On this day, in 1910, Egypt’s only Coptic Prime Minister was assassinated.
Many try to remove the sectarian hate of Boutros Ghali Pasha’s Coptic Christian identity when discussing his assassination. Yet this would be a revisionist incorrect version of history that uses violent ‘anti-colonial/de-colonial’ narratives to justify the extremism and hate that is critical in the story of Egypt’s only Coptic Prime Minister.
Boutros Ghali was born on the 12th May 1846 to a large Coptic family in Beni Suef and was educated in the incredible school of His Holiness Pope Kyrollos IV, the Great Coptic School. His early career was spent as a teacher, before becoming a clerk in Sharif Pasha’s Mixed Court and then working in the government on the Commission of the Public Debt. Ghali was then given the title of Bey when appointed Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice in 1879.
Ghali would tirelessly work his way up until he became the first Copt to receive the honour of Pasha. Critically, Ghali was always incredibly active in the Coptic political, clerical, and social life, from his activity in Maglis al-Milli to Coptic social care. He was a known Copt, and his identity as a Christian can never be separated from his story.
In 1886, Muslims would protest ardently after he was appointed the Head of the Commission for the Selection of Sharia Court Judges. Later in 1893 he would be Minister of Finance, and in 1894 Foreign Minister. With each step there was criticism of his rise on the grounds of his religion.
On the 8 November 1908, Ghali would achieve something that to this day, over a hundred years later, he would be the only Copt to ever achieve. Ghali replaced Mustafa Fahmi Pasha and became the Prime Minister of Egypt. Some newspapers, like Al-Dastour, opposed his appointment as PM as he was a Christian.
On the 20th February 1910, as PM Ghali left the Ministry of Justice to enter his carriage, Ibrahim Nassif al-Wardani shot Ghali six times, the final bullet was fatal. Hours later on the 21st of February, the first and only Coptic Prime Minister of Egypt had been assassinated.
Al-Wardani when asked why he killed the Ghali said he was a “traitor to the country”. Whilst many when reflecting on the assassination of Ghali argue it was purely political, a heroic act of anti-colonial and nationalist bravery against Ghali the traitor who collaborated with the British occupation, this completely erases the sectarian and extremist current within al-Wardani’s affiliations.
Al-Wardani, was the son of a Governor and his uncle a Pasha, and had travelled to England and Switzerland studying pharmacology, returning to Egypt to open a pharmacy.
After Ghali’s assassination, many accounts document how Muslim Egyptians celebrated the killing of the ‘Nazarene’ amongst other anti-Christian rhetoric. Many would chant in the streets “Ya mit sabah al-full ala al-Wardani illa qatal Boutros al-Nasrani”, “A hundred sweet mornings to Wardani who killed Boutros the Nazarene”. The Grand Mufti of Egypt recused himself from Wardani’s trial and issued a fatwa that it was not murder as it was a Muslim who killed a Christian. The Grand Mufit’s fatwa was that: “the blood of a Muslim, Ibrahim al-Wardani, cannot be taken for the blood of an infidel, Boutros Ghali”.
Within this period of Egyptian history, a host of underground networks were established to commit political violence. Al-Wardani was a member of the ‘Brotherhood Solidarity Association (جمعية التضامن الأخوى). This group had a long history of assignation attempts including attempts to kill Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, British Consul and Lord, and a previous Prime Minister. To join the group, each member would take an oath, place their hand on the Qur’an, swear loyalty and have their affairs in order.
Rather than the heroic national figure some may attempt to portray Al-Wardani, he was only ever a product of extremism, who incited hate and his motives however many may be political, were always motivated by sectarianism.
