"I didn't know that, sir, but I'm not surprised to hear it."
"Well, El Azhar has to be closed before he arrives."
"Closed?"
"That is what I said—closed, shut up, and its students and professors turned into the streets."
"But there are sixteen thousand of them—from all parts of the Mohammedan world, sir."
"That's why! The press as a medium of disaffection was bad enough, but El Azhar is worse. It is a hotbed of rebellion, and a word spoken there goes, as by wireless telegraphy, all over Egypt. It is a secret society, and as such it must be stopped."
"But have you reflected——"
"Do I do anything without reflection?"
"Closed, you say? The University? The mosque of mosques? It is impossible! You are trifling with me."
"Have you taken leave of your senses, sir?"