Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine an Egyptian writer’s, namely ‘Abdullāh al-Nadīm’s (1843-96) contributions to the analysis of the “despotism of riches”. Through social activism for the poor or orphans as well as writing original fictional works such as plays or short skits, al-Nadīm defends the equality of opportunity for a free education for everyone, especially for the marginalized classes. He also urged the Egyptian ruling class to recognize the social impediments before the majority of people who had no chance of escaping their stagnant social situation. Therefore he preferred to use the art of “dialogue’ or “metaphor”, in order to help peasants recognize the meaning of free elections or the invisible ideological order encompassing them.
Moreover, al-Nadīm focused on the question of Arabic diglossia. Despite his understanding of the importance of literal Arabic, he opposed to a unilateral enforcement of national education to the students by using only literal Arabic, which was ignoring the importance of colloquial culture in the Egyptian society. He was well aware of the fact that it would not be possible to realize a real national unity to resist against the colonial power and the indigenous despotic régime, without respecting the spontaneous desire to learn of the people.
