Abdin Bey al-Arnaut (c. 1780–1827) was an Albanian commander and politician of Egypt during the early era of Muhammad Ali's rule. A member of the core group of Muhammad Ali's commanders, after his death the

Abdeen Palace Abdeen Palace ( ar, قصر عابدين) is a historic Cairo palace built as one of the official residences for the former ruling monarchy and royal family of Egypt. It is now one of the official residences and the principal workplace of the Pr ...

named after him was built on the site of his residence in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

and a district of the city was renamed to honour him.

Life

In 1814 he led a campaign against the

Wahhabi Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...

movement but was defeated. A year later he warned Muhammad Ali of an assassination plot against him, an intervention that gave Ali the opportunity to escape the attack. Until 1820, when he was appointed second-in-command in the Sudanese campaign, Abidin was the governor of al-Minya. During the campaign, he distinguished himself in the battle of al-Kurdi. In April 1821 he became the first governor of the province of

Dongola Dongola ( ar, دنقلا, Dunqulā), also spelled ''Dunqulah'', is the capital of the state of Northern Sudan, on the banks of the Nile, and a former Latin Catholic bishopric (14th century). It should not be confused with Old Dongola, an ancien ...

(approximately corresponding to eastern As Samaliya) and had his mansion designed by

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795 – 27 June 1876) was a German Natural history, naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopy, microscopist. Ehrenberg was an Evangelicalism, evangelist and was considered to ...

. His main duties included the building of depots for the resupplying of passing troops and the region's tax assessment. Abidin Bey's taxation system was regarded as just and it contributed to the reduction of revolt risk in the province. However, his shipyard project for the building of sailing ships for the transport of Black African slaves from Sudan to Egypt was unsuccessful. Dongola's political stability during Abidin Bey's rule is considered unusual as rebellions were frequent in all the newly acquired territories of Egypt in the 1820s. After 1825 he returned to Egypt and was killed two years later during a mutiny.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Abidin 1780 births 1827 deaths 18th-century Albanian people 19th-century Albanian military personnel Albanians from the Ottoman Empire Albanian Muslims

Life

See also

References