As the Irish Free State came into being, Egypt too was declared independent. Whilst in Ireland, League membership was rapidly forthcoming, negotiations for Egypt’s accession were protracted, with Egypt acceding in 1937, the last member state to join the League. Chapter Five investigates why Egypt, which was never formally a colony of the British Empire and from 1922 deemed an independent state, was obstructed by Britain from joining the League for fifteen years. This chapter examines the contested relationship between the Egyptian nationalist Wafd party, that sought Egyptian independence, and Britain, that sought Egyptian acquiescence to a treaty of alliance. Egypt’s contested accession to the League reveals the risks that colonial membership to the League posed to British imperial policy, and how Britian could act as a gatekeeper for the accession of their colonies to the League. Finally, this chapter reveals how the actions of another imperial party, Italy, and its growing encroachment into North-East Africa would ultimately lead to a compromise that would see Egypt’s accession to the League.

Canonized Twelver narratives imply that the “envoys” (sufarāʾ) of the hidden Imam were recognized as key authority figures immediately after the eleventh Imam’s death. However, it is argued inthat the authority of the agents was established piecemeal, and they came to be known collectively as the “nāḥiya,” a new term for the ambiguous Occultation-era institutions. The first of the canonized envoys, ʿUthmān b. Saʿīd al-ʿAmrī, is not depicted as an active agent in the earliest layer of reports. Instead, he appears as a mere eyewitness to the hidden Imam. Meanwhile, the earliest clearly active agents included several who were not canonized as envoys, and none emerges clearly as a preeminent “envoy.” Early reports indicate a rupture in authority when the old guard agents of Imam al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī all died out. The office of the “envoys” was only fully established thereafter, to fill this vacuum of authority.

This chapter focuses on the theme of dignity as identity and particularly Arab identity. One of the important components in the construction of nationality is consolidating a sense of identity. Karama/dignity – in the sense of being an image of God with inherent worth – has supported for millennia a sense of identity for humans. In the discussion of karama as identity in the slogans of the 2011 Arab Uprisings in Egypt, the chapter shows that there is a widespread understanding of the lack of dignity in Arab contexts, mostly due to oppressive political regimes in a postcolonial setting, which can be seen through various expressions of karama as identity in arts and in the interviews. The chapter also highlights how identity politics are also essential to increasingly globalized societal contexts around the world.