ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the period from the 1919 revolution until the rule of Sadat and considers the extent to which the legislation concerning citizenship, education, personal status, and the economy contributed to the creation of a unified, homogeneous, national society, either by integrating the minorities or by pushing them out. The issue of citizenship gained new urgency with the outbreak of First World War and the declaration of a British protectorate over Egypt. A permanent definition of Egyptian nationality and citizenship was arrived at only in 1929. The issue of personal status must be clearly separated from that of citizenship. The shari'a law had always recognized the right of minorities to internal juridical autonomy, at least as regards marriage, divorce, guardianship, inheritance, and religious ritual. The cultural and political goals and identities of a polity can usually be discerned from the sort of educational program it pursues.
