BEHOLD EGYPT!!
Since Amon-Ra’a & maybe before, Egyptians were always believers; they kept being believers in all ages, they found their way to spirit through so many methods & religions: Hermetic, Jewish, Gnostic, Christianity & Islam .
The most amazing about this Egyptian belief is the sense of cumulative, as they have never totally rejected their previous belief, especially concerning its habits & rites, they used & still respect each other’s thoughts, not to mention their respect & acceptance for other’s thoughts from all around the world; If they like some of them, they just do what we call Egyptianization, it is as simple as that: “let’s take it & make it in our way!!”.
Herodotus, Plato, Ammonius Saccas, Philo, Pythagoras, Euclid, Francis of Assisi, Cavafy, Roger Garaudy, and so many others: born or visited or even lived in Egypt were as welcome as their own origins, some of them were even considered Egyptians.
Egyptian soul is an intermediate one, some said it’s because of the location of Egypt herself in the heart of the world, some said it’s because of the moderate weather , I would say it’s because their love for life since the dawn of their history; Even the famous“ Book of the Dead” was so called by mistake, its right translation is “Coming Forth by day”, as they thought that death is just a gateway to another life, another light; & so far ,they never gave up on their sense of humor, even in the worst times, It’s a way of life that eases life.
Contemporary Egyptian Muslims are enjoying listening to the Holy Koran by the inspiring voice of Sheikh Abdul Basset as well as to the love lyrics & music of lady Om-Kolthoum; the first is important for their soul when the second is good for their feelings; most of them couldn’t read the stories of the Nobel prize author Naguib Mahfouz because of literacy, but they loved these stories in the movies, kept their scenes in their conscience, with no missing any of their prayers!!.
Worth mentioning that from the heart of this literacy & simplicity has raised geniuses like Ahmed Zowail, Farouk El Baz, Magdy Yacoub, & so many others who just didn’t get their shares in the propaganda.
One will not exaggerate when says that Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed in 1995 by the same hand that killed The Alexandrian philosopher Hypathia in 415 DC; it is the same mentality, the same grudge, which is not in the Egyptian's blood.
Cosmopolitanism that flourished in Alexandria in the Ptolemaic era as well as on the whole Egyptian land in the 19th till the middle of the 20th century was not to flourish without the tolerance spirit of the Egyptians; they love to accept others & enjoying reacting with them; in fact the Egyptian revolution in 2011 wouldn’t succeed without the union of Christians & Muslims, exactly as in our whole history, we just was & are one.
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. (Matthew 10:16)
I believe we can say that today to the Egyptian revolutionist youths, as I see the Democracy in Egypt is just like a lamb among a bunch of wolves, these wolves are not understanding the real psychology of Egyptians, some of them think that they could rule Egypt just with religion, forbid this & expiate that, appeal to this & reject or even exile that.
& to these wolves I am talking now: if you are organized, well financed by rich Externals, who just want to stop the Egyptian progress, if you are misleading our simple & naïve people, if you think that you can force me to put a veil, or to prohibit girls to put on pants, or maybe close our opera, theaters, faculties of Arts, or impose new rules to the tourists… etc.. etc; you are really dreaming, you can win a battle through these elections, but I am assuring you, just like any reasonable person that you will lose the war, just because of the same simple & naïve people who voted for you by mistake, thus they will exile you to your own small world once they know your real mentality, once they will not find their dreams & tolerance in your plans.
Some of you were fattened by the former regimes as well as by external regimes for at least 60 years, some were tortured or prohibited, but that doesn’t give you the right to rule Egypt, youths who were killed & lost their eyes while demanding for “bread, freedom & social justice” as we all heard them, only deserve this honor!!!
The intermediate Islam that people loved, lived & believed in Egypt, will always stay an Egyptian feature, Christian citizens in Egypt are Egyptians since ever, they are not a bunch of sheep that need your protection or your leadership.!!!!
In Egypt we say, “Welcome” with a kind smile to anyone on our land, no harm, no grudge, just peace!! .
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Zeinab Nour
nourzeinab@yahoo.com
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the image: unknown (Russian book illustration)
Amon Ra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amun
Sheikh Abdel Basset : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Basit_%27Abd_us-Samad
Om-Kolthoum : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_Kalthoum
Naguib Mahfouz : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naguib_Mahfouz
Ahmed Zowail : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Zewail
Farouk el Baz : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_El-Baz
Magdy Yacoub: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdi_Yacoub
Hypathia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypathia
or other names: just google it.
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