MABARRAT MUHAMMAD ALI

Egyptian women's organization.

The Mabarrat Muhammad Ali, or the Muhammad Ali Benevolent Society, was founded in 1909 by Princess Ayn al-Hayat Ahmad, a member of Egypt's royal family and a noted philanthropist. She called on other members of the royal family to donate funds to establish a small clinic in one of the poor quarters of Cairo. The Mabarrat was formed to run the clinic and quickly expanded into an organization of women from prominent political families. Hidaya Afifi Barakat (1899–1969), an Egyptian Muslim, and Mary Kahil (1889–1979), a Syrian Christian, were for many years the driving forces in the organization.

In subsequent decades members of the Mabarrat held concerts and other fund-raising events to support medical relief for Egypt's poor. Eventually it established and administered a network of hospitals and outpatient clinics throughout Egypt. During the severe malaria and cholera epidemics of the 1940s, the Mabarrat distributed emergency relief and administered vaccination programs.

The Wafdist Ministry of Health, which was locked in a power struggle with the palace, saw the Mabarrat as a rival. Following the Free Officers' coup of 1952, all independent charitable societies came under direct governmental supervision. In its first half-century, the Mabarrat hospitals and clinics had served hundreds of thousands of people. Barakat continued to volunteer under the new regime. In 1969, on the last day of her life, the state awarded her its First Class Order of Merit for public service. Kahil was similarly recognized in 1972.

nancy gallagher