2024/11/18 by Leïla Blili · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Ancient history #Art #Caliphate #Colonialism #History #Humanities #Intelligentsia #Islamic Studies and History #Law #Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender #Political and Social Issues #Political science #Politics #Throne #Wife
paper · doi:10.1163/24685623-20240161
published in Eurasian Studies 22(1), 30-49 (Brill)
openalex publication_date 2024/11/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Nazli Hanem, a member of Egypt’s ruling family (1853-1913), was an unlikely woman. Affected by her father’s ouster from the throne and forced into exile with her family in Istanbul, she never ceased to harbor an aversion to the despotism of the Caliphate Sultans. She spent many years in Paris as a diplomat’s wife, before returning to Cairo and opening a cultural salon where she entertained the local intelligentsia as well as representatives of the colonial authorities. A freedom-loving, westernized woman, she was approached by Sultan-Caliph Abdülhamid II , and from 1898 became the spokeswoman for his pan-Islamist ideology. Unofficially, she became the first female diplomat, helping the Sultan-Caliph to heal his battered image.