I]ndeed [the Muslim] religion plays a greater part in their lives than it does in those either of the [Muslim] Syrians or the Iraqi [Muslims]. But the Egyptian, during the first thirty years of the [twentieth] century, was not aware of any particular bond with the Arab East... Egypt sees in the Arab cause a worthy object of real and active sympathy and, at the same time, a great and proper opportunity for the exercise of leadership, as well as for the enjoyment of its fruits.