Muhammad ‘Ali had a pragmatic attitude to translation, as to numerous other issues, and followed a variety of roads searching for that which might serve his needs in the shortest possible time. With his practical mind, the governor was accustomed to solving problems and difficulties, and he followed the same methods with regard to translation. He started by delegating the matter to those around him who were skilled at languages. Next, he called for books that had already been translated and printed in Istanbul to be reprinted, along with such books as had been translated there but not printed and which were in keeping with his goals; then he had these printed. At the same time, he summoned new translators from Istanbul to join those already in Egypt and take on the task of translation. He then took a series of measures, one of which was the establishment of a school to train local translators capable of translating from a variety of languages. As soon as the governor had, by various means, solved the dilemma of how to translate the materials, he followed the process closely. Once he asked the chief translator how long the translation of a book given him by one of the rulers of Europe would take. When the man told him three months, he ordered that the book be divided into three parts and given to three translators, so that the translation could be completed in one month instead of three.9
In this pragmatic manner, Muhammad ‘Ali advanced the translation program, as he did the printing of the books, though by different methods. Books that had been translated by trusted translators went straight to the press. Translations that were thought to need review would be reviewed at the pasha’s command and corrected before printing. We possess a number of documents and much information on how the governor would follow these processes himself. An example of his clear interest and direct concern is an order sent by him on 11 Jumada al-Akhira 1245/8 December 1829 to the effect that the translator working on the translation of the italya Tarihi (The History of Italy) should proceed immediately to Alexandria, taking the original of the book with him, and meet there with Aziz Effendi, who was correcting the book, so that they could go over some of the corrections together. Similar are the governor’s instructions that a book containing terminology in five languages be printed immediately following its translation and correction, on condition that the translator, Seryus Effendi, take direct charge of the printing and go in person to supervise the corrections at the Bulaq Press, in the company of a language expert.10
Another example of the pasha’s pragmatic approach to the acceleration of the preparation of the books that were to be translated from French into Turkish and Arabic was his commissioning of each of the students sent to study in Europe at the government’s expense to undertake the translation of at least one book in his area of specialization (and sometimes outside it). Thus, when the students sent by the pasha to study in Europe in 1826 graduated and returned to Egypt, he received them in his audience chamber at the Citadel, gave each a book in French on the subject he had studied in Europe, and ordered him not to leave the Citadel until he had finished translating it into Arabic.11 This illustrates the extent of his interest in the matter, and this interest did not stop— indeed, it increased. Thus in an order to Clot Bey in 1833 and another similar order to Bogoz Bey on 22 Rabi‘ al-Awwal 1249/9 August 1833, he mentions that the students studying medicine in Europe were expected to translate their textbooks into Arabic as soon as they had finished reading them and send them to him. If the translations did not reach him, he would have orders sent to the students—in Arabic for the Sons of Arabs and in Turkish for the Sons of Turks—on prepared sheets, stamped with the governor’s seal, that were in the keeping of Zaki Effendi, officer at the Khedival Office in Alexandria.12
The governor left the choice of technical books in the sciences, engineering, and military affairs to those involved in such matters, but made the decisions on books on sensitive issues himself. We have mentioned above that, having read Machiavelli’s The Prince, he came to the conclusion that it was not required reading for everyone and favored over it Ibn Khaldun’s History and Muqad-dima. The pasha also ordered the translation of the chapter on Egyptian customs from the Description d’Egypte, compiled by the scientists of the French expeditionary force during Napoleon’s occupation; however, the pasha did not live long enough to read the translation and never gave orders for it to be printed.13
We must now address the issue of whether there was an organized translation program in Egypt designed to cater to specific needs, in particular those of the modern schools and the army. Apart from the preliminary studies by al-Shayyal and Tajir, this program has not been the object of a broad inquiry that would throw light on its multiple dimensions. However, the available data indicate that the program was of large scope and carried out in an organized manner. In a letter sent from the Schools Office to the School of Languages in 1843, there is discussion of the fact that the two institutions had, during a single year, translated from French into Arabic and Turkish a total of sixty-seven books on a variety of topics. Furthermore, in accordance with the “sublime command” (of Muhammad ‘Ali), a committee composed of army commander Sulayman Pasha (the Frenchman Seves), Mahmud Bey (a Turk), Kani Bey (a Turk), Hakkakyan Bey (an Armenian),14 and others was to undertake a thorough examination of these books and select for publication fourteen of them that it believed to be particularly useful and suitable. The letter also contains an urgent request that the fourteen translations be subjected to a minute comparison against their originals before being printed and that their technical vocabulary be checked; if the resources of the translation department in any scientific area were inadequate for that task, its head was to undertake a serious study aimed at coining new terms.15
World History
