Islamic Propaganda by the French During the Occupation of Egypt (1798-1801)

Abstract

This article examines the propaganda put forth by the French during their invasion of Egypt between 1798 and 1801. The French occupation and control of Egypt was realized through two important elements, invasion/war (military control/hard power) and propaganda (textual control/soft power). Military and textual strategies should be viewed as not only complementary but also integral parts of each other. The French constantly and persistently issued proclamations from the first day of the invasion to the last moment. They primarily sought to set the stage for what they aimed with forthcoming propaganda. Their propaganda had political and religious aspects. The political propaganda was seemingly created in the context of the French rivalry with the Mamluks. The religious propaganda, on the other hand, was based on the claim that the French were the best friends of Egyptian Muslims, whom the French insistently tried to persuade. Their friendship with Muslims gradually developed to a point that some Frenchmen appeared to have converted to Islam. The propaganda apparatus in terms of its practice had visual and textual aspects that the French applied simultaneously. Opposite to what had been claimed, this paper asserts that their propaganda had absolutely nothing to do with the Enlightenment or the ideas of the French Revolution. This research also argues the primary impetus of the invasion to have been the global capitalist rivalry between the British and the French.