In the 1894 annual report to the British government on the administration of Egypt, Lord Cromer, the consul-general, related that many Egyptians had expressed to him repeatedly their great concern that levels of alcohol consumption were on the rise. During the remainder of his tenure in Egypt, Lord Cromer lamented in his annual reports that the increase in alcohol sales and consumption caused considerable discord, particularly in rural areas. Newspapers regularly printed criticism of the spread of alcohol throughout Egypt under British rule, and those Egyptians who wished to take a more active role in bringing about the ban of intoxicants began to organize. The Egyptian Temperance Association was founded in 1905 by Ahmad Ghalwash, and under the royal patronage of Prince Omar Toussoun, the ranks of the Association swelled with members from across the country as branches were founded in the major cities and larger towns. Like their counterparts across the globe, Egyptian social reformers and prohibitionists hailed the ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution of the United States in January 1919 as a great victory in the international war on alcohol. In this paper, I will address the following questions: Who were the Egyptian prohibitionists? What was behind the rise in alcohol consumption according to the prohibitionists? What lessons, if any, did Egyptian prohibitionists draw from the American experience in their drive to see the production and consumption of alcohol banned in Egypt? Of particular interest is the way in which the prohibitionists marshaled arguments blending religious and scientific language to show the pernicious social and spiritual effects of alcohol. Egyptian supporters of the temperance movement translated articles and speeches of noted American and British prohibitionists into Arabic in hopes of spreading their message and garnering further support for the legal ban on intoxicating beverages. My work draws upon the popular Arabic language press, reports from the Egyptian Temperance Association, as well as government publications including annual reports from the departments of Health, the Interior, and Consul-General. This paper hopes to contribute to the analysis of Egyptian reactions to and participation in international debates about public morality and health.