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| d. Egypt |
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(See Dec. 19)| |
| 1917–36 |
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| SULTAN (KING) AHMAD FU’AD. He succeeded his father, HUSAYN KAMIL, who died on Oct. 9, 1917. In March 1922, Fu’ad assumed the title of king. His reign was marked by the unceasing ambition to acquire real as well as nominal power. He used his constitutional authority to manipulate the political system and undermine popularly elected governments. Nor was he averse to cooperating with the British in order to further his own political aims. His boldest move was the dismissal of the Sidqi government (1933), after which he attempted for over a year (until Nov. 1934) to rule through palace officials and cronies. | 1 |
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| 1917 |
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| Death of Shibli Shumayyil (b. 1860), an author of Syrian Christian background. He became a vocal champion within the Arab world for science and the scientific outlook, and believed that societies organized on scientific principles would eventually supersede those based on religion. | 2 |
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| 1918, Oct. 17 |
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| Death of Malak Hifni Nasif (b. 1886), the first outspoken female writer on women's issues. Her ideas resembled the reforms first proposed by Qasim Amin, but her thought was generally more conservative. Among her chief demands were compulsory primary education for women, the opening of higher education to women who wished to pursue their studies, the retention of the veil, and a ban on marriages in which members of the prospective couple had not met each other beforehand. | 3 |
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| Nov. 13 |
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| A delegation (wafd) led by SA‘D ZAGHLUL requested permission to leave for London to begin negotiations on the postwar status of Egypt. | 4 |
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