On the political front Napoleon tried to tighten his hold on Egypt by
having his regime recognized as legitimate by the keepers of the Islamic
flame. He approached the muftis at the Mosque of El Azhar - a kind of
theological university - for a fatwa declaring that the Moslem faithful
should consent to his regime without infringing religious scruple. The
muftis at first suggested that Napoleon and his army convert to Islam or
at least be circumcised and avoid alcohol. These terms were predictably
perceived as too steep, and some hard bargaining ensued. Finally, a
compromise was reached whereby, in return for complete non-interference
with religious worship, the muftis issued a statement, confirmed from
Mecca, that the French were allies of Islam and were exempt from the
usual prescriptions concerning circumcision and teetotalism.
This was a great and underrated propaganda victory by Napoleon, and
without it he could scarcely have held down a country entirely hostile to
him. But its effect was severely vitiated by lack of support from France.
Although Napoleon in his letters to the Directory continued to harp on
about the necessity that Talleyrand should depart urgently for Constanti
nople on his peace mission, it soon became obvious that Talleyrand was
playing a double game of his own and had no intention of doing anything
of the so rt. Given the febrile state of Turkish emotions after the Battle of
the Nile, only a top-level French diplomatic mission, prepared to make
significant concessions, could have averted Turkey's drift into the British
camp. When no attempt at all was made to extend an olive branch to the
Porte, Turkey predictably declared war on France on 9 September, and
the Sultan issued a firman, declaring holy war on France.
The long-term effects of the Battle of the Nile continued to eat away at
Napoleon's position in Egypt. Not only was Turkey now hostile, trying to
fan the flames of holy war against the infidel but, because most of the
bullion Brune and others had looted in Europe had gone to the bottom of
the sea with L 'Orient, Napoleon had to raise taxes and exact forced loans
to pay for the day-to-day administration, thus mathematically cutting
down on the amount he and his army could hope to extract by looting.
The resentment of taxation in turn fed into the religious crusade being
preached from Constantinople.
The resentment found expression in a great uprising in Cairo on 21
October, which demonstrated dramatically how shaky the French grip on
the country was. Fanatical Moslems from the university of El Azhar,
sustained by dreams of immortality, took the French by surprise and
slaughtered 250 Frenchmen before Napoleon was able to bring over
whelming force to bear. After two days of vicious and desperate fighting
he gained the upper hand, at a total cost of 300 Frenchmen dead and
marcin
(Marcin)
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