Twentieth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

In 1899 Muhammad Abdu (1849-1905), who is considered by many to be a pioneer of religious renewal and reform, proposed that the advancement of the East can only be achieved at the hands of a “just despot,” who “imposes his views on the masses by force if they do not choose the pursuit of happiness by their own free will” (‘Abdu 1899, 54–55). The idea of the “just despot,” oxymoronic and undemocratic as it is, has started to gain ground among secular elites in after the January 25, 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Fearing that the post-revolutionary democratic process may facilitate the establishment of an Iran-style religious fascism, Egyptian intelligentsia supported the 2012 uprisings, which ultimately reinstalled the very military dictatorship the January Revolution had ousted. A military dictatorship that maintains stability appeared to be an attractive alternative to religious fascism that targets literature and art. After all, it is more favorable to secularism, or so at least it seemed to the Egyptian intelligentsia at the time. This paper interrogates the concept of the “just despot” and critiques one attempt to embrace and justify it. A close reading of Reem Bassiouney’s historical fiction Mamluks Trilogy (2018) deconstructs the proposition that a “just despot” may be the answer to old and new problems. The concept is especially detrimental to women.