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The ideas of al-Kawakabi who argued that the Ottoman caliphate was illegitimate, were propagated by the Egyptian
daily al-Muayyad, which was closely associated with Abbas Hilmi himself and which was denoted as his “mouthpiece”.
Also, the coming of Izzet Abid Pasha to Egypt in 1909, another Syrian, and his joining the immediate circle of the khedive,
gained him another vocal supporter for his future plans. Meanwhile, the activities of the Ottoman Decentralization Party
which was run mainly by the Syrian immigrants to Egypt were given countenance by the British and Egyptian authorities.
The governors/khedives of Egypt strove for a full independence from the Ottoman Empire throughout the nineteenth
century. Their interests to secede from the Ottoman Empire converged with those of the British Empire towards the
closing decades of the nineteenth century and especially on the eve of World War I. Some British politicians and intellectuals
already toyed with the idea of cutting their ties from the Ottoman Empire with its Arab subjects and relegating their
allegiance to the British Empire. Amidst this tumult of the high contentions, Abbas Hilmi’s name was uttered as a potential
leader among other Arab chiefs as an option to rule the Arab people in the envisioned “Great Arab Kingdom”. Yet, Abbas
Hilmi’s prior relations with the British authorities had been far from pleasant and they clashed over various points since
he came into office in 1892. He was deposed by the British authorities at the start of the war. Moreover, the course of events
which took place during the Great War, rendered Egypt’s status as the leader of the Arabs unrealistic and unfeasible, and
drew it away from the internal affairs of the Arab people for some decades.
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