Abdurrahman Sami Pasha

Abdurrahman Sami Pasha (1794–1882) was an Ottoman bureaucrat, statesman, and one of the founders of the Senate. His family which was Greek, Albanian and Turk as was the rest of the ottoman elite, was one of the main aristocratic families in the Ottoman Empire, expanding their influence all the way to Cairo, where the Sami’s also held great influence in the royal court. Ihsan Hanem Sami was the wife of egypt’s prime minister Ahmed pacha maher. The Sami family owned a palace in Cairo and owned estates in upper egypt. They also owned both Turkish and Arab slaves. They were one of the founding aristocratic families of egypt, along with Mohamed Ali pacha. The Egyptian top 1 percent owned over 90 percent of the wealth of Egypt, and they were mostly all related as marrying out of your cast was shunned. As well as owning all the wealth they were the main government officials , and they refused to integrate to Arab society, viewing it as inferior. This was one of the worst income inequalities in history and led up to the 1952 revolution. After that many of the elite lost their wealth and immigrated abroad lost and many of today’s Egyptian upper class are self made families of humble origin, and not part of the aristocracy or nobility which were only about 100 families. But Those that retained and expanded their wealth are seen as the highest ranking and most respected members in Egyptian society ; as they are called frequently called in the press and cinema as “welad Al zawat” “welad Al asl”, “welad Al nas” and “welad Al asyad “ referencing them to the mere idea and definition that they are the oldest money in the Middle East. The English which colonised the entire Middle East, favoured Egypt as its elite were European like them and viewed them to be similar in their origins and lifestyles while they looked at the neighbouring Arab nobility and royalty in the gulf and levant as barbaric savages, which lived very humble lives and were poorly educated, unless they were educated in Egypt. Egyptian Business man Mourad Sami, and senator Ahmed Bey Sami are members of this family. Sami pasha was also the first Minister of Education.[1][2]

Abdurrahman Sami Pasha