ZAGHLUL, SAAD (186o-1927), Egyptian patriot, came of fellahin stock in the district of Ibian, Gharbia Province. He was educated at the village school and at the university of El Azhar, in Cairo. In 188o, he became editor of the Official Journal. Later he was nominated a Moawin under the Ministry of the Interior and eventually became Chief of the Contentieux for the province of Giza. Involved in the Arabi revolt, he was one of the many no tables detained on the occupation of Egypt by British troops in 1882. In 1884 he began to practise at the bar, and in 1893 became a judge in the native court of appeal. He became Minister of Education in 2906, and in 1910 Minister of Justice. At the Min istry of Justice he made a charge of corruption against the Khe dive Abbas Hilmi, and was asked (1912) by Lord Kitchener to resign. Zaghlul's evidence was insufficient, but he was thought to have been fundamentally justified, and his fierce opposition to British domination was undisguised from that time onwards. He then became vice-president of the Legislative Assembly.
On the signing of the Armistice (Nov. 1918) Zaghlul, who had for long been considered the principal spokesman of the National ist party, appealed to the Residency in Cairo for the recognition of Egyptian independence, basing his demand on President Wil son's self-determination policy and the British proclamation de fining the status of the other countries liberated from Turkish rule by the World War. His proposal that he, with other repre sentative Nationalists, should visit London to press their views was refused by the Government, and his attitude was so hostile that he and three others were arrested on March 8, 1919 and de ported to Malta. This was the signal for a murderous outbreak
in Egypt and serious disturbances (see EGYPT, History). Zagh lul and his friends were later released by Lord Allenby, and a special mission under Viscount Milner was sent to Egypt in Nov. 1919 to report on the situation.
Zaghlul returned to Egypt early in 1921, where he represented the extreme Nationalist party in opposition to the more moderate ministry under the presidency of Adly Pasha. At the end of the year, when trouble again broke out in Egypt, Zaghlul was arrested once more and deported, first to Aden and then to the Seychelles. In Sept. 1922 he was transferred to Gibralter, whence he was re leased on April 4, 1923, on the grounds of ill-health. After the promulgation of the new constitution, martial law was abolished and Zaghlul was free to return to Egypt. He was enthusiastically received, and in the elections of Jan. 1924 his supporters gained an overwhelming majority. Yehia Ibrahim Pasha resigned and Zaghlul formed a ministry. Conversations to secure a settlement between England and Egypt took place in London (Sept. 25— Oct. 3) between Zaghlul and Ramsay Macdonald; Zaghlul re fused to modify his intransigent attitude, and no agreement was reached. On Nov. 19, 1924 Sir Lee Stack, the Sirdar, was assass inated and Zaghlul was forced to resign. Nevertheless he became president of the new Chamber of Deputies. From that time the history of Zaghlul Pasha is the history of Egypt (q.v.).
Zaghlul died at Cairo on Aug. 23, 1927. His health had long been failing, but he was to the end the life and soul of Egyptian nationalism.