Egyptian conscription, called qayd, fused writing with bondage

Evidence

There is nothing that represents this overpowering nature of the written word and its effect on things than the term qayd, which in Mehmed Ali’s Egypt was the term used to mean conscription. Originally the term meant nothing more than “drafting” or writing a name in the conscription registers. The Arabic origin of the word, however, implies in addition to writing or inscribing the act of binding or tying (e.g. binding an animal to a tree). Moreover, it also implies subjugation, manipulation and control (inqiyād). A qā’id, for example (which has the same root), is a leader, or a driver, i.e. a figure of power and influence. Thus, the term chosen from among many other possible terms to signify the process of conscription can hardly be described as a neutral, “objective” term. It is a term that is loaded with ideas of power and control, and connotes ideas of subjugation and bondage. Similarly and more concretely, the act of conscripting the fellahin into Mehmed Ali’s army was an act that ushered them into a regime of control and bondage, and into a system in which they found themselves being inscribed upon, sometimes even literally. It was an act that ushered them into a system of organization (tertip), manipulation and control. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 488

Categorization

• DEFINE: Etymology of qayd showing writing/inscription fused with binding and subjugation.
• DEEPTHINKING: The insight that the word for writing a name in a register is the same root as binding a beast captures how literacy itself functioned as an instrument of servitude.