INTRODUCTORY 13official language of the country. Isma'il ordered that all Ottoman laws passed
since Muhammad Ali should be translated into Arabic. He also gave financial
help to Butrus al-Bustani to produce the first modern encyclopaedia in Arabic.
As a result of the spread of modem education in Egypt various literary and
scientific societies began to appear (for instance, Jam'iyyat al-Ma'drif, which
was established in 1868 for the purpose of facilitating the publication of
literary and cultural works, especially ancient Arabic texts). Furthermore in
1870, apparently in response to Isma'il's wishes, 'Ali Mubarak set up the
Khedivial library, later to be known as Dar al-Kutub, the present national
library, where most of the holdings of the various mosques and madrasas were
transferred. He also encouraged, for a while, the nascent Arabic theatre and
allowed productions of some Arabic plays (for example, by the Egyptian
dramatist Ya'qub Sannu' whom he called the Moliere of Egypt) in the Cairo
Opera House, which he had built (in 1869) as part of the celebrations of the
opening of the Suez Canal. Isma'il was indeed intent on impressing the West
by seeking to make Egypt look as much as possible like a western state.
Very often, of course, westernization was only skin-deep and did not touch
the very roots of cultural life. But as we have seen in the sphere of education
(and this was paralleled in legal, political and social spheres), many institu-
tions were drastically changed in an attempt to make them follow western
patterns. Furthermore, the political influence of the West was growing very
fast indeed, culminating in the British occupation of Egypt not long after
Isma'il's reign and resulting in the speedy emergence of nationalism. The cul-
tural penetration of the West in certain areas of life was felt to be so deep and
alarming that those who were seriously concerned about the native cultural
heritage reacted in one of two ways: they either endeavoured to combat it
fiercely, using every possible means at their command, or else they tried,
sometimes ingeniously, to reconcile it with that heritage. At any rate they felt
they could no longer view it with indifference. The ignorance of the West and
western cultural values which reigned supreme in the Arab world of the
eighteenth century had now given place both in Egypt and in Syria to an
almost obsessional preoccupation with these values. On the whole, it can be
said that during Isma'il's reign Arabic culture in Egypt reached a stage at
which it became involved in a conscious and dynamic conflict with the
culture of the West. Out of this conflict between East and West modern
Arabic literature was born.