Abstract

Euro-centric and modernity-centred political science assures us that nationalism in the Arab world, starting with Egypt, was a reaction to colonialism. This paper argues that studying the works of authors such as Jamāl al-Dīn al-Idrīsī (d. 1251), al- Maqrīzī (d. 1442) and Ibn Ẓahīra (d. 1483) helps uncover pre-modern origins for Egyptian nationalism. This paper will discuss 15th century discourses on the Egyptian nation, a nation with an old land and diverse people, which surpasses the old centres of Islamic culture, such as Baghdad, after close to a millennium of Islamic culture.