Mourad Wahba Pasha (; 1879–1972) was an

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

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and high court judge. He served as Vice President of the Court of Cassation, then Egypt's highest court from 1931 to 1937 after which he was appointed as Minister of Agriculture in 1937 and Minister of Trade and Industry in 1938. He was then appointed as senator from 1939 to 1945. He also served in the Board of Directors of various companies and was a leading figure in Coptic communal affairs.

Biography

Mourad Wahba was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

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in 1879, the son of Youssef Wahba Pasha former

prime minister of Egypt A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

and grandson of Wahba Bey Youssef founder of the first Coptic charitable society. Wahba was educated in Cairo at the College de la Sainte Famille, a

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School where

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (; 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit, Catholic priest, scientist, palaeontologist, theologian, and teacher. He was Darwinian and progressive in outlook and the author of several influential theologi ...

taught for many years. He obtained his law degree from the Sorbonne in

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and pursued a lifetime career in the Egyptian judicial system, serving as a judge on the Native Court of Appeals and then becoming a counsellor on the first Court of Cassation, the highest court in Egypt, from 1931 to 1937. He was highly respected and appreciated by all

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as an objective and unassuming judge that gave much credibility to the new Court of Cassation. One of his most famous opinion pieces was on the subject of the revocation of press censorship imposed by the government of Ismail Sidqi Pasha, then prime minister of Egypt. It is said that he was personally appointed Minister of Agriculture by King Farouk I in 1937 under Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha's Cabinet and in 1938 as Minister of Trade and Industry. Although he was reportedly disappointed by the appointment since it would force him to resign as judge on the Court of Cassation, which as Vice President of the Court, he was expected to lead after the retirement of then-President Abdel Aziz Fahmi Pasha. His appointment as Minister of Agriculture may have been to avoid having a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

as president of the highest judicial authority in Egypt, a predominantly

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country. During his tenure as Minister of Agriculture, he inaugurated the Cairo Agricultural Museum, the largest museum at the time devoted to agriculture since Ancient Egypt. He was appointed a senator in 1939 until 1945 and played an important role in Coptic communal affairs serving on the Majlis Milli for several years. He was one of the major shareholders of the Compagnie de Ciment Portland in Egypt founded with the Swiss cement group Holderbank as well as a member of the board of directors of

Banque Misr Banque Misr () or in English the Bank of Egypt is an Egyptian bank co-founded by industrialist Joseph Aslan Cattaui Pasha, Joseph Cicurel and economist Talaat Harb Pasha in 1920. The government of the United Arab Republic nationalized the ban ...

and resigned after the 1952 revolution. He died in Cairo in 1972.

Personal life

He was married to Victoria Ibrahim, daughter of Khalil Ibrahim Pasha, one of the largest landowners in Egypt who had built

Our Lady of Zeitoun Our Lady of Zeitoun, also known simply as El-Zeitoun, Zeitun or rarely Our Lady of Light, was a mass Marian apparition that was reported to have occurred in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, during a period of about 3 years beginning on 2 Apr ...

Church in Cairo, which is believed to be the site of various apparitions of Virgin Mary in the 1960s.Otto Meinardus, ''Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity'', The American University in Cairo, 2010 He had one child, Magdi Wahba.

References

External links

arc.sci.eg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wahba, Mourad 1879 births 1972 deaths Politicians from Cairo Judges from Cairo Collège de la Sainte Famille alumni Agriculture ministers of Egypt Trade and Industry ministers of Egypt Businesspeople from Cairo Egyptian Copts Egyptian pashas