Muhammad Ali is a renowned reformer and a man who was ahead of his time in his thinking on political, economic and social matters. Indeed he was ahead of his time even in his relationship with his children, especially his daughters, and with women in general.
Unlike many men of his era Muhammad Ali had only one wife, Amina, whom he had married while in Kavala. He treated her with fondness and respect and never married another woman although he did acquire several concubines who all together gave him a total of 30 children, many of whom died young. Amina's portrait reveals a good looking woman with beetling brows, as was the fashion of the age, and a somewhat forbidding expression. For all we know she may have been a battle axe or a gentle woman, for we know little about her. Yet it is telling that the Wali never married another woman. He seemed to have treated all his women with kindness.
The archives contain many letters from the father to his children and it is from them that we can deduce something about their relationships. While the Wali had no illusions about human nature he was determined to mould his sons' characters in what he considered the proper fashion, hence the constant flow of advice, peppered with threats and warnings urging them to behave correctly. Unlike parents of the day he never punished any of his sons for disobeying him. Although he did threaten them with various punishments, they were seldom, if ever, carried out. The type of weapon he used against disobedience was refusing to grant a request for a horse, a boat, clothing etc, or threatening to send the son in question to live in a modest hut. He expected to be obeyed and indeed he was, most often, but he also accepted wayward behaviour with equanimity. His affection for his children did not blind him to their defects, which he clearly saw and tried to correct, often without success. Though the Wali was known to address his administrators with insulting terms when they displeased him -- Egyptians were khanzir ibn khanzir (pig, son of pig), and Ottomans eshek (donkey) -- he never used such insulting terms with his children.
Consequently we note the tone of affection as well as respect in his letters to his children. The boys were treated as adults from the age of 12, given positions of responsibility in the administration, and were accompanied by two older men who were mentors or advisers, to teach them the ropes, so to speak. In a letter to the Sultan, Muhammad Ali wrote: "God has given me three sons who are as dear to me as my life or my sight...separation from my two sons tears my heart." The two sons mentioned were his oldest, Ibrahim and Tussun, who had gone off to war. These words may have been pour la forme expressions, but the rest of his correspondence with his children is full of terms of affection that lead us to believe he genuinely loved his children. He addressed them frequently as canim (my soul), or as faldhat kabidi (sliver of my liver), or as flesh of my blood. In a letter to Ibrahim he wrote: "My son, I love you, you and your brother...are the soul in my body and the light in my eyes...Though our bodies are separated and far apart yet our hearts are united and that spiritual communion gives us joy." In a letter to Said he addressed him as "apple of my eye,