Looking at my basic ancestral tree I realize now, more than ever before, so many questions remain unanswered simply because I never bothered to ask when I was growing up. For instance, it was only lately that I learnt my maternal grandfather had an ancestor called al-sharifa Rukiye, a descendant of the great Sufi Abdel Qader Al-Jilani, himself a descendant of Prophet Mohammed. Both gentlemen would probably be disapointed in me for I am considered a very secular person.

According to contemporary chroniclers, Rukiye and her father al-sharif Ahmed Abdel Fattah al-Qaderi hailed from Homs in Syria. Upon arrival in Egypt she married a senior officer of the Ottoman Tufenkian (mounted muketeers) regiment. Together they had five sons and I don't know how many daughters. In 1740 daughters were hardly mentioned!

Noted historian al-Djabarti says Rukiye's husband belonged to 18th century Egypt's Ottoman ruling cast. And that in view of their limitless ambition her high-born sons were labeled 'agitators' for daring to demand more power sharing. As a result they were exiled to the Hedjaz for several few years.

Upon returning to Egypt one of the brothers, al-sharif Hassan Tufenkian al-Chamsi, became the self-appointed leader of the Qaderiya offshoot in Egypt. He is buried in a Mosque nextdoor to his home in Darb al-Chamsi, a few meters from the great Islamic shrine of Sayeda Zeinab. This beautiful Mamlouk-style Mosque is called Timraz al-Ahmadi where another one of my ancestors is buried: Mohammed al-Chamsi a.k.a Sirwan-Pasha, a title usually attributed to Viceroy Mohammed Ali's aide-de-camp.

One of Sirwan-Pasha's relatives married an Albanian soldier. He had come to Egypt with Mohammed Ali early in the 19th century. He was called Ali Agha. But since there were dozens of Ali Aghas in the army the distinction would usually be their town of origin. Our Ali Agha came from the small fishing village of Avlonya (today Vlore) on the Adriatic coast, Hence he was automatically called Ali Agha al-Avlonya-li (pronounced Alonya-li... the v is silent).

From his two wives (possible more) Ali Agha sired many children two of them being separate ancestors of mine. The closer one is my paternal grandmother Nefissa bint Ali Agha. Through her brothers and sisters I am related to a spectrum of self-styled Ottoman families (Faizi, Bayazid, Kajook, Delawer, etc) many of whom I never met.

Through my maternal grandparents I am related to another collection of prominent families (Marei, Alfy, Chirbini, Raafat, Sirry) some of whom I know and others barely.

True to his ancestral origins my maternal grandfather, Amin Chamsi Pasha, was an agitator of sorts. This caused him undue notoriety. I remember as a child how grandfather's exploits fascinated us; subconsciously he must have influenced some of his more boisterous descendants as well. Here's why.

Having joined ranks with nationalist Orabi Pasha against the then-ruling monarch of Egypt (Khedive Tewfik Pasha), Amin Chamsi was jailed and later placed under house arrest. And to make sure he was cut down to size "Rebel Chamsi" was saddled with a LE 5,000 bail, the largest such indemnity at the time. But rather than diminish his standing within his stronghold of Zagazig (Sharkia), his shenanigans made him a folk hero.

Amin Chamsi is also remembered as one of Sharkia's largest landowner-industrialists and a member of Egypt's budding legislature. In his capacity of local chief of the Ashraaf Syndicate he played on the general psyche of his lesser countrymen rallying them to his cause. Fathering eleven, by the time he died in 1913, he was grandfather to over twenty-some grandchildren.

Born 14 years after Chamsi Pasha's passing I am his youngest and only surviving grandchild.

My maternal grandmother, Amin Chamsi's third and last wife, was Fatma Khorshid Talaat whose origins are somewhere in the Ottoman Black Sea province of Laz. Interestingly, "Khorshed" in ancient Persian means sun and "Chamsi" means the same thing in Arabic. So this was the union of two suns, or perhaps I should say a rising sun and a setting one, for the age difference between husband and wife was significant. To her credit Fatma was beneficiary of Waqf Yacoub Sabry Bey, a Trust Fund comprising lucrative commercial assets in Cairo and Tanta plus considerable agricultural land in the Delta provinces of Sharkia and Gharbieh. Understandably she was a good catch for an aging suitor in need of a financial and political comeback!

Following closely in his father's footsteps my maternal uncle, Ali Chamsi Pasha, was a major player in the Wafd Party calling for Egypt's independence in 1919 and the founding of a constitutional monarchy. He would later occupy different cabinet posts and become a dissident from within!

Several members of my own generation within the extended family, starting with my own brothers, played instrumental roles in shaping 20th century Egypt. In certain quarters they too were regarded by their detractors as political troublemakers.

In true Chamsi tradition it remains to be seen who among my progeny will leave his/her mark on society in the 21st century.