The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858

Allan Kardec

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Mehemet-Ali, former Pasha of Egypt March 16th, 1858

1. What has provoked you to attend our appeal?
- I came to instruct you.

2. Are you upset for having come to us and for having to answer our questions?

- No. I actually wish to answer those questions intended to instruct you.

3. Which proofs can we have of your identity? How can we know that it is not another spirit who took your name?
- What would be the advantage?

4. We know from experience that inferior spirits, many times, use hypothetical names. That is why we have addressed you with that question.

- They also take the elements of proof. But the spirit who wears a mask also reveals himself by his own words.

5. Under which form and in which place are you among us?
- Under that of Mehemet-Ali. Near Ermance.

6. Would you like us to give you a special place? - Yes. The empty chair.

Note: there was an empty chair that nobody had noticed.

7. Do you have a clear memory of your last corporeal existence?
- It is not clear since death has left some anxiety and lack of clarity.

8. Are you happy?
– No. I am unfortunate.

9. Are you errant or reincarnated? - Errant.

10. Do you remember what you were before the last existence on Earth?
- I was poor on Earth. I was the envy of Earthly greatnesses and was moved up to suffer.

11. If you can be reborn on Earth, which position will you preferably choose?
- The obscure: the duties are lesser.

12. What do you think now about the position you have lately occupied on Earth?
- Pure vanity! I wanted to command men. Did I know how to command myself?

13. It was said that your reason was altered for some time already. Was it true?
- No.

14. Public opinion appreciates what you have done for the Egyptian civilization and places you among the great princes. Does it make you happy?

- Why would I care? Men’s opinion is like the wind in the desert blowing the dust.

15. Are you satisfied that your decendents are following the same path you did? Do their efforts interest you?
- Yes, as their objective is a benefit of all.

16. However, you are accused of acts of great cruelty. Do you regret them now?
- I atone for them.

17. Do you see those who you ordered to be massacred?
- Yes.

18. Which feelings do they experience towards you?
- Hatred and pity.

19. Since you left this life have you ever seen Sultan Mahmud again?
- Yes. We run away from each other in vain.

20. Which mutual feeling do you experience? - Aversion.

21. What is your opinion about the penalties and rewards that await us after death?
- The atonement is fair.

22. What was the greatest hurdle you had to overcome to continue to progress towards your spiritual development?

- I reigned over slaves.

23. Do you think that if the people you governed were Christian it would have facilitated their advancement?
- Yes. The Christian religion elevates the soul. Mohamed’s religion only speaks to matter.

24. When alive, was your faith in the Muslim religion absolute?

- No. I considered God greater.

25. What do you think now about that religion?
- It does not form men.

26. In your opinion, had Mohamed a Divine mission? - Yes but he misinterpreted that

27. How did he misinterpret that?
- He wanted to reign.

28. What do you think about Jesus? - That he came from God.

29. In your opinion who did more for human happiness: Jesus or Mohamed?

- Why do you ask this? Which people were regenerated by Mohamed? Christian religion was pure since leaving God’s hands. Mohamed’s religion is the work of a man.

30. Do you believe that one of these two religions is destined to disappear from Earth?
- Man always progresses. The best will remain.

31. What do you think about the polygamy in the Muslim religion?
- It is one of the links to barbarism for those who profess it.

32. Do you believe that women slavery is in accordance with God’s wishes?
- No. Woman and man are the same since the spirit has no sex.

33. Some say that the Arabs can be conducted only by the rigor. Don’t you think that treating them badly instead of submitting them can only make them brutal?

- Yes. That is man’s destiny. He is degraded when enslaved.

34. Can you go back in time and tell us, when Egypt was flourishing, what were the causes of the moral decadence?
- The corruption of the customs.

35. It seems that you do not give much importance to the monuments which cover the soil of Egypt. We cannot understand such indifference from a prince who was a friend of progress.

- Who cares about the past? The present would not replace it.

36. Can you explain yourself more clearly?

- Yes. It was unnecessary to remind the oppressed Egyptian of a brilliant past, as he would not understand it. I showed disdain for something that seemed useless to me. Couldn’t I be wrong?

37. Did the priests of the old Egypt know the Spiritist Doctrine?

- It was theirs.

38. Did they receive manifestations?

- Yes.

39. Did the manifestations received by the Egyptian priests have the same source as those received by Moses?
- Yes. He was initiated by them.

40. Why then did the manifestations received by Moses were more powerful than those received by the priests?

- Moses wanted to reveal them whereas the priests wanted to hide them.

41. Do you think that the doctrine of the Egyptian priests had some connection with that of the Indians?

- Yes. All mother-religions are interconnected by almost invisible ties. They proceed from the same source.

42. From those two religions, the Egyptian and the Indian, which one is the original?
- They are sisters.

43. How can you who in life were so few are educated on these subjects, respond with such a depth now?

- Other existences taught me.

44. In the erratic state in which you are now, do you have complete knowledge of your previous existences?
- Yes, except the last one.

45. Have you then lived in the times of the pharos?
- Yes. I lived in the Egyptian land three times: as a priest, as a beggar, and as a prince.

46. Under which dynasty were you a priest?
- It was long ago! The prince was your Sesostris.

47. Therefore it seems that you have not progressed since you still expiate the errors of your last existence.

- Yes but I progressed slowly. Would I be perfect just because I was a priest?

48. Is it because you were a priest over that time that you could speak to us with such inside knowledge about the old religion of the Egyptians?

- Yes but I am not sufficiently perfect to know everything. Others can read the past like from an open book.

49. Can you explain to us the motive for the construction of the pyramids?
- It is too late.


Note: It was almost eleven o’clock in the evening.

50. We shall not ask you anything else but this. We kindly ask you to answer.

- No. It is too late. This question would bring others.

51. Can you do us a favor and respond on a different occasion?

- I cannot commit to that.

52. Nevertheless we thank the benevolence with which you responded to the other questions.
- It is fine. I will come back.

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