Muhammad Ali's Seizure of Power - Return & Flight of Al-Alfi

Return & Flight of Al-Alfi

The death of Ali Pasha Jazirli produced only temporary tranquility. On February 12, 1804, The Mameluke leader Muhammadd Bey al-Alfi returned from the United Kingdom, splitting the Mamelukes into two parties, one gathered around al-Alfi and the other around al-Bardisi, the latter having by then gained an ascendency among the Mamelukes. The guns of citadel and of the palace were fired three times each in al-Alfi's honor at news of his return, but preparations were simultaneously begun to oppose him before he arrived in Cairo.

Al-Alfi's partisans gathered opposite Cairo and held nearby Giza, when Husain Bey, one of al-Alfi's relatives, was assassinated by emissaries of al-Bardisi. Muhammad Ali Pasha seized upon this as a pretext to restore order, and took possession of Giza, which was given over to his troops to pillage.

Unaware of these events, al-Alfi embarked at Rashid and made his way to Cairo. Encountering a party of Albanians south of the town of Manfif, he was surprised in an ambush and only escaped with difficulty. Al-Alfi then made his way to the eastern branch of the Nile, but the region had become dangerous and he fled to the desert. There he had several close escapes and at last secreted himself among a tribe of bedouin Arabs at Ras al-Wgdi.