Mehmed Ali remained illiterate until about age fifty and dictated all his letters.

Evidence

It is fairly certain that Mehmed Ali did not learn to read and write until he was aged about fifty; accordingly his letters were dictated to scribes and written down on the spot (a fact that explains the very spontaneous and immediate nature of many of them), and the books with which he was familiar and to which he often referred had been read to him. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 493

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Connects to the literacy question for rulers in early-modern empires; interesting parallel to how other autocrats governed through oral culture and scribes.

Related

• Mehmed Ali was illiterate until around age fifty and learned via reading aloud (similarity 0.92)
• Historians relying on Mehmed Ali’s own letters produce a sanitized account of his reign. (similarity 0.82)
• Mehmed Ali initially accepted illiterate officers due to time pressure (similarity 0.81)
• Mehmed Ali required all official correspondence to be written in Turkish. (similarity 0.80)
• Historians’ reliance on Mehmed Ali’s own dictations produced a flattering orderly picture (similarity 0.80)
• Mehmed Ali repeatedly criticized his son Ismail’s indecisive leadership. (similarity 0.79)
• Mehmed Ali actively dictated his own biography to a secretary (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Mehmed Ali actively dictated his own biography to a secretary #corroborates (0.70)