Tuesday, September 26, 2023

2023: Zacharias - Zaghlul

 

Zacharias
Zacharias (Zakariyya’) (Zechariah) (b. c. 100 B.C.T. - d. c. 20) Father of John the Baptist.  In the Qur’an, he is reckoned along with John, Jesus and Elias among the righteous.  His story is expanded by later legend.
 
Zakariyya is one of the prophets mentioned in the Qur'an. Muslims also believe Zechariah to be the guardian of Mary, mother of Prophet Jesus, and they believe Zakariyya to be the father of Prophet John.

Zakariyya see Zacharias
Zechariah see Zacharias

Zafar, Bahadur Shah
Zafar, Bahadur Shah (Abu Zafar Siraj ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah) (Bahadur Shah II) (b. October 24, 1775, Delhi, India — d. November 7, 1862, Rangoon [now Yangon], Myanmar).  Poetic pen name of Abu Zafar Siraj ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah, the last Mughal emperor of Delhi.  Living only the facade of a royal life, he endured with dignity his helpless position as a British pensioner.  His reign began only at the age of sixty.  As an old man of eighty, he was made the figurehead of the Rebellion of 1857.  For this, the British exiled him to Rangoon, where he died.  He is known as the author of a large number of melancholy and devotional Urdu poems and songs.  He is also known for his two brilliant court poets, Zauq and Ghalib.

Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor of India (r. September 28, 1837 – September 14, 1857), was a poet, musician, and calligrapher, more an aesthete than a political leader.

He was the second son of Akbar Shah II and Lal Bai. For most of his reign he was a client of the British and was without real authority. He figured briefly, and unwillingly, in the Indian (Sepoy) Mutiny of 1857–58. During the mutiny, rebel troops from the city of Meerut seized Delhi and compelled Bahadur Shah to accept nominal leadership of the revolt. At the age of 82, and in fear of his life, he acquiesced. After the rebellion was put down by the British, he was exiled to Burma (Myanmar) with his family.

Bahadur Shah Zafar see Zafar, Bahadur Shah
Abu Zafar Siraj ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah see Zafar, Bahadur Shah
Bahadur Shah II see Zafar, Bahadur Shah

Zaghlul, Sa’ad
Zaghlul, Sa’ad (Sa'ad Zaghlul) (Saad Zaghloul) (Sa'd Zaghloul Pasha ibn Ibrahim) (1857/1859-August 23, 1927).  Prime Minister of Egypt from January 26, 1924, to November 24, 1924.  Egyptian politician and nationalist.  Zaghlul was the founder of the Wafd movement.

Zaghlul was born in July of 1857 into a middle-class peasant family in Ibaynah in the Nile River delta.  During his youth, he was educated at the Muslim University of Al-Azhar in Cairo, as well as at the Egyptian School of Law.

In 1892, Zaghlul was appointed judge at the Court of Appeal.

In 1895, Zaghlul married the daughter of the Prime Minister of Egypt, Mustafa Pasha Fatmi.

In 1906, Zaghlul became head of the Ministry of Education.  Later in the year, he partook in the establishment of Hizbu al-Ummah, which was a moderate group in a time when more and more Egyptians claimed to revive their independence from the British.

In 1910, Zaghlul was appointed Minister of Justice.

In 1912, Zaghlul resigned from the post of Minister of Justice after a disagreement with Khedive Abbas Hilmi II.  Later in the year, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly.

In 1913, Zaghlul was appointed vice-president of the Legislative Assembly, a position he used to criticize the government.

From 1914 to 1918, during World War I, Zaghlul and many members from the old Legislative Assembly formed activist groups all over Egypt.  World War I led to much hardship for the Egyptian population, due in large part to the many British restrictions.

On November 13, 1918, with the end of World War I, Zaghlul and two other former members from the Legislative Assembly called upon the British high commissioner, asking for the abolishment of the protectorate.  They also ask to be representative for Egypt in the peace negotiations after the war.  These demands were refused, and Zaghlul’s supporters, a group now known as Wafd, instigated disorder all over the country.

In March of 1919, Zaghlul and three other members of Wafd were deported to Malta.  Zaghlul was soon released after General Edmund Allenby took over as high commissioner of Egypt.  He travelled to Paris, France, in an attempt to present his version of Egypt’s case to representatives of the Allied countries, but without much success.

In 1920, Zaghlul had several meetings with the British colonial secretary, Lord Milner.  They reached an understanding, but Zaghlul was uncertain of how the Egyptians would see him if he forged an agreement with the British, so he withdrew.  Zaghlul then returned to Egypt and was welcomed as a national hero.

In 1921, Zaghlul used his supporters to hinder the establishment of a British-friendly government.  Allenby responded by deporting Zaghlul to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

In February of 1922, Egypt received limited independence, according to Lord Milner’s recommendations, as these were designed through the talks with Zaghlul.

In 1923, Zaghlul was allowed to return to Egypt.

In February of 1924, Zaghlul became prime minister after the Wafd won ninety percent of the parliament seats in the elections.  Zaghlul then found out that not even he was able to stop demonstrations and riots among Egyptians.  In November of this year, after the British commander in chief of the Egyptian army was killed, Zaghlul was forced to leave office.

In 1926, Zaghlul became president of the parliament, and from this position, he was able to control the actions of extreme nationalists.

On August 23, 1927, Zaghlul died in Cairo.

Zaghlul was considered as too moderate and cooperative by many nationalists until 1913.  In 1913, his politics changed, and he used his position as vice-president of the Legislative Assembly to criticize the government. 

Zaghlul was not a great leader.  However, he proved to be the most effective leader of popular opinions of his time.  In many ways, he was the instigator of the process that led to total independence of Egypt nearly thirty years after his death.  Zaghlul was shrewd politician, who knew well how to deal with both the British opponent and his fellow Egyptian countrymen at the same time.  Often he played a double game.

Zaghlul derived much of his charisma and success from a combination of intelligence, diplomacy and eloquence, as well as a humble background with which most Egyptians could identify.

Zaghlul was born in Ibyana village in the Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate of Egypt's Nile Delta. For his post-secondary education, he attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo. In the 1880s, he became politically active, for which he was arrested. After his release from prison, Zaghlul went on to practice law. He became increasingly active in nationalist movements, and in 1918, he led a delegation demanding complete independence from Britain at the Paris Peace Conference. The British in turn demanded that Zaghlul end his political agitation. When he refused, they exiled him to Malta and later to the Seychelles. At the time of his arrival in the Seychelles, a number of other prominent anti-imperialist leaders were also exiled there, including Mohamoud Ali Shire, the 20th Sultan of the Somali Warsangali Sultanate, with whom Zaghlul would soon develop a rapport.

Zaghlul's absence caused disturbances in Egypt, ultimately leading to the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. Upon his return from exile, Zaghloul led the Egyptian nationalist forces. The elections of January 12, 1924, gave the Wafd Party an overwhelming majority, and two weeks later, Zaghloul formed the first Wafdist government.

Following the assassination on November 19, 1924, of Sir Lee Stack, the Sirdar and Governor-General of the Sudan, and subsequent British demands which Zaghloul felt to be unacceptable, Zaghloul resigned, deciding to play no further role in government.

Zaghlul's wife, Safiyya, was the daughter of Mustafa Fahmi Pasha, the Egyptian cabinet minister and two-time Prime Minister of Egypt. A feminist and revolutionary, she was also active in politics.

Sa'ad Zaghlul see Zaghlul, Sa’ad
Saad Zaghloul see Zaghlul, Sa’ad
Sa'd Zaghloul Pasha ibn Ibrahim see Zaghlul, Sa’ad

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