian authorities and the rest of the passengers continued their journey to Tunisia, of course the C.I.A director at that time William Casey saw the interception was a positive turning pointing ,already Mubarak in the previous issue had an interview with the magazine concerning the famous crisis

As you see two diplomatic problems with Egypt from one side and from Italy from another side . In a very rare move according to today's Egyptian -American relations , Egypt was so angry , very angry that we demanded an official apology from the United States , a request was not fulfilled till now . There was a very huge anger on the public level that was expressed in huge protests in Universities and on the official level that was expressed in both the demand for official apology and the angry statement of Mubarak which seemed to be taken seriously at that time ,may be because at that time was still powerful strong player , the legacy of Sadat and Nasser that kept Egypt as major power in the area was still there

That would be the last time Mubarak would be on the magazine till writing these lines , yes there were hundreds of reports about him in the magazines and dozens of interviews till now yet he did not appear except that time , of course it is very interesting considering Mubarak as a very close friend to the Americans , still it is not by friendship Chinese,Russian and Iranian leaders appeared frequently ,I mean President Sadat appeared 10 times in his 10 years rule, president Nasser appeared 6 times in his 16 years rule and this in his 26 years that had seen several international and national crisis from wars in the region and war on terrorism in Egypt did not even make it once !!

Anyhow he was not the last Egyptian leader /Ruler to appear on the cover of the time as a very old ruler appeared on the cover on May 29,1995 King Ramesses II was cover story ,the discovery of the tomb of his sons was an is still

Ramses II on the cover of the time

 raising questions about the life and death of that ruler who had ruled Egypt for a whole 30 years and is said to be the Pharaoh of Exodus, a belief which is shared by many Jews and Muslims too

And that's folks our journey comes to an end , at least for now because as soon as another Egyptian makes it for the time cover , I will mention it here

As you see all the Egyptian rulers in the 20th century since the issue of the magazine in 1923 appeared on the cover of the magazine ,even Ramesses II appeared on it. King Fouad "1" , King Farouk "2",President Naguib "1",President Nasser"6" ,President Sadat "10" ,President Mubarak "1" and Ramesses II "1"

President Sadat is number one for the times appeared on the magazine then President Sadat then King Farouk

Cover boy 3

Now this is the third part from our trip with the time  magazine covers we started here and there . At trip with history,politics and Art .

We stopped at the year 1970 , an important year in the history of the Arab world not only Egypt when President Nasser suddenly died in a critical time , Israeli invasion for the Arab lands and a Palestinian-Jordanian mini war going on and one question "Who is going to fill Nasser's vacancy ??' Yes according to the fact President Nasser chose Anwar El-Sadat to be his first vice president beside another 2 vice presidents ,El-Sadat became the the third President to Egypt.President El-Sadat who had one hell of a history pre-1952 coup managed through the years after the coup to keep a low profile for himself and I guess it was a smart thing from him to do so because he realized that there would be a deadly conflict on the leadership in the revolution council .Keeping a low profile made him like a riddle inside and outside ,he was regarded as weak puppet in the hands of the centers of Power till he surprised the Egyptians and the whole world with his corrective revolution on the 15th of May 1971 to get rid from all those anti-Sadat and Pro-Soviet in a single move

The world especially the west did not understand the move or understand what policy Anwar El-Sadat would work with, he was the riddle of the middle East ,the Underrated Heir who proved to be above all the expectations

President El-Sadat made his first appearance on the cover of the time on the 17th of May 1971 , just two days after from the corrective movement he made . He was the third president and the fourth leader to appear on the cover of the time . That cover was very special , an illustration of Cartoon showing him like Sphinx in front of th pyramids , Sadat's head on the body of a lion and on the left side there was a ribbon written on it "The Middle east Riddle" , a very perfect cover to drew the attention of the reader who did not know who the Sadat was , a riddle that need to be understood in the middle east

President Sadat on the cover of the time for the first time

 After 3 years President Sadat appeared for the second time on June 24 ,1974 with Preisdent Nixon in  a photo from the huge public reception the first American President received in Cairo and I think it would be the last , Nixon was the first American president to visit Egypt,Cairo since the famous visit of Roosevelt to the Suez Canal and his meeting with king Farouk.Already that visit was a bright point in the life of Nixon , the Americans are officially back in the heart of the Arab world after years of Soviet domination ,regardless of the claims of the Nasserists and Egyptian Communists ,President Nixon was received by huge welcome of the Egyptian people for the fact that they got sick from the Soviets "With my all respect to the leftists ,history is history". The Cover was a photo taken by Michele Laurant

President Sadat on the cove of the time for the second time

The following year Sadat appeared on the cover of the magazine for the third time on April 7th 1975 , this time he was not alone , he was with other leaders from kings,prime ministers and Presidents of the World ,the cover story , which was more a whole section was about America and the world , mostly about King Faisal who was killed that year ,his death was not an easy thing , President Sadat was mentioned in three articles in that issue , the first about the death of the Saudi King , the second was a short report about the relations between the Soviets and the Arabs specifically President Sadat who was still counting on their arms and the third which was the most important of them about the Kissigner negotiations between Egypt and Israel and what went wrong in it. Those who appeared on the cover beside Sadat King Faisal 'May Allah bless his soul', Kissinger,Rabin and Thieu of South Vietnam then.

President Sadat on the cover of the time for the third time

President Sadat appeared again in the same year on the cover of the time on June 9th year 1975 , a very important year on all level , the beginning of the open doors policy , the relations with the Americans and also the relations with the soviets, the opening of Suez canal on the 5 th of June and surely the talks between Cairo and ... "The magazine wickedly used the word Jerusalem despite it was n't  and is not the capital of Israel yet" in brief it was one hell of watershed Week in Cairo . Another illustration for President Sadat , this time his face is well drawn in close up with the words "The Quest of Peace" Sadat was already for Peace but on what terms and how !!?? Sadat was the first Egyptian leader to appear twice in the same year till then ,that was the fourth time for him to be on the cover

President Sadat on the cover of the time for the second time

Well year 1975 did not finish and President Sadat broke the record and appeared for the third time in the same year and the fifth in total on the cover of the magazine on August 25th in a very beautiful comic illustration by Jack Davis portraying Kissinger and a pigeon of Peace on his shoulder trying to make President Sadat and Rabin Shake hands , Sadat and Rabin both were wearing their military suites referring to their military background and rivalry and if you noticed Rabin got bandages over his hand and Sadat got a plaster on his forehead, both were skeptical while shaking the perfect illustration for a famous cartoonist to describe the cover story of Kissinger's visits between the two Countries to bring Peace in the middle east for the first time and the obstacles he was facing from both sides

President Sadat on the cover of the time for the fifth time

 After 2 years President Sadat made in August 8th 1977 it to the cover again for the sixth time ,yet this time he was not alone for the second time ,he was with other leaders from the world in a beautiful comic illustration , already he was not the center of the cover story that was represented graphically , the center of the cover story was President Jimmy Carter and his foreign policy in the Oval room dealing with the powers in the world and issues whether the Soviets or Europe or the middle east or Asia , it made him like Daniel in the den of the lions and that was the idea of the comic ,the foreign policies of the ex-Georgia Governor who was much less experienced in foreign affairs were under question, Carter came to a powerful world ,with powerful players in foreign policies who were like lions ,fierce lions whether West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who described Carter as a faith healer or Egypt's President who looked in a Sphinx position for the second time , looking in a smart wicked way admired already the policy of Carter whom was called by an Egyptian official "An Arab more than the Arabs" and it seemed that it is true ,already Carter took a legacy from Kissinger that was the Peace talks between Arabs and Israelis especially with the arrival of Menachem Begin to power in Israel appearing less willing to comprise for Peace , he was another lion to be dealt with , of course those beside the two lions of the east U.S.S.R 'S Brezhnev and China's Hua Kuo-Feng

President Sadat on the time cover for the third time

Two months Later President had to be on the time Cover again after his historical visit to Israel ,the historical visit was the cover story of the time November 28th 1977 , the sacred mission of President Sadat to return back the land and to bring Peace breaking the ice by himself,that was the seventh time and President Sadat broke the record

Presidet Sadat on the cover of the time for the 7th time

And if you think that would be his last appearance on the time cover in that year , you are wrong because he appeared for the 9th time on the Time that year for the third time in the same year on September 25th, he appeared in another comic illustration face to face with Begin ,the way to Peace was not easy for sure and the two parties who started the negotiations on the 17 of September in Camp David had suffered during that time till they appeared on the screen of TV Shaking hands and signing the camp David accords which were backbones of a Peace treaty between Egypt and Israel , President Carter's vision of Peace came true,still the cover made them more like rivals not Peace partners , you can feel it

President Sadat on the time cover for the fourth time "Person of the year"

President Sadat after that did not appear on the cover of the magazine alive again , but as a dead man after three years in 1981 in one of the most beautiful illustrated cover of the time ever , Simple yet full of meaning , the cover of the issue published on October 19,1981 after his assassination on the 6th of October from the same year, his assassination was the topic of the wonderful illustration , his face in front and in the background what happened in the Sad parade , the last public army Parade Egypt has seen till ,the exact sequence of events as it was seen on TV ,the air fights , the military vehicle and the attack of the terrorists on the podium. inside the edition there were about 9 articles about him whether sadness about his loss as a man of Peace ,how he changed the history, his passion for Peace,the American grief on their Egyptian Friend , the concerns after his death and the faithful pupil who took his place with a short interview with Mubarak 48 hours after the incident of course that was beside the international reaction .That time was the 10th time

 

President Sadat on the cover of the time for the 9th time

President Sadat after that did not appear on the cover of the magazine alive again , but as a dead man after three years in 1981 in one of the most beautiful illustrated cover of the time ever , Simple yet full of meaning , the cover of the issue published on October 19,1981 after his assassination on the 6th of October from the same year, his assassination was the topic of the wonderful illustration , his face in front and in the background what happened in the Sad parade , the last public army Parade Egypt has seen till ,the exact sequence of events as it was seen on TV ,the air fights , the military vehicle and the attack of the terrorists on the podium. inside the edition there were about 9 articles about him whether sadness about his loss as a man of Peace ,how he changed the history, his passion for Peace,the American grief on their Egyptian Friend , the concerns after his death and the faithful pupil who took his place with a short interview with Mubarak 48 hours after the incident of course that was beside the international reaction .That time was the 10th time

President Sadat on the time cover for the fifth time

As I said that was the last time for him on the cover of the time Magazine Cover where he had appeared more than any previous or next Egyptian President , in total he appeared for 10 times from year 1971 to 1981 .He appeared Solo for five times and the other five he appeared with other leaders.Three of those covers were photographs where as the rest were illustrations.

President Sadat surely appeared all those times due to his role in the international Peace , what made him earn it and on the contrary of President Nasser he was a friend to the west yet not a weak ally but a powerful man who was ready for Peace on the basis of Land and Justice , President Sadat again was not a weak puppet like those Arab weak leaders from Presidents and Kings Now

 

Anwar El Sadat: In Search of Identity an Autobiography

Cover boy 2

We are still in our journey with our Egyptian Cover boys of the Time magazine since 1923 till now ,Please check the first part of the post .Now we go to the fourth Egyptian leader who appeared on the cover of the Time .

He was the first Free officer and the second President of Egypt historically and the second most Egyptian Leader who found his way to the cover of the Time through his ruling years from 1954 to 1970 . you will be amazed how he was a controversial character and you will learn how the media can turn 180 degrees because of the international polices , yes I am talking about President Gamal Abd El-Nasser whom whether you like or dislike you can't deny that he was a center of news in the world and in his time there were many events ,international crisis and wars in only 16 years. The relationship between Nasser and the foreign press with the Time in particular was strange , I mean they would attack him and on the same time they would publish a long interview with him !! The strange thing which puzzles me is that I know that Nasser had special departments for monitoring what was published abroad whether in the Egyptian Presidency or in the Foreign ministry "My grand mother's brother was a head for it for couple of years during the Nasserite era" not to mention of course the intelligence , so I do not know how he used to welcome them for interview anyhow may be it was an intelligent move to communicate with the outside world specifically the WestThe relation between them was an example of how the American administration considered Nasser ,it was like a

mirror of reflection to the phases in the Egyptian-American relations during that time

President Nasser on the cover of the time for the first time

The first time was on Sep. 26, 1955 they considered Nasser revolutionary  with a very beautiful illustration for the

young officer and behind him a beautiful illustration of ancient Egypt Wall that looks like a wall from one of the Karnak Temples , representing Egyptians behind him

The second time was on August 27, 1956 and the revolutionary turned in to a Counterpuncher dictator during the Suez Crisis after the Nationalization of the Suez Canal,now he became the new villain of the western world , you only have to see the cover and how the cartoonist illustrated Nasser and compare it with 1955 cover to know the difference in the attitudes and view , the close up look

President Nasser on the cover of the time for second time

 with a devilish smile and big hawk nose not to mention the ancient Egyptian Wall behind representing an Egyptian soldiers from Ancient Egypt holding riffles and swords , it was full of meanings with direct messages , the difference from the previous less than year issue is amazing .The cartoonist who made that cover was  Ernest Hamlin Baker

The third time was on July 28,1958 , after two years from the Suez Issue the Counterpuncher dictator became an adventurer in the middle east whether with his new United Arab Republic or the crisis in Lebanon 1958 ,the marines came to the middle east ,still the illustration was different than the one in 1956 , first of all the it was an photograph representing Nasser and the Egyptian Old green flag that was going to be changed later ,here Nasser was no longer wearing his military suite and for the first time you find a normal smile on his face , in 1955 the cartoonist did not show him smiling and in 1956 he had that cartoon devilish smile , but in 1958 he had this calm smile  another remark Nasser name on the cover was no longer associated with Egypt like in 1955 or in 1956 may be because then he became the President Of UAE . The Photograph was taken by famous photojournalist David Douglas Duncan 

President Nasser on the cover of the time for third time

Now after 5 years Nasser made it for the fourth time appearing on the cover of the time on March 29, 1963,the epic of the Pan Arabism ,again he returned as Nasser of Egypt yet he became the most influential man in the Arab world , sending his armies to Yemen , supporting revolutions here and there, his allies were like the pain in the ass , the pan Arabism dream from the Gulf to the ocean and his alliance with the Soviet Union were like the pain in the ass for America and its allies in the Arab world . The adventurer from 5 years ago became the Camel driver , leading the Arab world I guess .The cover was another illustration influenced with the history of ancient Egypt ,Nasser as a pharaoh standing with side by side with Sphinx , there are three men with sticks walking in the shadow I do not know who they were if you have idea please tell me , the very interesting part in the cover that time was the Arabic proverb on the right corner of the magazine "Keep your tents separate and bring your heart together" already I do not in Arabic a proverb like this but in the end I do not know all the proverbs , the proverb is about the Arab unity of course by the way .That cover was drawn by illustrator Robert Vickery

President Nasser on the cover of the time for the fourth time

After another 9 years He made it again for the fifth time on the cover of the time on May. 16, 1969 ,yes after the defeat of the Six days . That issue included  a long interview with him made by two journalists one of them was the managing editor of the time then himself in Nasser's house.There was another report about the general conditions of the Arab world Egypt in particular after the defeat which affected the whole Arabic world painfully ,not only the countries of the front, also if was after the arrttiation war between Egypt and Israel. The cover was very powerful Nasser was illustrated like A stone statue behind him a stone wall ,in a very powerful way with the title a deadlock in the middle east , strong and sad look in the eyes of Nasser of Egypt who was no longer a dictator or adventurer but a president of Egypt.The cartoonist who made that cover was Louis Glanzman

 

Presidnet Nasser on the cover of the time for the fifth time

That was the last time Nasser would appear alive on the Time as the following sixth time , the last time he appeared on the international magazine after his death on October 12,1970 in a graphical cover made of combined a photo for Nasser and other photos of Egypt of Abu Simbel II temple ,from the war , with two shapes of Crescent representing the Islamic identity of the Egypt and the Arab world with red background , I do not know if they chose red on purpose referring to the alliance with the soviets of what. Nasser was not an easy politician or leader and what he made that was considered a legacy was questioned in that critical time in whether to stay or vanish and the most important question to the west then who fill his vacuum . This cover was designed by Lawrence Lowry

President Nasser on the cover of the time for the sixth time

 President Nasser appeared 6 times in his 16 years rule of Egypt ,4 illustrated covers and two photographic covers. The covers presented the troubled relation with the west and specifically the United States .

This is the end of the second ,there will be a third part covering the rest of the Egyptian leaders who appeared on the cover of the time

Cover boy

I love browsing in the Time Magazine archive especially their covers , the use of illustration since year 1923 ,the first edition of the magazine in the States is remarkable

And after browsing and searching through the various editions I found out the Egyptian Kings and Presidents had their significant share of appearing on the Cover of the famous international magazine more than one time

Reading through the rich archive of the time is one hell of experience ,you will learn a lot about the meaning of international politics and alliance ,how the shift in the American policies can affect the way the media's coverage to international events and the examples are many

I started my journey with the Time Archives when I was making  my posts regarding the 1956 war in an attempt to cover the story from all angles and despite I found that they were biased covering only the western point view yet it was a great experience , especially that in Egypt we are suffering from the lack of historical records , the online archives of the newspapers in Egypt are not for free and they only go back to the 1990s so to find this huge archive that goes back to 123 was a remarkable treasure

Anyhow back to what I discover in my research ,as I said before the journey of the Egyptian kings and presidents as

King Fouad I on the cover of the time

 cover boys of the time since 1923 , oh yes the first year of the time Magazine

The journey started in 1923 ,in the issue no.9 that dated to April 28th  of 1923 , of course anyone who knows the

history of Egypt well , you will immediately that it was about the constitution of 1923 in Egypt which was the cover story

King Fouad appeared on the cover of the magazine as an illustration , already illustrations are used extensively on the

 cover of the Time for a long time till and many famous illustrators by the way were famous for their drawings in the Time

King Fouad I was the first Egyptian King to appear on the cover of the time ,it was his first and last time

His son King Farouk was the second Egyptian King to appear on the cover of the magazine.He appeared twice ,once when he took the rule of Egypt after his father ,when he was a promising young man in year 1937 surrounded by the

King Farouk on the cover of the time for the first time

 love of the people and when he began his journey to the downfall of his era 

The first time was on August 09, 1937 , this time it was not an illustration but a photo for him , he was the cover story of that volume ,you feel that there was an underestimation for him as a young king if you read the title of the report "Boy Scout into Field Marshal" but it was expected , already Farouk became a King in a very early age even before the legal age , he became a King in the age of 18 where as they should have waited till he reached 21 years old ,at least he would have finished his education , still there was an excuse for that thanks to the conspiracies of old Prince Mohamed Ali ,the second to the throne who wanted to rule so much that he made an alliance with the British Commissioner in Egypt. In 1937 the politicians of the Palace like Ali Pasha Maher and Ahmed Pasha Hasseinein made arrangements with all the parties in Egypt including the ruling party then El-Wafad which had a long rivalry with King Fouad I  to support the new young king for the Sake of the nation and that proved an excellent choice then

The Second time was on September 10,1951 , an illustration for his chubby face which would his trade mark all over the world afterwards , that date came after the huge fire of Cairo that was followed with unstable time in Egypt, the

King Farouk on the cover of the time for the second time

 time of the too successive unpopular cabinets.It was a strange thing that the King left Egypt during all terrible time and headed to Europe and so the cover story was about the Scout boy who became the locomotive , that was the beginning of the ending for Farouk's reign ,the lazy fat play boy started not in Egypt but in the west . I believe King Farouk thanks to the conspiracies of the parties with the British Commissioner and beginning under attack from the irresponsible behavior of his family was acting in a suicidal way , he did not care anymore , he did not give a damn , he just could not fight anymore and the signature on the order to abdicate and proclaim his son King Ahmed Fouad II ,and that was the last time Farouk was on the cover of the magazine , of course it would not be the last time to mention in the news of the magazine , his name was unfortunately was mentioned in a way not less bad then the way it was mentioned in Egypt back , a lazy fat playboy ex-king in exile

Farouk had gone and a new era came : The Free Officers

The free officers had their great share in the time after they were the new rulers with new era , the republic era

The First one of them was the first president of Egypt General Mohamed Naguib in an illustration ,which I believe was

President Mohamed Naguib on the cover of the Time

 very meaningful , the face of Naguib in the background and the foreground was the landmarks of Egypt , the Citadel,the sphinx and the Nile. Mohamed Naguib was a very promising face ,on the cover you will find the Time had described him as "Egypt's Strong Man Naguib" and under the description you will find his quote "We have enough from corruption" ,during that time the west and the United States had hopes in the their new allies in Cairo .Dated September 08, 1952 just months after the coup in July and before the declaration of the Republic in 1953 The Cover story  was about that  Good man the General who led a coup to end the rule one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle east and sure he was a good and great man. That was the first and the last time for him , he was like King Fouad I and he was not president yet when he appeared on the cover the Time

The Scorpio explorer

Through my early reading I always considered him an educated womanizer of his time working in the most prestigious and important places and positions in Egypt during the 1940s  but when I began to watch the TV Series "King Farouk" on MBC this Ramadan I rediscovered that man in the same way he discovered the deserts of Egypt ,already he was my true discovery ,not King Farouk because already I know the reality of young King from a long time but I did not know who Ahmed Pasha Hassanein was except through that Series , sorry it made me want to discover that man

The Ladies Man .The Men's Man .The man of all town

Ahmed Pasha Hassanein

Ahmed Pasha Hassanein was underestimated early in the history of Egypt regarding him only as the Chief of the

Royal Diwan and the Chamberlain of King Farouk who used to be womanizer ,allegedly married to his mother Queen Nazli and had an affair with Princess and Singer Asmahan "Amal Al-Atrash" and I think the revolution did not cause that underestimation ,already the man was killed in a terrible car accident that raised question marks in 1946 and he was hated by many politicians in that time not to mention some people said that the King did not like the relationship between his  mother and his chief of Diwan who was his special tutor in London

This was the general idea I had for him before yet after watching the TV series and searching for more information about this man online and offline I found out the Egypt's earliest explorer was the most influential man in Egypt in 1940s , a politician for the first degree and the most trusted and influential person for Farouk.

That Man despite his claim that he did not understand anything in Politics proved to be  a master in the political arena in front of huge gladiator from the weight of Mustafa Pasha El-Nahas and Ahmed Pasha Maher , yes he was not as

King Farouk in the inauguration of the international telecommunications congress 1938

 powerful and dangerous as Ali Pasha Maher but we should not forget that when Ali Pasha Maher was in his exile in Egypt during the WWII for being a Nazi ally ,Hassanein played a great role in saving both the King throne  and the country in the famous crisis of 4th of February as Young King Farouk was going to sign the abdication document in order to the Save the Egyptian people with no fight yet clever Hasseinein saved the day  ,if Farouk had signed that document , the British Commissioner Sir Miles Lampson would have chosen Prince Mohamed Ali who was a puppet in the hand of the British instead of him.

Hassanein was an extraordinary man ,it is rare to find a man who understands in culture ,in politics and in society in that way . You will be amazed already if you check his background , his grandfather was the last admiral for the Egyptian fleet in 18th century when the British invaded Egypt , his father was a Sheikh in Al-Azhar , he was born on the 31st of October 1889 in Boulaq which is a very popular area even till now , he started his education in Al-Azhar then he completed his education in Oxford University ,he was a champion in Fencing that he represented Oxford University once and Egypt twice in two Olympics in ,

when he returned to Egypt , he returned as a young explorer who went in exploration the Egyptian Western and Libyan desert in a time that  where there were no GPRS or satellites phones or laptops or Jeep cars , no ,it takes a lot of courage even now to go to the middle of the desert. Hassanein Pasha was an Egyptian legend in exploration ,

Ahmed Hassanein Pasha in his famous trip in 1923

 already he was the first to write to the National geographic society in year 1923 , he also wrote a book about his explorations in the desert in the book " The lost Oases" which was translated in to Arabic,French and German. in That book Hassanein Pasha shared in a very attractive way his journey for 8 month trip full of perils on a camel from Egypt's Mediterranean coast west of Marsa Matrouh, heading for the oases of Siwa and Kufra and into the unknown reaches of the Libyan Desert. His perilous eight-month journey in 1923 took him around the western edges of the Great Sand Sea to El Obeid in the Sudan, a distance of 2200 miles, and lead him to the discovery of the lost oases of Arkenu and Uweinat at the extreme southwest corner of Egypt.Yes he was the first one to discover the Uweinat Oasis where he discovered rock drawings of animals, including lions, giraffes, ostriches, and gazelles. He was deep in the trackless desert, but what he had found was evidence of a flourishing human existence ten thousand years ago, and proof that the Sahara was once green, people we are talking here as I said in year 1923 ,the wonderful thing in that book was that Hassanein was also one hell of a photographer who documented his discoveries with photographs and illustrations .

He wrote an article to the National geographic in September 1924 about his discoveries with photographs , you can check it here

If you are no amazed yet wait and you will be amazed by this multi-talented man whom in 1930 tried to fly solo from London to Cairo yet unfortunately the plan was smashed in Pisa ,he was quite an adventurous

Despite his claim that he did not understand politics at all he worked in it since day one as He started his career as the Arab Secretary to the British Commanding Officer General Maxwell during the Great War 1914-1918 , he received the MBE for his valuable efforts for the diplomatic bridge he created between Britain and Egypt in 1927 yet that does not mean he was a traitor working for the invaders sake on the contrary ,years later Hassanein was the worst nightmare the British Commissioner had faced in his working years he worked also as the  first secretary of Seif Allah

Young King Farouk arriving from London

Yusri Pasha our first Ambassador to the United States.Then he returned to Egypt to work as an advisor to King Fouad and then a Chamberlain to the lands of Queen Nazli,after the most important phase in his life from my point of view started when he was sent with crown Farouk "16 yrs" to London as Tutor and there in those couple of years he formed a special bond with Future King Farouk ,I guess no one had it , he was more like father to the young man who suffered from a very lonely strict childhood ,yes he made mistakes in London but  on the other hand he won the trust of the rebel teenager.Hassanein later became the head of the Royal Diwan , which is like the office of the President Now. Through his work as in the Royal Diwan he was the closet one to Farouk and he proved that as an advisor he was not looking for his interest but the country's and the King's Interests , it is enough to know that Sir Ahmed Hassanein Pasha was not that rich ,I mean the man did not use his position for profit and surely he did not have friends like Mamdouh Ismail and the whale of Nasr city "I am speaking the current Head of the President's Diwan"

In 1926 he married the Ambassador daughter Princess Latifa whose mother Princess Shivakiar ,yet the marriage did

Princess Shuvekar

 not last thanks to his relationship with Queen Nazli who many said that he married secretly for couple of years from 1943 to 1946 ,during that time it was said that he was in love with Singer and Princess Amal Al-Atrash aka Asmahan  , to tell you the truth no body knows whom he real loved from those ladies but I think he married Nazli only to keep her from scandals ,Nazli was mad about him and could not accept the truth that she was just a fling for him , in revenge she acted in a way that threatened her son's throne who was mad to see his mother setting in her Royal Suite with him at night where he was wearing his pajamas teaching her how to read the holy Quran "1" !!

His death proved to be tragic from all ways , it was the start of the down fall of Farouk , he died in Car accident by British military vehicle near Qasr El Nil Bridge in Cairo on 19th of February1946 , Queen Nazli went Crazy and thought that her son was behind it where as her son began his true fast trip to downfall , it started with the divorce of Farida in 1948 despite Hassanein's warnings , then the defeat of 1948 then the clashes with the Wafad cabinet ,the successive weak minority cabinets and the mother of all scandals and disasters The escape of Nazli and her daughter Fatahiah who married the Christian Riyad Ghali ,I think if he were alive things would be different but what can we say Fate is fate

By the way he was buried in a very elegant mausoleum across the  Salah Salem road from the new seat of the Al-Azhar Imam if you are used to pass by Salah Sallam road every day you may recognize it ,here it is

Hassanein-bey-mausoleum-cs

 

By the way do you know how designed that Mausoleum ??

Legendary Egyptian Architect Hassan Fathy who was Ahmed's brother-in-law by marriage of his sister Aziza Hassanein. That man does not stop surprising you even in his death ,if you go there or pass by it please remember to read Fataha

By the way he had 4 children from Princess Latifa : 2 boys "One of them called Tarek and he died from some time" and 2 girls ,his grand daughter is called Ayaat Mahmoud

Why did I write this post about that man ?? well beside my admiration of his personality ,I love the fact that he was 100% Egyptian man raised in Boulaq and according to many he was down to earth

By the way do you know what is the secret of that man??

I think it has to do with his horoscope Sign ,Ahmed Pasha Hassanein was living example on dangerous,adventurous,diplomat and charming characteristic of the Scorpios

Sources:

1-Adel Thabat Book "Farouk and those who betrayed him"

2-The World of Ahmed Hassanein "Three images from it ", I don't want to suffer from their curse :)

 

The Lost Oases

Michael Haag