off the air. In the same year Egyptian satellite channel CBC Two aired a one-hour documentary about the family. A lentil dish attributed to the family is known in the country as ads abazy" (). Notable members Notable family members include Wagih Abaza, who served as governor in several Egyptian governorates including Sharqia, Cairo, Beheira and Gharbia. Wagih Abaza was an active member of the Free Officers Movement that toppled the Egyptian monarchy and forced King Farouk to abdicate in 1952. Mohammad Abdel Rahman Hussein Abaza Councilor and author of a series of publications on the struggle of the Egyptians against the British occupation and was personally involved in the liberation campaign and struggle against the British. The family is known for their contributions to modern Arabic literature through the works of Aziz Pasha Abaza and Tharwat Abaza, as well as the journalism and political activism of Fekry Pasha Abaza. Tharwat was a journalist and novelist who opposed the nationalization of the Suez Canal. His best-known novel, A Man Escaping from Time, was televised in the late 1960s. Rushdy Abaza, an actor with no less than 150 movies to his name, was not chosen to star in Lawrence of Arabia but acted "like a star" during the audition. Tharwat Abaza's daughter, Amina Tharwat Abaza, is an active member of Egypt's animal rights community, having founded the country's first and largest animal rights organization, the Society for Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt. Other notable members of the family include the longest-serving minister in Egyptian history, Maher Abaza. He was the Minister of Electricity and Energy and is credited with connecting the vast majority of the country's rural areas to the electric grid. Their main stronghold was the governorate of Sharqia. Several villages in the Nile Delta are named after members of the family, mainly concentrated around the town of Kafr Abaza. For decades, the family had a political monopoly over several districts. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, three members of the Abaza family won seats in the House of Representatives and this was criticized by some in the media referring to their win as "dynastic heredity". See also Abaza (disambiguation) Sharqia Governorate References External links Abaza Group Aziz Pasha Abaza archive at Bibliotheca Alexandrina Abaza Family Facebook Page Mahmoud Abaza Remarks Archive Egypt:Egypt's Four Largest Parliamentary Dynasties President Sisi Delegate to the Abaza Clan Families That Form Egyptian Political Life