Death of a Prime Minister: The Assassination of Boutros Ghali and Mediating Sectarianism in Egypt, 1906–1911

Abstract

When Egypt’s first Coptic Christian prime minister, Boutros Ghali, was assassinated by a Muslim affiliate of the Nationalist Party (al-Ḥizb al-Waṭanī) in 1910, it triggered a nationwide debate over more than just the spectre of political violence. The assassination, the first of a prominent politician in twentieth-century Egypt, exposed latent sectarian tensions that consumed public discourse and private speculation through the press, conferences, and demonstrations. While Ghali’s killing has been analysed more commonly in reference to its implications for the British occupation or the Egyptian nationalist movement, it has yet to receive equal attention for its role in generating discourses about sectarianism in Egypt. This article argues that the death of the prime minister highlighted national anxieties about inter-religious relations during a period of contestation over the parameters of Egyptian identity and belonging. Ghali’s death, the politics of his commemoration, and a recourse to charitable citizenship are crucial nodes for understanding the historical development of sectarianism in twentieth-century Egypt.