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| 1924, Nov. 20 |
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| Murder of Sir Lee Stack, sirdar (commander in chief) of the Egyptian army. In the ensuing crisis, which the British exploited to demand indemnities and the withdrawal of Egyptian troops from the Sudan, the first Wafdist government fell from power. Sa‘d Zaghlul would never serve as prime minister again. | 1 |
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| 1925 |
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| Law making elementary education free and compulsory. The program largely failed through a lack of resources. As late as 1950, only 30 percent of Egyptian children attended elementary school despite a 500 percent increase in government expenditures on education over the previous 25 years. Illiteracy remained widespread among both sexes. | 2 |
| Within a larger framework, the period 1920–50 did show some modest successes in the field of education. The number of students rose from about 600,000 to 1.6 million, and the number of primary and elementary schools from some 600 to over 4,500. But this expansion was counterbalanced by a general inability to open enough schools, to support an adequate number of trained teachers, and to keep students in school beyond the elementary levels. | 3 |
| Official opening of Fu'ad I University, the first state university, which later became Cairo University. It incorporated many previously existing schools, such as Dar al-‘Ulum, into one large institution. | 4 |
| Publication of Islam and the Principles of Political Authority, by Sheik Ali Abd al-Raziq, who contended that Islam was merely a religion and did not require a particular system of government. His ideas outraged conservative opinion, which considered his book an attack on the very basis of Islam. His membership in the religious establishment was later revoked. | 5 |
| First issue of the political weekly Rose al-Yusuf under the auspices of Fatma al-Yusuf. | 6 |
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| Feb. 26 |
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| Appointment of Lord Lloyd as the new high commissioner. | 7 |
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