The Hanafi school and the unification of Egyptian courts and legislation of something new suitable for the spirit of the age astonished people with his presence, as the country is a country of knowledge and its religious scholars are not few. So, Samīʿ Allāh stayed in Cairo for days, during which he visited all government offices, state officials, the Chief Justice of Egypt, and the heads of the national courts. Nothing of his mission became apparent to the people. I was at that time the head of the Public Prosecution at the National Court of Mansoura. An order came to us from Minister Nubar Pasha to meet the man. We welcomed him warmly. He sat and spoke Arabic with extreme slowness and affectation, with signs of admiration and arrogance evident on his face. He said, "Do you look into the preliminaries?" meaning, "Do you look into personal status cases?" He was speaking while flipping through the pages of a copy of the National Law. I said, "The preliminaries that the esteemed gentleman means are handled by other courts and other judges." He said, "And how many preliminaries do you have today?" I said, "We have none of them, and as I told you, they are the exclusive domain of the Sharia courts." He was silent for a moment, then said, "Do you judge by the Sharia of our master Muhammad, peace be upon him?" I said, "Something else has occupied us from judging by it, this thing in your hand," and I pointed to the copy of the law. He muttered in Hindi and said, "You sit and..." So I took his hand and showed him the courtroom and the rest of the courtrooms. He looked at them, bewildered and motionless. Then he left us for Cairo. It was said that he met with the Sheikh of Al-Azhar and some senior scholars and discussed with them something of the Sharia of his country and the state of the judiciary in the cities and villages of British India. They said he greatly praised the English nation and its statesmen. Then he left Cairo for the English capital and disappeared from us, just as the results of his mission disappeared from the people. Before this Samīʿ Allāh, another Englishman named Clifford Delwood had arrived. His mission was to change the government's systems and replace its long-standing customs with others suitable for the spirit of the new age, in accordance with the customs of the country and English law, and to implement what Lord Dufferin had established in regulations and legislated in laws. This man was one of the worst men, hasty, reckless, repulsive, arrogant, contemptuous of great matters, insolent, stubborn, and argumentative. He caused chaos and meddled, changing the country's laws, overturning its customs, introducing innovations, and enacting bad precedents. He corresponded with the sheikhs of the country and villages, enticing them to deviate from their familiar boundaries. He looked with anger and hatred at all officials and holders of high positions. He extended his hand to every matter and blamed and reprimanded directors and officials for the slightest reason. He took up residence in the Ministry of the Interior and began to call himself by a new name every day. Sometimes he would say "Reforms Officer," other times "Reforms Advisor," then "Director of Order," and other times "Founder of New Improvements," and other similar names and titles. He was like the cat that an Arab found, and people gave it many names. He valued it highly, but when he found it to be otherwise, he threw it on the ground and said, "May God not bless you! How many are your names and how little is your worth!" Clifford Delwood continued as we described, interfering in all government affairs, extending his hand to everything, until the people groaned and cried out, and the officials and rulers raised a cry of annoyance.