Egyptian Nationalist Historiography: A Case Study, Al-Thorha Al-Urrabieh by Al-Rafei

For the first time, in 1937, in Al-Thorha Al-Urrabieh, a revolutionary was given narrative of an event that took place in the not too distant past. The movement was by Urrabi Pasha and author was Abdol-Rahman Al-Rafei. It was about twenty years after the first publication of the Al-Thorha that the summary was published by Al-Rafei, but this time under the name of “Al-Zaiem Al-Thaer, Ahmad Urrabi”. Soon readers and rulers understood the difference of the second book is not in the summary, but it is in a new and different look to Urrabi. Why did A-Rafei relate the Urrabi movement as a different revolution? Why he changed his description of the revolution leadership? What was the meaning and purpose of these texts? The approach of this paper is to answer these questions and to study features of these two the sehistoriography works. These indicators are analyzed in the form of a dialogue between the text, the author and situational, thought, social and political texture and texts of the times. Critical reading and the production and change in the historiography literature of Al-Rafei is -because of his belonging to nationalist groups- greatly clarifying insight of nationalist historiography in the twentieth century AD Egypt. From this perspective, Al-Thorha Al Urrabieh and its summary reflects the desires and frustrations of nationalist historiography of the twentieth century, from the reality of his society at that time. The present analysis shows that for the first time Al-Rafei interpreted the Urrabi Revolution against tyranny and foreign penetration under the influence of the open political atmosphere of the 1930s, the national party and its nationalist ideas. Al-Rafei attacked in his narrative of Urrabi because of the defeat of the Revolution and the occupation of the country. Later Al-Rafei had to change his negative attitude toward the Urrabi because of to the tense political atmosphere, nationalist government inefficiency and political-intellectual developments showed the need of different leaders of Egypt in the early 1950s.