126 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 19:2 

The New Mamlukes: Egyptian Society 

and Modern Feudalism 

Amira El-Azhari Sonbol 

Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000. 292 pages. 

Amira El-Azhari Sonbol has written an outstanding socio-politico-eco­
nomic analysis of the Egyptian government and society over the last three 

centuries. This book brilliantly debunks the oriental despot model of 

analysis that has been imposed on scholarly studies of Muslim societies. 

She achieves this with the aid of a "study of popular discourse." She 
emphasizes the need to relearn what culture is all about by examining how 

Egyptians see themselves and their own relationships. She finds that 

Egyptian society has not been static, waiting to be transformed from the 
outside, but dynamic, following its own cultural evolution. Along the way, 

she notes the importance of distinguishing Islamic revival from radicalism 
and terrorism. 

Sonbol argues that eighteenth-century Egypt has been misunderstood, 
forced into the absolutist mold that more properly characterizes today's 

Egypt. Eighteenth-century Egypt reflected "social maneuverability" and 
the "rule of law." In the 19th and 20th centuries the Egyptian state sought, 

with partial success, to establish itself as the "active creator" of law and 
order. A new form of mercantilism emerged that went beyond the mere con­

trol of imports and exports to the manipulation of all aspects of production 

and exchange to the benefit of the elites. In the Nasser era, elements of 

socialism and nationalism were employed in the advancement of what was 
actually a form of state capitalism, in which the elites sought to extract rent 

from their hold on power. It was a feudal compact, in which the state's 

"right" to political allegiance was "reciprocated by the state's 'duty' to 
guarantee the security of the nation and provide its people with" the neces­

sities of life. 

Sonbol critiques the translation of khassa as elite and 'ammah as gen­
eral pub I ic. The khassa are the people of power, wealth, and distinction, only 
one part of which retains hegemony at any given time. The khassa are too 

diverse (ruling elites, the military, and the business classes) to be considered 

an aristocracy. From time to time the ulema, the intellectuals and the pro­
fessionals have been their allies in legitimizing their power. The so-called 
modernization of the Arab world has only been a strengthening of patriar-







Book Review, 129 

Another element of duality, instituted in the twentieth century, was the 
division of crimes into two classes: social and political. This gave the state 

the power to crack down on the political opposition. Even the public space 

was divided "into areas of usage by particular classes." The one exception 
was, of course, the mosque, which set the stage for the Islamic resistance. 

The economic interests of the khassa always predominated, colored by the 

slogans of the particular movements of the moment. Sonbol quotes Milo­
van Djilas' characterization of Tito's Yugoslavia as equally appropriate to 
Nasser's Egypt, that "socialist ownership" is really "ownership by the polit­

ical bureaucracy." A segment of the khassa had implanted itself in that 

bureaucracy and thus, it was no wonder that in economically stagnant 

Egypt entrance into the civil service was perceived as the path to upward 
mobility. Similarly, Sadat's "liberalization" was not to undermine Egyptian 

socialism, but simply "to facilitate the khassa 's trade monopoly with the 

outside world." 

Ultimately, Islam has an indispensable role in the cultural effort to end 
the duality in Egyptian society. It was the pressure from the Muslim 

Brotherhood that forced the nationalist parties in Egypt to communicate in 

Arabic rather than French or English. Today, Sonbol concludes, Egypt has 
estab lished a versatile civil society that can no longer be ignored by its 

political leaders. I would propose that the Islamic movement in Egypt, and 

elsewhere, must not waste this opportunity, and must avoid the trap of 

employing Islamic jargon to mask a continuation of mercantilist policies 
and feudal structures. 

I mad A. Ahmad 

Presideat, Miaaret of Freedom Institute 
Bethesda, Mary land