Imam, the Pasha and the Englishman

The dramatic encounter between Muhammad 'Ali Pasha, Ottoman governor of Egypt, and his vanquished Saudi foe, Imam 'Abd Allah, in Cairo in November 1818 marks the symbolic end of the First Saudi State. 'Abd Allah was in transit to public execution in Istanbul, the pasha on his way to becoming a major regional force and founding a local dynasty. The meeting was witnessed by an English Whig, John Bow...