Summary
Titular head of the Free Officers’ regime and president of the republic who, in Chapter 3 of The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry, “exerted unusual efforts to maintain good relations with the Jewish community and to uphold the principle that Jews were full members of the national polity” — mixing the language of ahl al-dhimma with the 1919 secular slogan — until his defeat by Abdel Nasser in March 1954 virtually eliminated any possibility that the government would accept Jews as Egyptians (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1241-1263, 1313-1317).
Details
- Days after the July 23, 1952 coup, Chief Rabbi Haim Nahum telegraphed Naguib the community’s support for the revolution; Naguib responded with a statement on the importance of maintaining good relations with ahl al-dhimma, suggesting “an attitude of benevolent paternalism toward the Jewish community” rather than regard for Jews as full and equal members — yet he “extended himself far beyond formulaic statements” and “unequivocally invoked the secular-liberal discourse of citizenship and rights” (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1241-1245).
- On Yom Kipur 1952 he visited Cairo’s main ‘Adli Street synagogue and met Nahum, “the first and only courtesy visit by a head of state to a chief rabbi in modern Egyptian history”; days later he received Karaite Chief Rabbi Tuvia Babovitch, Lieto Barukh Mas’uda and Murad al-Qudsi, and on October 25, 1952 visited the Karaite synagogue in ‘Abbasiyya, signing its guest register: “There is no difference between Jews, Muslims, or Christians. Religion is for God. The nation is for all” (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1244-1245).
- He “may not have noticed the contradiction between his reference to non-Muslims as ahl al-dhimma and his use of the secularist slogan of the 1919 revolution,” because as a Muslim Egyptian his own status as an authentic Egyptian was secure under either discourse (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1247-1248).
- After Shaykh al-Baquri’s February 1953 radio slur against the Jews, Naguib demanded a formal apology to Nahum and insisted it be delivered face to face at Nahum’s home rather than by telephone; “General Naguib, whatever his motives and his conceptual framework, seems to have been committed to preserving correct relations between the Jewish community and the Egyptian state” (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1259-1261).
- In March 1954 supporters of Naguib and Abdel Nasser clashed over restoring democracy or maintaining military rule; Abdel Nasser won, and Naguib and the groups supporting him — the Wafd, the Muslim Brothers and the communists — were suppressed and removed from the political arena (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1263-1264).
- Jewish confidence in the government’s interest in preserving Jewish rights “seems to have diminished after Abdel Nasser established his unchallenged supremacy and Naguib was removed from power” (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1270-1271).
Related pages
The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, Haim Nahum, Neo-dhimma, Karaites