Aly Maher Pasha

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Egypt (1936, 1939–1940, 1952)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | native_name = {{nobold|علي ماهر باشا}} | image = Ali Mahir Pasha.jpg

|order1=23rd

| office1 = Prime Minister of Egypt | term_start1 = 23 July 1952 | term_end1 = 7 September 1952 | monarch1 = Farouk<br>Fuad II | predecessor1 = Ahmad Najib al-Hilali | successor1 = Mohamed Naguib | term_start2 = 27 January 1952 | term_end2 = 2 March 1952 | monarch2 = Farouk | predecessor2 = Mustafa el-Nahhas Pasha | successor2 = Ahmad Najib al-Hilali | term_start3 = 18 August 1939 | term_end3 = 28 June 1940 | monarch3 = Farouk | predecessor3 = Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha | successor3 = Hassan Sabry Pasha | term_start4 = 30 January 1936 | term_end4 = 9 May 1936 | monarch4 = Fuad I<br>Farouk | predecessor4 = Muhammad Tawfiq Nasim Pasha | successor4 = Mustafa el-Nahhas Pasha | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1882|11|9}} | birth_place = Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1960|8|25|1882|11|9}} | death_place = Geneva, Switzerland | party = Ittihad Party | native_name_lang = ar }}

'''Aly Maher Pasha''' ({{langx|ar|علي ماهر باشا}}; 9 November 1882 – 25 August 1960) was an Egyptian political figure during the parliamentary era. He was the brother of Ahmad Maher and the great-uncle to Ali Maher El Sayed.

A lawyer, he joined the Wafd Party in 1919 and was a member of the delegation that negotiated with the Milner Commission.{{Sfn|Goldschmidt Jr|2023|p=248}} Maher joined the Wafd after its first split, standing by alongside Mustafa al-Nahhas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quraishi |first=Zaheer Masood |title=Liberal Nationalism In Egypt: Rise and Fall of the Wafd Party |publisher=The Jamal Printing Press |year=1967 |pages=67}}</ref> Though he reached the Central Committee of the Wafd, he ultimately left in 1921.{{Sfn|Long|2005|p=186}} He was a member of the 1922 Constitutional Commission, which drafted the 1923 Egyptian Constitution.{{Sfn|Goldschmidt Jr|2023|p=248}} He was elected to parliament as an independent in 1924, but later joined the conservative royalist Ittihad Party in 1925, becoming its vice president.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deeb |first=Marius |title=Party Politics in Egypt: the Wafd & its Rivals 1919-1939 |publisher=Ithaca Press London |year=1979 |page=187}}</ref>

He was the under-secretary of the minister of education in 1924 and later the minister of education from 1925 to 1926, minister of finance (1928-1929) and education and justice (1930-1932).{{Sfn|Goldschmidt Jr|2023|p=248}}{{Sfn|Long|2005|p=186}} Maher was a royalist, seeking to improve the reputation of the king in Egyptian society. Around this time he was also office director for King Fuad in 1935 and later King Farouk in 1937, as well as a member of the regency council.{{Sfn|Goldschmidt Jr|2023|p=248}} During his first ministry (January to May 1936), he sought to use Islam as a weapon against the Wafd, portraying the new King Farouk as a religious man.{{Sfn|Tripp|2022|p=355}} Maher wanted that Islam to serve the monarchy politically.{{Sfn|Tripp|2022|p=366|ps="It was, after all, his intention that Islamic themes, symbols, authorities and organisations, both traditional and new, should all serve the king and, through the king, the cause of Palace policy – a policy directed by Ali Mahir alone"}} Maher also represented Egypt during the St James Conference, trying to broker an agreement between the Zionists and Palestinians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jankowski |first=James |date=October 1981 |title=The Government of Egypt and the Palestine Question, 1936-1939 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282853 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=17 |issue=4 |page=440 |doi=10.1080/00263208108700484 |jstor=4282853 |quote=Its role was more that of the honest broker than of the committed participant, with Ali Mahir in particular attempting to hold out something to both Zionists and Palestinian Arabs in order to arrive at a zone of agreement.}}</ref>

His second ministry oversaw the beginning of World War II. He refused to issue a declaration of war against Nazi Germany, arguing that the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian treaty did not technically require one. In a heated conversation with the British ambassador Sir Miles Lampson, he declared that:<blockquote>''if Egypt had sufficient troops to affect the course of the war, he would not have hesitated to declare war against Italy and Germany, but unfortunately Egypt had on her frontier only 5,000 men inadequately provided with transport. A declaration of war would, therefore, only be a spectacular gesture, causing ruin to 16 million inhabitants.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morewood |first=Steven |title=The British Defence of Egypt 1935–1940: Conflict and crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |page=176}}</ref></blockquote>Eventually, his government was dismissed, and was later arrested in April 1942 after creating a secret conservative Officers' Organization.{{Sfn|Tripp|1993|p=65}} He would later become prime minister again in 1952 following Black Saturday, though his government was quickly dismissed by the king after refusing the issue an Interior Ministry report implicating the Wafd for handling Black Saturday.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=Joel |title=Nasser's Blessed Movement: Egypt's Free Officers and the July Revolution |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |pages=33–34}}</ref> Mahir was later chosen to form a ministry after the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, but was dismissed again after classes with the Revolutionary Command Council regarding land redistribution.

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Sources == {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Goldschmidt Jr |first1=Arthur |title=Historical Dictionary of Egypt |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2023 |isbn=9781538157350 |edition=5th |pages=248 |chapter=Mahir, Ali}} * {{cite book |last1=Goldschmidt Jr |first1=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3J6IS8t74QC |title=Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=9781555872298 |pages=117–118 |chapter=Mahir, ‘Ali |author-mask=10}} * {{Cite book |last=Gwady |first=Muhammed |author-link=Muhammed Gwady |title=علي ماهر باشا ونهاية الليبرالية في مصر |publisher=Dar Shorouq |year=2009 |language=ar |trans-title=Ali Maher Pasha and the End of Liberalism in Egypt}} * {{cite journal |last1=Tripp |first1=Charles |year=2022 |title=''Al-malik al-salih'' – Islam and the monarchy in 1930s Egypt |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2022.2047659 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |publisher=Informa UK Limited |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=354–370 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2022.2047659|author-link=Charles R. H. Tripp}} * {{Cite book |last=Tripp |first=Charles |title=Contemporary Egypt: Through Egyptian Eyes |publisher=Routledge |year=1993 |chapter=Ali Mahir and the politics of the Egyptian army, 1936–1942 }} * {{Cite thesis |last=Tripp |first=Charles |title=Ali Mahir Pasha and the Palace in Egyptian Politics 1936-42: Seeking Mass Enthusiasm for Autocracy |date=1984 |publisher=SOAS University of London |url=https://soas.on.worldcat.org/oclc/33158032}} * {{Cite book |last=Long |first=Richard |title=British Pro-Consuls in Egypt, 1914-1929 : The Challenge of Nationalism |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |year=2005 |pages=186–187 |chapter=Appendix 2: Egyptian personalities}}

==External links== * {{PM20|FID=pe/011853}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box|title=Prime Minister of Egypt|before=Mohamed Tawfik Naseem Pasha|after=Mostafa en-Nahhas Pasha|years=1936}} {{succession box|title=Prime Minister of Egypt|before=Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha|after=Hassan Sabry Pasha|years=1939–1940}} {{succession box|title=Prime Minister of Egypt|before=Mostafa en-Nahhas Pasha|after=Ahmed Naguib el-Hilaly Pasha|years=1952}} {{succession box|title=Prime Minister of Egypt|before=Ahmad Naguib el-Hilaly Pasha|after=Mohamed Naguib|years=1952}} {{s-end}} {{Prime Ministers of Egypt}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maher Pasha, Aly}} Category:1882 births Category:1960 deaths Category:20th-century prime ministers of Egypt Category:Ministers of finance of Egypt Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of Egypt Category:Egyptian pashas

Category:Egyptian prisoners and detainees Category:World War II civilian prisoners Category:Prisoners and detainees of Egypt