Colonel Ahmad Orabi (April 1, 1841 - September 21, 1911), was an Egyptian army officer and later an army general who revolted against the khedive and European domination of Egypt in 1879 in what has come to be known as the Orabi Revolt. He was the first Egyptian national political and military leader to rise from the Fellahin.

He was born in 1841 in the village of Hreyya Razna near Zagazig in the Sharqiyah Governorate, approximately 80 kilometers to the north of Cairo. Orabi was the son of a village leader and one of the wealthier members of the community, which allowed him to get a decent education. After completing elementary education in his home village, he enrolled at al-Azhar, to complete his schooling in 1849. He entered the army and moved up quickly through the ranks, reaching Lieutenant Colonel by age 20. The modern education and military service of Orabi, an Egyptian Fellah, would not be possible without the modernizing reforms of Ismail Pasha, which abolished the exclusive access to the Khedivate's military ranks held by a minority caste of Turkish, Balkan and Circassian extractions, and conscripted soldiers and recruited students throughout Egypt regardless of class and ethnic backgrounds in order to form a "modern" and "national" Egyptian military and bureaucratic elite class.

He was a galvanizing speaker. Because of his native peasant origins he was at the time, and is still often today, viewed as an authentic voice of the Egyptian people. Indeed, he was known by his followers as 'al-Wahid' (the Only One). When Khedive Tewfik issued a new law preventing peasants from becoming officers, Orabi led the group protesting the preference shown to Turkish officers. He and his followers, who included most of the army, were successful and the law was repealed.

He and his allies in the army joined with the reformers, and with the support of the peasants launched a broader effort to try to wrest Egypt from foreign control, and also to end the absolutist regime of the Khedive, who was himself subject to Anglo-French control under the rules of the Caisse de la Dette Publique (Public Debt case). The revolt spread to express resentment of the undue influence of foreigners, including the Turko-Circassian aristocracy.

He was first promoted then made under-secretary of war, and ultimately a member of the cabinet. Plans were begun to create a parliamentary assembly. During the last months of the revolt (July to September 1882), it was claimed that Orabi held the office of prime minister.

Feeling threatened, Khedive Tewfik called on the sultan to quell the revolt, but the Sublime Porte hesitated.

The British were especially concerned that Orabi would default on Egypt's massive debt and that he might try to gain control of the Suez Canal. They and the French therefore dispatched warships to Egypt to intimidate the nationalists, though the French later withdrew their contingent of the operation. This naval presence spurred fears of an imminent invasion (as had been the case in Tunisia in 1881) and caused anti-European riots to break out in Alexandria on June 12, 1882. One month later, the warships opened fire on the city's gun emplacements after the Egyptians ignored the ultimatum issued by Admiral Seymour which demanded an immediate end to the installation of those emplacements. In September of that year a British army landed in Alexandria but failed to reach Cairo after being defeated at the battle of Kafr-al-Dawwar. Another army, led by Sir Garnet Wolseley, landed in the Canal Zone and on September 13, 1882 they defeated Orabi's army at the Battle of Tel al-Kebir. From there, the cavalry advanced on Cairo which surrendered without a shot, as did Orabi Pasha and the other nationalist leaders.

After Orabi was captured, the khedive and his cabinet sentenced him to death. But under pressure from Lord Dufferin, the British ambassador at Constantinople, who had been sent to Egypt as high commissioner, the sentence was commuted and Orabi was exiled to the British colony of Ceylon. He left Egypt on December 28, 1882. Orabi returned on October 1, 1901, and stayed until his death on September 21, 1911.