Egyptian nationalism is based on Egyptians and Egyptian culture. Egyptian nationalism has typically been a civic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Egyptian nationalism first manifested itself as anti-British sentiment during the Egyptian revolution of 1919.
History
Origins The Egyptian attitude towards a Persian invasion led by Cambyses II and the Macedonian conquest led by Alexander the Great is somewhat conflicting. Herodotus, drawing from native Egyptian tradition, portrays Cambyses, on one hand, as a brutal conqueror, who desecrated sacred Apis bull cult, the view that is also supported by latter Cambyses Romance and the Chronicle of John of Nikiou, where he is also identified with Nebuchadnezzar. On the other hand, Cambyses is depicted as half Egyptian, a grandson of Apries.
Alexander is portrayed in the same duality – while he is also depicted as half-Egyptian through his alleged father Nectanebo in Alexander Romance, his new capital Alexandria is seen as an evil (or "Typhonic") foundation destined to be destroyed, with Memphis being restored as the rightful seat of the gods. This could be explained by the existence of two traditions – a folk one, trying to Egyptianize foreign conquerors and represent them as a continuation of a native royal tradition, and a priests elite one – portraying hardships of Egypt as a cosmic battle between order and chaos, symbolised by god Set (identified with Typhon). Thus, enemies of Egypt are often labeled "Typhonic" or minions of Seth. This idea is also reflected in Herodotus' description of Egyptian borders – their eastern limit is Lake Serbonis, where Typhon is said to be concealed and where Cambyses beat Egyptian army at the Battle of Pelusium. Avaris, the capital of Hyksos, who conquered Egypt in the 17th century BC, is also described as "Typhonic" by Manetho.
Other texts that could be considered a part of Egyptian "Königsnovelle" and shaped early Egyptian protonationalism are Oracle of the Lamb, Oracle of the Potter and the Dream of Nectanebo.
Late 19th century The ancient Egyptian language is an Afroasiatic languages.David P. Silverman. Ancient Egypt. New York, New York, USA: Oxford University Press, 1997. p. 234. The rule of Muhammad Ali of Egypt led Egypt to a more advanced level of industrialization in comparison with Egypt's neighbors, along with more discoveries of relics of ancient Egyptian civilization. The Urabi movement in the 1870s and 1880s was the first major Egyptian nationalist movement that demanded an end to the alleged despotism of the Muhammad Ali family and demanded curbing the growth of European influence in Egypt, it campaigned under the nationalist slogan of "Egypt for Egyptians".
One of the key figures in opposing British rule was the Egyptian journalist Yaqub Sanu whose cartoons from 1870s onward satirizing first the Khedive, Ismail the Magnificent, and then Egypt's British rulers as bumbling buffoons were very popular in the 19th century. Sanu was the first to write in Egyptian Arabic, which was intended to appeal to a mass audience, and his cartoons could be easily understood by even the illiterate. Sanu had established the newspaper Abu-Naddara Zarqa, which was the first newspaper to use Egyptian Arabic in March 1877. One of his cartoons mocked Ismail the Magnificent for his fiscal extravagance which caused Egypt's bankruptcy in 1876, leading Ismail, who did not appreciate the cartoon, to order his arrest. Sanu fled to Paris, and continued to publish Abu-Naddara Zarqa there, with its issues being smuggled into Egypt until his death in 1912.
The period between 1860 − 1940 was characterized by El-nahda, renaissance or rebirth. It is best known its renewed interest in Egyptian antiquity and the cultural achievements that were inspired by it. Along with this interest came an indigenous, Egypt-centered orientation, particularly among the Egyptian intelligentsia that would affect Egypt's autonomous development as a sovereign and independent nation-state. The first Egyptian renaissance intellectual was Rifa'a el-Tahtawi. In 1831, Tahtawi undertook a career in journalism, education and translation. Three of his published volumes were works of political and moral philosophy. In them he introduces his students to Enlightenment ideas such as secular authority and political rights and liberty; his ideas regarding how a modern civilized society ought to be and what constituted by extension a civilized or "good Egyptian"; and his ideas on public interest and the public good.
Tahtawi was instrumental in sparking indigenous in
terest in Egypt's ancient heritage. He composed several poems in praise of Egypt and wrote two other general histories of the country. He also co-founded with his contemporary Ali Mubarak, the architect of the modern Egyptian school system.
20th century After the British occupation of Egypt began in 1882, Egyptian nationalism became focused upon ending the occupation. They had support from Liberals and Socialists in Britain. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, an anti-imperialist, criticized the British occupation in three widely circulated books: The Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt... (1907), Gordon at Khartoum (1911), and My Diaries: Being a Personal Narrative of Events, 1888-1914 (2 vols. 1919–20). Historian Robert O. Collins says: The most vigorous English advocate of Egyptian Independence, Blunt was both arrogant and irascible, his works scathing, discursive, and at times utterly ridiculous. Immature and unfair, both he and his writings must be used with caution, but even the dullest of men will come away stimulated if not aroused and with fresh insights to challenge the sometimes smug attitudes of British officials in Whitehall and Cairo. Of course, to them Blunt was anathema if not disloyal and Edward Malet, the British Consul-General at Cairo from 1879 to 1883, replied to Blunt's charges in his posthumously published Egypt, 1879-1883.Robert O. Collins, "Egypt and the Sudan" in Robin W. Winks, ed., The Historiography of the British Empire-Commonwealth: Trends, Interpretations and Resources (Duke U.P. 1966) p 282. The Malet book is online
Mustafa Kamil Pasha, A leading Egyptian nationalist of the early 20th century, was greatly influenced by the example of Meiji Japan as an 'Eastern' state that had successfully modernized for Egypt and from the time of the Russian-Japanese war consistently urged in his writings that Egypt emulate Japan. Kamil was also a Francophile like most educated Egyptians of his generation, and the French republican values of liberté, égalité, fraternité influenced his understanding of what it meant to be Egyptian as Kamil defined the Egyptian Identity in terms of loyalty to Egypt. Kamil together with other Egyptian nationalists helped to redefine loyalty to al-watan ("the homeland") in terms stressing the importance of education, nizam (order), and love of al-watan, implicitly criticizing the state created by Mohammad Ali the Great, which was run on very militarist lines. After the Entente Cordial of 1904 ended hopes of French support for Egyptian independence, a disillusioned Kamil looked east towards Japan as a model, defining Egypt as an "Eastern" country occupied by "Western" Great Britain, and suggested in terms that anticipated later Third World nationalism that Egyptians had more in common with people from other places controlled by Western nations such as British India (modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) and the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) than they did with the nations of Europe.
Egyptian nationalism reached its peak in popularity in 1919 when revolution against British rule took place in response to wartime policies imposed by the British authorities in Egypt during World War I. Three years of protest and political turmoil followed until Britain unilaterally declared the independence of Egypt in 1922 that was a monarchy, though Britain reserved several areas for British supervision. During the period of the Kingdom of Egypt, Egyptian nationalists remained determined to terminate the remaining British presence in Egypt. One of the more noteworthy cases of Egyptian nationalism occurred in December 1922 when the Egyptian government laid claim to the artifacts found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, which had been discovered by a British archaeologist named Howard Carter in November 1922, arguing that they belonged to Egypt and Carter could not take them to Britain as he planned. The dispute finally led to the Egyptians posting an armed guard outside of Tutankhamun's tomb to prevent Carter from entering it. In February 1924, the Egyptian government seized control of the tomb and with it all of the artifacts found there, saying that they belonged to Egypt. On 6 March 1924, the Prime Minister Saad Zaghloul formally opened the site of Tutankamun's tomb to the Egyptian public in an elaborate ceremony held at night with the sky lit up by floodlights, which reportedly attracted the largest crowd seen in Luxor. The reopening turned into an anti-British demonstration when the British High Commissioner, Field Marshal Allenby, arrived when the crowd was demanding immediate British withdrawal from Egypt."Egyptians Reopen Tomb of Pharaoh; Ceremonies Become the Occasion for Frenzied Nationalist Demonstration", The New York Times Company, March 7, 1924, p.4 The dispute over who owned King Tutankhamun's treasures took place against the backdrop of a movement in the Egyptian liberal elite known as Pharaonism which extolled ancient Egypt as a national symbol and portrayed Egypt as a Mediterranean nation.
Many prominent Egyptian figures in the first half of the twentieth century adopted Egyptian nationalism and rejected pan-Arabism. Taha Hussein, the Dean of Arabic Literature, stated in his book The Future of Culture in Egypt, published in 1936, that "For Egyptians, Arabic is virtually a foreign language; nobody speaks it at home, school, in the streets, or in clubs. [...] People everywhere speak a language that is not Arabic, despite the partial resemblance to it." Taha Hussein, the Future of Culture in Egypt, 1936 Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, the first director of the Egyptian University, the director of the Arabic language assembly, member of the senate, and the director of House of Books, stated that Egyptians are EgyptiansHourani, Albert. 1962. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age. pg 177. Egyptians are different from the world and had their own separate beliefs, identity and cultural aspects.
The nationalistic Young Egypt Party in the 1930s led by Ahmed Hussein advocated British withdrawal from Egypt and the Sudan, and promised to unite the world under the leadership of Egypt, through the Young Egyptian Society made it clear in the proposed empire, it was Egypt that would dominate, as it was later seen with the brief unification with Syria in 1958. At the same time, It was condemned by Hassan al-Banna, the founder and Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, as glorifying a period of jahiliyyah. In a 1937 article, Banna dismissed "Pharaohism" for glorying the "pagan reactionary Pharaohs" like Akhenaten, Ramesses II the Great and Tutankhamun instead of Muhammad and his companions and for seeking to "annihilate" Egypt's Muslim identity.