The Saint’s Lamp, written by Yahya Haqqi during the liberal experiment in Egypt in the 1920s and 1930s and released in 1944, follows the journey of a boy named Ismail as he leaves his homeland of Egypt to study medicine abroad in Europe, only to come back with a completely new set of values. His journey is contrasted with that of Fatima, his fiancée who is becoming increasingly blind, who serves throughout the story as a representation of Egypt and its struggles with recovery. The story of Ismail is a commentary on Egypt’s political situation during the 1920s, comparing and contrasting the secular and British-influenced Wafd government with the anti-imperialist and Islamist Muslim Brotherhood opposition party through a variety of symbols and characters. Haqqi presents an idea of reconciliation between the two extreme factions of the political spectrum, arguing that the Egyptian government should incorporate aspects of both ideologies, using religion along with modern technology to form a fair and equal government for the people.

               At the time of Haqqi’s political activism and writing from the early 1920s until the early 1950s, the Wafd party was consistently involved in Egyptian politics and oversaw a period of Egyptian history defined by European influence. Formed in 1918 by Sa’d Zaghlul and consisting of mostly European-educated landowners and upwardly mobile Egyptian elites, the Wafd party’s goal was Egyptian independence from British colonialism. The party spearheaded the 1919 revolution which eventually led to abolishment of the British protectorate in 1922[1]. Although Egypt was formally independent, it was far from independent from British influence: Britain ruled informally over Egypt, controlling its foreign interests, communications and defense, as well as the shared territory of Sudan. Zaghlul oversaw the implementation of Western-style, secular democratic-parliamentary government. By consistently winning a majority of the seats in parliament, the Wafd party held significant control of the government and Egyptian politics[2]. The Wafd party seemed, in the eyes of the people, to propagate pro-European ideals over Egyptian nationalism, supplanting Islamic values with Western developmentalism. After leading the fight for Egyptian independence, the Wafd party seemed to have turned itself right back over to Western social, economic, and political influence, demonstrated by the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian treaty signed by the Wafd-dominated government that gave British troops right to patrol the Suez Canal zone and more military influence within the nation[3]. Instead of helping to create an independent and prosperous state, the Wafd party contributed to standardizing the colonial aspects of British rule that they had originally fought against.

               This strange obedience to Europe and the Wafd party’s evolution from Egyptian independence leader to European puppet is shown by Haqqi through the story of Ismael’s journey to Europe and back. Directly before his departure to Europe Ismail gives his word of engagement to Fatima, representing Egypt. As a child, Ismail lived “within the precincts of the Saint’s mosque and under her protection,” learning the Koran by heart and actively practicing Islam (2). In his household, “Moslem law was both truth and science,” and before he left for Europe his father warned him to beware of Europe’s distractions, especially European women (12). Ismail’s childhood and development is used to describe the formative stage of the Wafd party, during which it sought to restore Egypt’s historical greatness. During his seven years in Europe studying abroad, Ismail begins to lose touch with his religious identity, and, ignoring his father’s warning, becomes enamored with an English woman named Mary. Mary, who “was infatuated with this young dark man from the east” showered Ismail with attention and, along with  his Western education, led him astray from his religious roots (18). He begins to view religion as “a superstition invented to rule the masses,” and he replaces this lost religious faith with “a stronger faith in science” (10). This stage of Ismail’s life corresponds to the Wafd party’s first extended period of rule over Egypt, during which, despite cries from the people to avoid European influence, the Wafd party continuously passed pro-British policies and legislation. Mary is Britain, irresistible yet harmful, and even after recovering from his love with her, Ismael could only “find himself once more in love” (21). Ismael and the Wafd party could not move past their infatuation with Mary and Europe, continually turning to them even when it was the wrong thing for Egypt. This comparison is an obvious critique of the Wafd leadership by Haqqi, as he represents Ismael upon his return as having a very condescending, pro-Western and anti-religious attitude. This attitude is evident when he scolds his mother for using the “oil from Umm Hashim’s lamp,” the traditional Islamic healing method, to try to cure Fatima’s eyes, telling her “You are a religious woman and you pray. How could you then accept such superstitions and illusions?” (25, 26). He does away with this strategy, instead prescribing Fatima a European recovery method, which instead of helping her eyesight ends up completely blinding her. Ismail laments that Fatima “had willingly given herself up to him and the result was that he destroyed her eyes” (33). This serves as metaphor for Egypt’s fate under the Wafd party’s leadership: although the party tried to liberate Egypt by modernizing it with European developments and science, it ended up pushing Egypt back into the colonial grasp of Britain.

               Although Haqqi may be criticizing the Wafd party for their failure to truly deliver Egypt as an independent nation, he still feels as though they tried, but couldn’t succeed due to overwhelming colonial influence that pervaded the government during their time as the most powerful political party in Egypt. Opposing the Wafd party during this time period was the Muslim Brotherhood, which had an extremely anti-imperial and pro-religion agenda. Founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna as an opposition party to the increasingly Europeanized Wafd party, the group served as an alternative to Egyptians who were losing faith in the Wafd party’s leadership[4]. The group operated under the premise that in order for Egypt to regain its former glory, Islam needed to be the ruling pillar of the Egyptian government. It is apparent that Haqqi agrees that Islam should have a role in government, but, similarly to how Ismail’s European medicine could not cure Fatima’s eyes on its own, neither could Islam. After his failure to heal Fatima’s eyes, Ismail runs away from the family, eventually returning to his childhood mosque to seek religious restoration. Upon his realization of the importance of religion, he “returned anew to his science and medicine, but this time fortified by faith” (37). This combination of Islamic faith and modern European medicine proves to be the perfect cure for Fatima’s eyes, as she quickly recovers her eyesight. With this statement, Haqqi is saying that while weak individually, the combination of faith and modern technology can be effective. As a political statement, he is saying that neither Islam nor European modernization can be the primary ruling mechanism, and that these two ideologies must be consolidated within the same government to be successful. 

               Just as Fatima’s eyes could only be healed by a combination European medicine and Islamic faith, the Egyptian people can only free themselves from oppression and find true liberation with the consolidation of European technological and developmental ideas and a grounded belief in Islam. Haqqi may criticize both the extremism of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wafd party leadership, but The Saint’s Lamp reflects his belief that a combination of the better aspects of the two can lead to a prosperous and liberated Egypt.

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[1] Cleveland, William L., and Martin Bunton. A History of the Modern Middle East. (Boulder: Westview Press, 2013), 180-185

[2] Ibid.

[3] Bet-Shlimon, Arbella. "Egypt under Monarchy and Pahlavi Iran." Lecture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, October 22, 2015.

[4] Bet-Shlimon, Arbella. "Egypt under Monarchy and Pahlavi Iran." Lecture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, October 22, 2015.

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