Mohamed Sherif Pasha

For other people with the same name, see Muhammed Sharif (disambiguation).

Mohamed Sherif Pasha GCSI^{[citation needed]} (February 1826 – 20 April 1887) (Arabic: محمد شريف باشا) was an Egyptian statesman.^[1] He served as Prime Minister of Egypt three times during his career. His first term was between 7 April 1879 and 18 August 1879. His second term was served from 14 September 1881 to 4 February 1882. His final term was served between 21 August 1882 and 7 January 1884.

Mohamed Sherif Pasha
محمد شريف
Sherif in 1850
3rd Prime Minister of Egypt
In office 7 April 1879 – 18 August 1879
Monarchs	Isma'il Pasha Tewfik Pasha
Preceded by	Tewfik Pasha
Succeeded by	Tewfik Pasha
In office 14 September 1881 – 4 February 1882
Monarch	Tewfik Pasha
Preceded by	Riaz Pasha
Succeeded by	Mahmoud Samy el-Baroudy
In office 21 August 1882 – 7 January 1884
Monarch	Tewfik Pasha
Preceded by	Isma'il Raghib Pasha
Succeeded by	Nubar Pasha
Personal details
Born	February 1826 Kavala, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
Died	20 April 1887 (aged 61) Graz, Austria-Hungary
Spouse	Nazli al-Faransawi Hanim
Children	Tawfika Sherif Hanim (wife of Abdel Rahim Sabri Pasha, Governor of Cairo)
Parent(s)	Muhammad Said, Kadi of Mecca

Biography

Sherif, who was a Turk from Kavala in the Ottoman Empire (now in northern Greece),^[1] filled numerous administrative posts under Sa'id Pasha and Isma'il Pasha. He was better educated than most of his contemporaries, and had married Nazli al-Faransawi Hanim, a daughter of Colonel Joseph Anthelme Sèves, the French non-commissioned officer who became Suleiman Pasha under Mehmet Ali, and wife Maria Myriam Hanem.^[2] They were the maternal grandparents of Queen consort Nazli of Egypt and Regent Sherif Sabri Pasha.^[3]

As minister of foreign affairs he was useful to Ismail, who used Sherif's bluff bonhomie to veil many of his most insidious proposals. Of singularly lazy disposition, he yet possessed considerable tact; he was in fact an Egyptian Lord Melbourne, whose policy was to leave everything alone.^[2]

Sherif's favorite argument against any reform was to appeal to the Pyramids as an immutable proof of the solidity of Egypt financially and politically. His fatal optimism rendered him largely responsible for the collapse of Egyptian credit which brought about the fall of Ismail.^[2]

Upon the military insurrection of September 1881 under Urabi Pasha, Sherif was summoned by the khedive Tawfiq to form a new ministry. The impossibility of reconciling the financial requirements of the national party with the demands of the British and French controllers of the public debt, compelled him to resign in the following February.^[2]

After the suppression of the Urabi Revolt he was again installed in office (August 1882) by Tawfiq, but in January 1884 he resigned rather than sanction the evacuation of the Sudanese regions of the Khedivate of Egypt. As to the strength of the Mahdist movement he had then no conception. When urged by Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) early in 1883 to abandon some of the more distant parts of the Sudan, he replied with characteristic light-heartedness: "Nous en causerons plus tard; d'abord nous allons donner une bonne raclée à ce monsieur" (We'll talk about that later, first we're going to give this gentleman (i.e. the self declared Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad) a good thrashing). Hicks Pasha's expedition was at the time preparing to march on El Obeid.^[2]

Sherif died in Graz, Austria-Hungary, on 20 April 1887.