The reason for this mutual mistrust and apprehension goes back to the very early years of Mehmed Ali's governorship. The previous Sultan, Sultan Selim III, did not forget the fact that Mehmed Ali was only installed in the pashalɩks of Egypt against his imperial wish. During the power struggle in 1803–5 Mehmed Ali proved himself to be the most capable commander among the various warring factions in that relatively remote but significantly wealthy province of the Empire, and the Sultan had to accept grudgingly the fact that Mehmed Ali did indeed control matters in Cairo whether he liked it or not. Jealous of his power and afraid of his influence and the possibility of his secession, the Sultan attempted to transfer Mehmed Ali to the pashalɩks of Salonika in 1806 only one year after he had been invested in the eyalet of Egypt.

XREF: Connects to the earlier theme of Mehmed Ali's ambivalence toward the sultan and their adversarial relations (loc 182). Builds on: "Ottoman sultan resisted Egypt's Syrian expansion with armed threats."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 218