The problem with this argument insofar as it pertains to the army, besides the obvious one of lumping together the entire rural population of Egypt under the general rubric of "fellahin," is that the population of Egypt, far from enthusiastically flocking to serve in the army, was in fact very resentful of military service and strongly resisted serving in the army. Recognizing that the scale of this resistance was alarming, that it was not localized but was widespread throughout Egypt, and that the rural population went out of their way to make this resistance obvious, it is still commonplace to argue that this was only a temporary reaction caused above all by "the fellah's strong attachment to his land and the unfamiliarity of military life to him."

DEFINE: Clarifies who 'fellahin' actually are and corrects the mistaken assumption that rural Egyptians eagerly flocked to military service. QUESTION: Why did the author claim this was 'still commonplace' to wave away? What evidence contradicts the 'strong attachment to land' explanation? Builds on: "Muhammad Ali's army forged the modern Egyptian nation through novel control practices."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 41