Egyptian governors married freely without military authorization within Egypt proper

Evidence

The first case concerned the governor of Safad after it fell to Mehmed Ali’s control: the governor was suspected of forcing a local muleteer (katircɩ) to divorce his wife to allow him to marry her himself. On investigation it was discovered that the muleteer had two wives, that they were constantly fighting with each other and that in fact they had come to the governor to help them with their husband. The governor told the muleteer that he was too poor to keep two women and that he had to divorce one of them. After they left, the governor sent a special messenger to one of the women telling her that if her husband divorced her, he would be willing to marry her himself. When the muleteer got to know about this, he took it to be the governor’s wish and divorced his wife in court after writing a testimony (hüccet) saying that he did so voluntarily. When Munib Efendi heard about the case, however, he reprimanded the governor politely and told him that since he was a high-ranking Egyptian official (cenab-ɩ şerifiniz devlet-i Mɩsɩriyyenin ümerasindan madud olub), and although he was not, strictly speaking, a military man, he should have sought permission from the military authorities to get married. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1181

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s standing interest in small acts/decorum and to the gap between written regulation and lived practice seen across Egypt’s modernization histories. — connects to: Junior Egyptian governors exploited their positions and flouted marriage regulations; Egyptian soldiers evaded officer control over their marriages and conduct — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1182; Even senior Egyptian officials circumvented Mehmed Ali’s marriage regulations — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1181
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Junior Egyptian governors exploited their positions and flouted marriage regulations; Egyptian soldiers evaded officer control over their marriages and conduct — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1182; Even senior Egyptian officials circumvented Mehmed Ali’s marriage regulations — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1181