Abaza (Arabic: أباظة) абаза | |
---|---|
Noble family | |
Country | Egypt |
Etymology | Abaza people and Abaza language |
Place of origin | Abazinia, or Karachay-Cherkessia and Abkhazia |
Founded | c.1700-1750 |
Founder | Abaza (ethnonym of matriarch), Sheikh of the Arabs Hassan Pasha Abaza (modern founding father) |
Titles | Pasha, Bek or Bey, Hanim or Khanum, Effendi, Sheikh of the Arabs, Sheikh |
Style(s) | Sahib-ul-Ma'ali or Sahibat-ul-Ma'ali (His or Her Excellency). Sahib-ul-Sa'ada or Sahibat-ul-Sa'ada. |
Estate(s) | Ezbet Abaza, Ezbet Ateya Abaza, Ezbet Desouky Abaza, Izbat al Abaziyyah, Ezbet Ismail Abaza, parts of Sharqia (main historical stronghold) and Beheira, parts of Kafr Abaza, Minya al-Qamh, Teleen, and Amreet. |
The Abaza Family (Arabic: الأسرة الأباظية or عائلة أباظة, Egyptian Arabic: عيلة أباظة, aliases: آل أباظة) is an Egyptian aristocratic family of maternal Abazin Circassian origin.[1][2]
"Deeply rooted in Egyptian society...and in the history of the country", it has had an influence from the late 18th century to modern times.[3][4]
It is known for having produced literary and cultural figures, nobles, officials, technocrats, governors, and politicians under the Muhammad Ali dynasty in the 19th and early 20th century, and for retaining their cultural and political clout during the republican period in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Abaza family contributed to modern Arabic and Egyptian culture, literature, academia, and art through the works of journalist and political activist Fekry Pasha Abaza, author Desouky Bey Abaza, poet Aziz Pasha Abaza, novelist Tharwat Abaza, sociologist Mona Abaza, actors Rushdy Abaza and Momtaz Abaza, director Othman Abaza, among others.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
Their primary stronghold is the Sharqia Governorate, where they originally settled in Egypt, although their influence, governorships, and land holdings extended to other areas in the Nile Delta.[11][12][13]
They are known as "the family of the pashas" for having produced Egypt's largest number of nobles.[14]
Although widely celebrated for its cultural, intellectual, and historical contributions, on occasion the family has been criticized for "monopolizing" several parliamentary districts since the 19th century "reign of Muhammad Ali".[15]
They are thought to number in the many thousands, with sources varying in their estimates.[16][17][18] However, these numbers are thought to be highly unreliable as no censuses of Circassian communities in Egypt exist due to a general "lack in demographic data on minorities in Egypt".[19]
Sources indicate that the Abaza family was well established in the Nile Delta by the late 18th century especially in Sharqia. They took – or were given – the last name 'Abaza'.[20]
A belief among the Abaza family is that they were named after "a beloved grandmother ... or her place of birth". This maternal ancestor is thought to have married the head of the powerful al-Ayed family before the reign of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, (also spelled 'al-Aydeh', Arabic:العائد, Egyptian Arabic: العايدي).[20]
As narrated in "family tradition" the "marriage was during the reign of the Circassian" Mamluks.[21] However "some historians" suspect it "more likely that the marriage occurred under Ottoman rule".[11] But note that under Ottoman rule Circassian Mamluks continued to act as governors of the country until Muhammad Ali's rise to power meaning that the marriage could have taken place both under Ottoman rule and Mamluk governance.
David E. Millis writes that the al-Ayed/Aydeh clan trace "their origin back to the Yemenese contingents of the initial Islamic conquerors of Egypt... [and] the ancient tribal confederation of Judham". Ibn Khaldun wrote that they originate from Kahlan.[22][23] Historian al-Maqrizi agrees that al-Ayed/Aydeh descend from Banu Judham.[11]
The Abaza family itself had "long-established economic and political clout in Egypt".[24][25]
With time, "after the marriage" people began to "distinguish between Awlad al-Aydeh [Children of al-Aydeh] and Awlad al-Abazyya [Children of the Abaza Lady]" and her eldest son began to be called "Ibn al-Abazyya [Son of the Abaza Lady]". This was "the beginning of the split between the two groups" into two distinct families or clans.[26][22]
Thus, the initial matriarchal founder of the family is only known as 'Abaza', and her personal name is lost to history. It is rare but not unknown for a Muslim family to be named after a woman but the family's name fits with historical Muslim practices of naming people and families after places of origin or ethnicities.[27][28] It is an example of a laqab,[1] a type of Arabic name, and of an ethnonym, the name of a people or ethnic group.
The non-Abaza patriarch who married the Abazin matriarch was named Muhammed el-Ayedi (محمد العايدي).[1]
Abazas in Egypt are "virtually all descendants" of 19th century figures like Shiekh of the Arabs Hassan Pasha Abaza and his brother Shiekh Boghdady Pasha Abaza and "they maybe considered as constituting one family".[12] However, we should caution that with large and old multi-generational groups it is difficult to be certain about or to rule out undocumented or under documented branches that may descend from lesser-known figures.
Reuven Aharonia reports that despite the "centralized nature of Muhammed Ali's regime", the integration of local elites in the state's administration was part of his governing policy. The provincial elites were "given lands" integrating the new system with existing "local interests" and "one instance of this" was the Abaza family.[29]
Hassan Pasha Abaza is widely considered to be the modern founding father of the family due to heading the family at the time of their modern ascendance. He was called Sheikh of the Arabs.[11] Rare in this exalted long-form, it derives from the ancient honorific title 'Sheikh' given to a variety of people including the heads of sufficiently influential families or tribes regardless of ethnic origin.[30] As mentioned above, Hassan Pasha Abaza was also the Shiekh el Balad (Sheikh of the Town/Province or “chief of the city”) of the province of Sharqia.[31][13][32]
Hassan Pasha and his brother, Sheikh Boghdady Pasha Abaza, served in Ibrahim Pasha's Majlis making the Abazas the only family to hold two seats at the same time and starting their tradition as a parliamentary dynasty.[20]
The monarchy allowed in certain instances elites "bequeath their posts to their sons". For example, al-Sayed Pasha Abaza "inherited the position of nizar qism from "his father Hassan Abaza".[33]
The monarchy had endowed the family with more villages and lands allowing the Abazas to flourish.[20] Their lands extended beyond their Sharqia stronghold to the Beheira Governate, for example "Sayed Pasha Abaza mudir [governor] of Beheira Province left some 6,000 feddan....in 1875-1876" to his descendants.[12] Their influence further extended to the Nile Delta provinces of Al-Qalyubia, Monufia, and Dakahlia.[11]
One famous display of their clout was during the accession of the young King Farouk, when the Abaza family "solicited palace authorities to permit the royal train to stop briefly at one of their villages", so that "the king could partake in refreshments which were offered in a large, magnificently ornamented tent they had erected at the train station".[34][35]
After the 1952 removal of King Farouk of Egypt, several Abazas lost feudal lands following the Egyptian land reform.[36]
The family cannot be associated with a single political stance as in the early 20th century it decided to permit all members to hold any political position and run for office with any party with the caveat that "no two Abazas [can] run against each other".[1]
During the CBC Two program where this was discussed, it was also clarified that in the rare cases where two Abazas ran in an election against each other the apparent rule is "to put all support behind the stronger [candidate]" and that "no other rules exist."[1]
This led to situations where one Abaza was a minister in the governing regime and another was the opposition leader (see below).
The family had its own football team competing with Egypt's major clubs in the early half of the 20th century and its own journal.[37] Their most famous wins were covered in English media in 1916 and 1917 with two reported wins against Qatar.[18]
The family has had members in almost every Egyptian parliament, mostly in Sharqia districts, their historical stronghold. A famous 21st-century incident included the family's 2005 winning challenge to Gamal Mubarak's and the Mubarak regime's candidate in a Sharqia district with the former New Wafd Party opposition leader Mahmoud Abaza.[38][39][40]
Family members also regularly feature in Egyptian cabinets and hold minister, deputy minister, assistant minister and other government and technocratic positions in state institutions. As mentioned above, Amin Abaza was a minister in the government at the same time Mahmoud Abaza was the leader of the official opposition during the final Hosni Mubarak government. The family has also held governorships many times in both the monarchical and current periods, especially in the Nile delta.[41][42][39][43]
Several villages in the Nile Delta are named after members of the family, mainly in Sharqia. At least one city square in Zagazig and another in Cairo are named 'Abaza'. Many streets and institutions in the country are named after members of the family including at least one government school named after Aziz Pasha Abaza and numerous 'ezbas' (farming estates and villages) in the Sharqia Governorate.[44][45]
Some Egyptian media in the 21st century have referred to them as one of the "families that rule the country" due to the number of politicians, officials, and members of parliament it produced, and as one of the families that "inherited parliament".[46][47]
In the 2015 parliamentary elections, three members of the Abaza family won seats in the House of Representatives and this was criticized by some in the media referring to their win as "dynastic heredity". For decades, the family had a political monopoly over several districts. In modern times media has critically remarked that "no parliamentary elections since the reign of Muhammed Ali was free of the Abazas".[46][38][48]
As of 2024, General Hani Deri Abaza, Ahmed Fuad Abaza, and Vadji Hussain Abaza are members of the Egyptian House of Representatives.[49] In addition, Yousra Fuad Abaza is a member of the Egyptian Senate.[50]
Forbes lists Hussein Abaza as one of the top Arab CEOs in the world, for heading the Commercial International Bank.[51]
Another family member, Hussein Mohammed Abaza serves as an international consultant for sustainable development and green economy in the Egyptian government and as an advisor to the Minister of the Environment.[52] He also is a member of the government's National Initiative for Green Projects.[53]
In 2014, the family sued Sada Elbalad TV for the creation of a children's cartoon named 'Abaza', and the program was forced off the air.[54] In the same year Egyptian satellite channel CBC Two aired a one-hour documentary about the family.[55]
Abaza marriages into other aristocratic families and other elite non-aristocratic Egyptian families are common. Two notable instances of this in modern times include marriages with the families of individuals in high government office such as former intelligence chief and Vice President of Egypt Omar Suleiman and former Public Prosecutor Abd-al-Mageed Mahmoud, who were both in office during a period of major historical change, the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and for the latter, also after the revolution and during the Mohamed Morsi regime. Modern examples of marriages into fellow aristocratic families include the Prince Mahmoud al-Yazgi family, the Marcus Pasha Simaika family, the Mahmoud El Nokrashy Pasha family, among many others.[56][57][58][59]
A lentil dish attributed to the family is known in the country as "'ads abazy" (Arabic: عدس أباظي).[60]
They are also known for producing many CEOs and owners of businesses and corporations.[18]
The family features a substantial number of famous or influential members and thus this section will keep to a few examples.[61][62][2]