An Address before the National University in Cairo, March 28, 1910

It is to me a peculiar pleasure to speak to-day under such distinguished auspices as yours, Prince Fouad,[4] before this National University, and it is of good augury for the great cause of higher education in Egypt that it should have enlisted the special interest of so distinguished and eminent a man.  The Arabic-speaking world produced the great University of Cordova, which flourished a thousand years ago, and was a source of light and learning when the rest of Europe was either in twilight or darkness; in the centuries following the creation of that Spanish Moslem university, Arabic men of science, travellers, and geographers—­such as the noteworthy African traveller Ibn Batutu, a copy of whose book, by the way, I saw yesterday in the library of the Alhazar[5]—­were teachers whose works are still to be eagerly studied; and I trust that here we shall see the revival, and more than the revival, of the conditions that made possible such contributions to the growth of civilization.

  [4] Prince Fouad is the uncle of the Khedive, a Mohammedan
  gentleman of education and enlightened views.—­L.F.A.

  [5] The great Moslem University of Cairo, in which 9000 students
  study chiefly the Koran in mediaeval fashion.—­L.F.A.

This scheme of a National University is fraught with literally untold possibilities for good to your country.  You have many rocks ahead of which you must steer clear; and because I am your earnest friend and well-wisher, I desire to point out one or two of these which it is necessary especially to avoid.  In the first place, there is one point upon which I always lay stress in my own country, in your country, in all countries—­the need of entire honesty as the only foundation on which it is safe to build.  It is a prime essential that all who are in any way responsible for the beginnings of the University shall make it evident to every one that the management of the University, financial and otherwise, will be conducted with absolute honesty.  Very much money will have to be raised and expended for this University in order to make it what it can and ought to be made; for, if properly managed, I firmly believe that it will become one of the greatest influences, and perhaps the very greatest influence, for good in all that part of the world where Mohammedanism is the leading religion; that is, in all those regions of the Orient, including North Africa and Southwestern Asia, which stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the farther confines of India and to the hither provinces of China.  This University should have a profound influence in all things educational, social, economic, industrial, throughout this whole region, because of the very fact of Egypt’s immense strategic importance, so to speak, in the world of the Orient; an importance due partly to her geographical position, partly to other causes.  Moreover, it is most fortunate that Egypt’s present position is such that this University will enjoy a freedom hitherto unparalleled in the investigation and testing out of all problems vital to the future of the peoples of the Orient.