¹ The research for this article was conducted with grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Georgia State University and with the sponsorship of the American Research Center in Egypt. I am indebted to Professor Clement Henry for several stimulating conversations on the professions in Egypt. In view of the lack of consensus as to what constitutes a profession, it is perhaps best to sidestep a definition here. For a useful discussion of various definitions see Kleingartner, Archie, Professionalism and Salaried Worker Organization (Madison, Wisconsin, 1967), pp. 4–22.Google Scholar The terms ‘free’ and ‘liberal’ professions, increasingly obsolescent in the West as more professional men go to work for large organizations, have never made much sense in the Middle East where the bureaucratic element among professionals has always loomed large. Of the three classic professions in the West—law, medicine, and divinity—only the first two can be properly called professions in the Middle East; the ulema are obviously a case apart. Engineers constitute one of the newer professions in both the West and the Middle East, while journalists and teachers, although not always classified as full-scale professionals, have enough in common with the other professions for us to treat them together here. The term ‘syndicate’ used here (for the Arabic naqabah) for the officially recognized professional organizations is better than ‘association’ with its voluntary overtones. Except for ‘ayn and medial and final hamzah, diacritical marks have been omitted from transliterated Arabic words.

² Kuhnke, Laverne, ‘From Azhari Shaykh to Physician,’ Abstracts of Papers Delivered at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association,Nov. 11–13, 1971, p. 28, points out that early nineteenth-century Western medicine itself was not yet fully committed to the scientific method.Google Scholar

³ On the duality of the legal, medical, and engineering professions in England, see Reader, W. J., Professional Men: The Rise of the Professional Classes in 19th-century England (London, 1966), pp. 16, 21. The whole book deals with the thrust of the middle classes into the professions in the nineteenth-century and the reforms they brought about there.Google Scholar

⁴ Millerson, Geoffrey, The Qualifying Associations: A Study in Professionalization (London, 1964), pp. 48–50. Millerson studied the specialized qualifying associations only, but he has many insights into professionalization generally.Google Scholar

⁵ Wilensky, Harold, ‘The Professionalization of Everyone?’, Americal Journal of Sociology, 70 (1964), 142–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar This list is summarized in Goode, William J., ‘The Theoretical Limits of Professionalization’, in The Semi-Professions and their Organization: Teachers, Nurses, Social Workers, Etzioni, Amitai, ed. (London, 1969), pp. 274–7. Goode criticizes Wilensky for seeing these factors as consecutive steps and for failing to separate essential from derivative traits. His own stress on a basic body of knowledge and an ideal of service as core traits, however, is not of much use for our purposes.Google Scholar

⁶ See the similar table in Wilensky, , American Journal of Sociology, 70 (1964), 143. This table was compiled from various sources treated below. In the absence of comparable statistics on those practicing in each profession, the annual number of graduates of government professional schools indicates a rough sequence of development. Not all the averages on graduates cover the whole 1886–1913 period; for the precise dates, see Table 2. The date of the journalism school is that of the institute of journalism at Fu'ad I University; the American University in Cairo had begun a journalism program several years earlier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷ On the engineering and medical schools see Heyworth-Dunne, J., An Introduction to the History of Education in Modern Egypt (London, 1968), p. 82Google Scholaret passim; Mahfouz, Naguib, The History of Medical Education in Egypt (Cairo, 1936); and Kuhnke, Abstracts.Google Scholar

⁸ On the history of the law school see Mursi, Muhammad Kamil, ‘Kulliyat al-Huquq’, in Kitab al-Dhahabi lil-Mahakim al-Ahliyah (Cairo, 1938), I, pp. 409–32.Google Scholar Vidal's biography is found in Gavillot, A., ‘Notice sur Vidal Pacha’, Bulletin de l'Institut Égyptien, 3rd series, no. 2 (1891), 122–34.Google Scholar The French law school is treated in Carnoy, Nobert, La Colonie française du Caire (Paris, 1928), pp. 145–8,Google Scholar and Faure, Fernand, ‘L École francaise de droit du Caire’, Revue Politique et Parlementaire, 83 (1915), 390–405.Google Scholar

⁹ The Mixed Courts dealt with cases involving foreign subjects and the National Courts with those involving only Egyptians. Following Ziadeh, Farhat J., Lawyers, the Rule of Law, and Liberalism in Modern Egypt (Stanford, California, 1968), p. 36, the term ‘National’ is used here in preference to the usual ‘Native’ with its archaic and imperialist ring. Hereafter ‘National lawyers’ refers to lawyers working in these courts.Google Scholar

¹⁰ On this school, which changed its name a number of times, see Kitab al-Dhahabi li Madrasat al-Mu'allimin al-'Ulya [Cairo, 1935]. College and university teachers are exlcuded from this study since they did not identify themselves with the lower branches of the profession and did not form a professional organization.Google Scholar

¹¹ Cromer's apology for his educational policies is found in his Modern Egypt (London, 1911), pp. 872–86. The discussion of British educational policies in this paper is based on observations derived from the Annual Reports by the British Consul-General (later High Commissioner) in Egypt, which were published with slightly varying titles from the 1880s to the 1920s. These can be found in the House of Commons Sessional Papers. The educational sections of the Annual Report were in turn largely drawn from an annual mimeographed ‘Note on the Progress and Condition of Public Instruction in Egypt’ drawn up by British educational advisor Douglas Dunlop. Dunlop's ‘Notes’ include a great deal of information omitted from the Annual Reports.Google Scholar

¹² See Muhammad, 'Abd al-Jawwad, Taqwim Dar al-'Ulum [Cairo, ca. 1951]. Lois Aroian is doing a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Michigan on Dar al-'Ulum.Google Scholar

¹³ Colombe, Marcel, l'Evolution de l'Égypte, 1924–1950 (Paris, 1951), p. 125.Google Scholar

¹⁴ The school is treated in Jawwad, , Dar al-'Ulum, pp. 268–70,Google Scholar and Final Report of the University Commission (Ministry of Education, Cairo, 1921), pp. 73–4.Google ScholarPubMed

¹⁵ For this paragraph see 'Abd al-Qadir Hamzah, 'Azmat al-Damir al-Suhufi (Cairo, 1960), pp. 150–4,Google Scholar and Jean-Jacques Waardenburg, Les Universités dans le monde arabe actuel (Paris, 1966), II, 138.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Unless another source is cited, the data in this section is derived from the lists in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyah, Fihris al-Dawriyat allati Taktaniha al-Dar (2 vols., Cairo, 1961–1963);Google Scholar and Tarrazi, Filib di, Ta'rikh al-Sihafah al-'Arabiyah (4 vols., Beirut, 1914–1933), Vol. IV; and on examination of the more important magazines themselves. A few professional magazines whose nature is not obvious from their titles may have been overlooked, and the data on the lifespan of some magazines—based mainly on the lists of Dar al-Kutub's holdings-is certainly incomplete. But such minor inaccuracies should not affect the following observations on general trends.Google Scholar

¹⁷ In one of the minor professions, pharmacy, a Society of Pharmacy published al-Risalah al-Saydaliyah al-Misriyah from 1920 to 1931. Qubain, Fahim, Education and Science in the Arab World (Baltimore, 1966), p. 180, dates the present Egyptian Pharmaceutical Society from 1930.Google Scholar

¹⁸ There is a concise history of Egyptian engineering journals in Majallat al-Muhandisin, 1, No 1 (1945), 7. It is significant that the military engineers produced a journal of their own in 1951 (al-Muhandisin al-'Askariyun (1951– ), on the eve of the coup which greatly enhanced their position vis-à-vis their civilian colleagues.Google Scholar

¹⁹ On the two journals, see Tarrazi, , Ta'rikh, III, 29–30, 74–6.Google Scholar The biographies of the brothers are found in Zaydan, Jurji, Tarajim Mashahir al-Sharq (2 vols., Cairo, 1922), II, 169–71,Google Scholar and Lecerf, Jean, ‘Šibli Šumayyil, métaphysicien et moralist contemporaine’, Bulletin d'Études Orientales, 1 (1931), 153–86.Google Scholar

²⁰ For al-Tabib see Tarrazi, , Ta'rikh, II, 57–60. It was still going in 1914.Google Scholar

²¹ Aside from the journals themselves, see Brinton, Jasper Yeates, The Mixed Courts of Egypt (New Haven, 1968), pp. 148–9, 218–19, on the French legal press in Egypt.Google Scholar

²² A possible exception is Kamil al-Hakim's al-Muhami (1898). It is listed in Tarrazi, , Ta'rikh, IV, 174, but I have been unable to locate it.Google Scholar

²³ This 1907 census figure is quoted in Issawi, Charles, Egypt in Revolution: An Economic Analysis (London, 1963), p. 77.Google Scholar

²⁴ The table includes only graduates of government schools. It was.compiled from the following sources: Chauiche, Abdel Aziz, in Receuil des travaux du premier congrès égyptien réuni à Héliopolis (Alexandria, 1911), pp. 156–60;Google ScholarTaqwim Kulliyat al-Huquq. Jami'ah Fu'ad al-Awwil 1938–1939, pp. 181–3;Google ScholarMadrasat al-Mu'allimin, pp. 243–4;Google Scholar and the Annual Reports 1911–13.

²⁵ Report for the Year 1916 Presented by the Judicial Adviser (Cairo, 1917), pp. 30–1.Google Scholar Some of the National and Mixed membership overlapped, with lawyers registered in both systems counted twice. I have not found comparable figures for the Shari'a lawyers, but their numbers were small. In 1957 after the syndicate of Shari'a lawyers had merged with the National lawyers syndicate, only 412 of a total membership of 7,204 were former Shari'a lawyers. Ziadeh, , Lawyers, p. 49.Google Scholar

²⁶ Final Report, p. 35,Google Scholar and Annual Report, p. 73.Google Scholar On the figure for the Syrian Christian doctors see Reid, Donald M. ‘Farah Antūn: The Life and Times of a Syrian Christian Journalist in Egypt’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1968), p. 81.Google Scholar

²⁷ The figures are from Qubain, , Education, p. 214,Google Scholar and Madrasat al-Mu'allimin, pp. 243–4. The averages are mine.Google Scholar

²⁸ Waardenburg, , Universités, II, 107.Google Scholar

²⁹ On the guilds see Baer, Gabriel, Egyptian Guilds in Modern Times (Jerusalem, 1964).Google Scholar

³⁰ Baer, Gabriel, Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt (Chicago, 1969), pp. 3–29, 216–18.Google Scholar

³¹ Baer, , Guilds, pp. 14–15, 53–5, 68. Baer (p. 47) indicates the term was also used in the organization of al-Azhar. He does not mention any use of the term naqabah (syndicate) by the guilds. Naqabah also serves today as the term for labor unions.Google Scholar

³² Khanki, 'Aziz, al-Mahakim al-Mukhtalitah via al-Mahakim al-Ahliyah (Cairo, 1939), pp. 20–1.Google Scholar

³³ For these changes see Millerson, , Qualifying Associations.Google Scholar

³⁴ For this paragraph see Awad, Hassān, La Société royale de géographie d'Égypte (1875–1950) (Cairo, 1950)Google Scholar and Sammarco, Angelo, Le Régné du Khédive Isma'il de 1863 à 1875, Vol. III of Histoire de l'égypte Moderne (Cairo, 1937), pp. 305–7.Google Scholar

³⁵ Young, George, Corps de droit ottoman (Oxford, 1905), I, 184–91 discusses the Ottoman Bar.Google Scholar

³⁶ Unless otherwise indicated, the following account of the Mixed Bar is based on Brinton, , Mixed Courts, pp. 144–54Google Scholar

³⁷ Un Ancien Juge Mixte [Bemmelen, P. Van], L'égypte et l'Europe (London, n.d.), I, 224–8.Google Scholar

³⁸ Their names and terms of office were as follows: R. Skenderani, 1894–5 (perhaps Greek rather than Egyptian or Syrian); G. Nasser, 1912–17; W. Wassif, 1917–23 (a Copt); N. Ayoub, 1921–2; and R. Schmeil, 1925–6 (a Syrian Christian). Compiled from Livre d'or. Les Jurisdictions d'Égypte 1876–1926 (Alexandria, 1926), pp. xxvii–xxxi.Google Scholar

³⁹ Khanki, 'Aziz and Khanki, Jamil, al-Muhamah Qadiman via Hadithan (Cairo, 1940), pp. 12–13, discusses these changes in terminology.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ For example, ‘Les Élections au barreau indigène’, Journal des Tribunaux Mixtes, 8, No. 898 (12 17 and 18, 1928), p. 4.Google Scholar

⁴¹ On Fahmi's role see al-Muhami, 4 (1940), 53–5;Google Scholaral-Ahram, March 7, 1937;Google ScholarQanun Jam'iyat al-Muhamin ([Cairo], 1899);Google Scholar and the papers of Marqus Fahmi in possession of his daughter Andrée Murqus Fahmi. For the controversy see al-Ahram, February 14, 1937;Google Scholaral-Musawwar, March 12, 1943, p. 6; and March 19, 1943, p. 12.Google Scholar

⁴² An account of the formation of the syndicate and its later activities is found in Ziadeh, , Lawyers, pp. 45–53.Google Scholar

⁴³ Khanki, , Mahakim, pp. 259–63.Google ScholarZiadeh, , Lawyers, p. 43, also analyzes the letter.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ The cigarette workers labor union, founded in 1899, is usually taken as the beginning of the modern labor movement. The syndicate of farmers (naqabat al-muzari'in) must refer to agricultural cooperatives which had just begun to appear. The ‘syndicates’ of coal dealers (fahhamin) and porters may have been surviving guilds, although most of the guilds had disappeared by this time. Baer, , Guilds, p. 148, dates the last official mention of the porters guild to the 1890s.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ The minutes of the syndicate's early meetings (1916–28) have been lost. Ziadeh, , Lawyers, p. 58.Google Scholar Most Egyptian historians and lawyers who touch on the history of the professions fòcus on the National lawyers. The Shari'a lawyers syndicate did not publish a magazine of its own to report on its activities until 1929. The following account of the Shari'a lawyers syndicate comes mainly from Ziadeh, , Lawyers, pp. 58–61.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ See the description of the disorganization of the Shari'a Courts in Report for the Year 1898 Presented by the Judicial Advisor (Cairo, 1899), p. 7.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Khanki, , Muhamah Qadiman, pp. 43–9.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Colombe, , Evolution, p. 130.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Khanki, , Muhamah Qadiman, pp. 43–9.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Ziadeh, , Lawyers, pp. 21–2, describes the state of advocacy in nineteenth-century Egypt before the reforms.Google Scholar

⁵¹ On this first society see al-Muqtataf, 12 (1888), 512–13; 23 (1899), 312–13.Google Scholar Hamdi's biography is found in The Egyptian Medical Association Golden Jubilee 1920–1970 (a special issue of the Journal of the Egyptian Medical Association, 1970), p. 13.Google Scholar

⁵² The Times (London), August 20, 1901; p. 8; January 6, 1903, p. 6.Google ScholarPubMed

⁵³ Golden Jubilee, pp. 13–53, 81–2. A biography of Dr. 'Ali Ibrahim is found on pp. 71–84.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ al-Muqtataf, 60 (1922), p. 340.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Mahfouz, , Medical Education, pp. 56–7Google Scholar and Mahfouz, Naguib, The Life of an Egyptian Doctor (Edinburgh, 1966), pp. 102–3.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Decree of July 13, 1933. The Ophthalmological Society dates back to 1902. Ministry of Finance [Egypt], Almanac 1938, p. 583.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ For discussions of journalism and the professions in England, see Carr-Saunders, A. M. and Wilson, P. A., The Professions (Oxford, 1933), pp. 265–70,Google Scholar and Lewis, Roy and Maude, Angus, Professional People in England (Cambridge, Mass., 1953), pp. 151–2.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Mahmud, Hafiz, al-Ma'arik fi al-Sihafah via al-Siyasah wa al-Fikr bayna 1919–1952 (Cairo, 1969), pp. 61–2.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ al-Sayyid, Ahmad Lutfi, Qissal Hayati (Cairo, n.d.), pp. 139–40.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ For this paragraph and the next see al-Muliji, Muhammad Hamid, Ta'rikh Naqabat al-Suhufiyun (Cairo, 1962), pp. 7–13.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Berque, Jacques, Egypt: Imperialism and Revolution (London, 1972), pp. 460–2Google Scholar and Mahmud, , Ma'arik, p. 62.Google Scholar

⁶² On the founding of the official syndicate see Husayn, 'Abd Allah, al-Sihafah wa al-Suhuf (Cairo [ca. 1948]), pp. 173–4Google Scholar and Muliji, , Ta'rikh, pp. 14–16.Google Scholar

⁶³ For this paragraph see Mahmud, , Ma'arik, pp. 64, 67, 73,Google Scholar and Muliji, , Ta'rikh, pp. 17–19, 29.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ al-Suhufiyun, Naqabat, Taqrir Majlis al-Naqabah ‘an ‘Am 1947 (Cairo, n.d.), p. 15.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Husayn, , Sihafah, pp. 177–9,Google Scholar and Mahmud, , Ma'arik, pp. 65–6.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Jam'iyat al-Muhandisin al-Malakiyah al-Misriyah, Qanun al-Nizami (Cairo, 1923),Google Scholar and Jam'iyat al-Handasiyin al-Malakiyah, Qararat al-Jam'iyah wa Muhadaratuha wa Taqriruha (Vol. 7, Cairo, [1926–1927]).Google ScholarMajallat al-Muhandisin, 1, No. 6 (1945), p. 77, mentions the Society of Architects. I am also indebted to Clement Henry for a discussion of his views on the engineering profession in Egypt.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Majallat al-Muhandisin, 1, No. 1 (1945), p. 8. Consult the same magazine for a running history of the organizational efforts and later activities of the syndicate. See especially 1, No. 1 (1945), p. 41.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Majallat al-Muhandisin, 1, Nos 5 and 6 (1945), p. 78, and 2, No 4 (1946), p. 31.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Majallat al-Muhandisin, 3, No. 1 (1947), p. 6.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Majallat al-Muhandisin, 3, No. 2 (1947), p. 22.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Madrasat al-Mu'allimin, pp. 248–9.Google Scholar

⁷² The papers of the Milner Mission, PRO, FO 848/19, Section B (Mission's Review of the Administration and Causes of Unrest: Ministry of Education), p. 4.

⁷³ The main source for this group is their Sahifat al-Mu'allimin (1923–1925), esp. 3, No. 1 (1925), 102–5.Google Scholar See also Madrasat al-Mu'allimin, p. 250.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Madrasat al-Mu'allimin, pp. 251–61.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ The pamphlet Naqabat al-Mihan al-Ta'limiyah fi Arba'a Sanawat (Cairo, 1958)Google Scholar summarizes the activities of the syndicate up to 1958.

⁷⁶ Abdel-Malek, Anouar, Egypt: Military Society (Markmann, Charles Lam, trans., New York, 1968), p. 214.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ al-Ra'id is the prime source of news on the syndicate from 1956 on.

⁷⁸ Law # 261 of 1955.

⁷⁹ Law # 118 of 1958 and al-Ahram, January 6, 1972, p. 5.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Berger, Morroe, Bureaucracy and Society in Modern Egypt: A Study of the Higher Civil Service (New York, 1969), p. 127.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Muliji, , Ta'rikh, pp. 29–40,Google Scholar and Ziadeh, , Lawyers, pp. 155–8.Google Scholar

⁸² Law # 8 of 1958.

⁸³ Information from pictures of the naqibs on the wall of the syndicate's office.

⁸⁴ al-Ra'id and al-Atibba'. The latter, the popular magazine of the doctors syndicate, was in its nineteenth year in 1972.

⁸⁵ Abdel-Malek, , Egypt, p. 180.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ See the discussion of this concept in Halpern, Manfred, The Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton, 1963).Google ScholarPerlmutter, Amos, ‘Egypt and the Myth of the New Middle Class: A Comparative Analysis’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, X (1967), 46–65,CrossRefGoogle Scholar accepts the existence of such a class but challenges Halpern's interpretation of its cohesiveness, potential for constructive leadership, and the role of the army in it. See also the rebuttal in Halpern, Manfred, ‘Egypt and the New Middle Class: Reaffirmations and New Explorations’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, XI (1969), 97–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar