The British Creation of a new Elite class of Secular 'Muslims' to govern Egypt
The truth is that, in passing through the European educational mill, the young Egyptian Moslem loses his Islamism…
But inasmuch as Egyptian society is in a state of flux, the natural result has been to produce a class of individuals many of whom are, at the same time, de-moslemised Moslems and invertebrate Europeans.
In dealing with the question of introducing European civilisation into Egypt, it should never be forgotten that Islam cannot be reformed; that is to say, reformed Islam is Islam no longer; it is something else.
Muslims that receive 'British training' looking down on Islam and Islamic scholars
Nominally, the Europeanised Egyptian is in the majority of cases a Moslem. In reality, he is generally an Agnostic. … a thoughtful European will not only look with interest at the "Alim" as the representative of an ancient faith, which contains much that is highly deserving of respect; he will, if the "Alim" is a worthy specimen of his class, sympathise with him because he is religious, albeit his religion is not that of Christ. The Europeanised Egyptian, on the other hand, will often look on the "Alim" with all the pride of an intellectual parvenu. From the pedestal of his empirical knowledge, he will regard the "Alim" as a social derelict, who has to be tolerated,and even occasionally, for political purposes, to be utilised, but who need not be respected.
