Politics & Religion

Some of my friends asked me if I support a religious government or a civilian one, and I didn't understand the question. Egypt has always been a religious country, a nation that worshiped more than 2000 gods, many years ago while the rest of the world was living in caves. A country where the king invited people to believe in the one god while the rest of the world was living in the dark. A country where Joseph was brought up, where Moses was found and received the word of God, where Jesus lived as a baby, and where Abraham got married. A country which is mentioned in the Quran several times, and a country in which the prophet Mohamed ordered the Muslims to treat the Egyptian Copts with respect and dignity.

Why would this country neglect religion, and become like China, where they have no relationship with God? If I am getting the question right, I would say that my friends are asking me if I am for not allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to get into power. If that is the case, I fully agree with not letting anyone who uses the name of religion to play politics, and of course that includes the leaders of the church, who clearly got involved in the political life in a way or another, even before the revolution.

What we need now, and in the future, is to establish a well-organized political system, based on the idea that the people are the main source of legislation, with full freedom to choose and to refuse their own representatives. The future governors should not be leaders, but servants of the public, and should be questioned and judged at any time by the people.

Religion will always be in our hearts and minds, but politics is a very different game.

New Egypt

New Egypt

 

I thought a lot about the title, if I should call it New Egypt or modern Egypt. Finally, I decided to choose New Egypt, especially when writing about Egypt after the Lotus Revolution, which officially began on the 25th of January, 2011.

Although nearly everyone believes that the revolution in Egypt was carried out by the youth, and I totally agree that they were the spearhead, I always believed that the true spearhead of the revolution was all the people of Egypt. The people who wrote about freedom and human rights, those who stood alone against that regime for many years, those who wrote poems, those who made movies talking about the corruption in the country, those who gave hope to the youth, those who
encouraged them throughout the years, those who brought them up as mothers and fathers, families and friends, and of course, those who decided to support them on the streets every day and every minute during the revolution.

In this section, I will present an overview of the Lotus Revolution and explain how it unfolded and how it affected the country.

 

The meaning of the Revolution

The original meaning of the term "revolution" is to change the government and the governor, as well as the whole political system. But there are other meanings of word as well. The best meaning of the Egyptian revolution is not to change the president and his corrupt regime and shuffle all the ugly faces around, but it strives to change the way of life and thinking of the average Egyptian.

At the beginning of the revolution, we all watched what Egyptian people from all walks of life had done, which was quite unique by all means. A beautiful picture of the Egyptian people, a complete artist's portrait of the great civilization of mankind. The ordinary meaning of revolution is very different from what the Egyptians have asked for. The revolution in Egypt was not against a president, a presidential regime, a corrupt party, but it was a revolution against ignorance and corruption. In spite of the poverty in Egypt, the revolution was not to fight poverty but to call for human rights and justice, to call for lost dignity.

The revolution was a cry for clean streets and great schools, where a new generation will be educated to build the future civilization of Egypt. It was a cry for clean hospitals where people can be well treated. It was a cry for policemen who work to serve both the country and the people who pay taxes, not to act as their master; for a police force that is respected because they represent the country and the law, and do not abuse their power.

The revolution allowed the people to have their voices heard in their country, and has the potential to grow political value abroad, so the Egyptians can feel respected in all countries, never to be disrespected nor underestimated anywhere either as a worker or as a tourist. This was the Egyptian revolution, and once again, time after time, the great Egypt gives another lesson to history.

Hisham El Meniawy

The New Heb Sed Festival

In ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, there was a tradition known as the heb sed which came after 30 years of the pharaoh's rule. The tradition started in other parts of Africa, when people would kill the chief of the tribe after 30 years of his rule, based on the idea that he had given everything he could to his people, and he couldn't give more. As the tribe needed new blood, his successor would attend the ceremony, and watch over the old chief's killing, so his young body could receive the wise soul of his ancestor.

If that was what happened in other parts of Africa, what happened in Egypt was different. The Egyptians have always been very civilized, so they never killed the king. What they used to do was run the beautiful festival, the heb sed, when the pharaoh would prove he was still young and strong enough to rule for another 30 years, something like a re-election.

Is it not funny that the same thing happens in Egypt in the modern time? The people of Egypt decided to change the president after 30 years to change to new blood. 

Mubarak, the ex-president, came into power in 1981 and stepped down in 2011! After 30 years, history repeats itself. After all those years, and from under the tons of dust, Egypt reveals itself, and is ready to teach the whole world the true meaning of democracy.


By Hisham El.Meniawy

The Lotus Revolution 3 .... Jan 31st, 2011

The Lotus Revolution part 1 Jan 30th 2011

The Egypt Story ............Egyptian Women who rocked the World

Most people misjudge Egypt and the other countries in the East, especially in the Middle East,

Whether it comes to ancient Egypt or even modern Egypt. Regarding ancient Egypt, people only think of the pharaohs and gods, without giving any attention to either women, or the locals in general. And when it comes to modern Egypt, they always mention Islam as the main oppression of women, which is totally wrong.

Let's talk about some examples of women throughout the history of Egypt. Around 4500 years ago, at the time when the king of Egypt was considered the god king and the main link to the gods, women, especially the members of the royal families, had a great position. By the end of the third dynasty, Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh called Huni, who was building his pyramid in Meidum to the south of Giza near Cairo. Prince Snefru was married to his daughter, the mother of the famous pharaoh Cheops, Queen Hetepheres. She was buried not far from the pyramid of her son at the Giza plateau. Her tomb and the treasures discovered there reflect the power and the wealth of that queen around 2600 B.C.

After the fall of the middle kingdom, Egypt became very weak, and the north of the country was invaded by the Hyksos around 1750 B.C. The Hyksos ruled Lower Egypt for more than two centuries, during which Upper Egypt was almost independent, and was ruled by a series of real true

Egyptian princes. These princes claimed to be the kings of Upper and Lower Egypt. During that time of instability in Egypt, there lived a woman who happened to be the wife of the prince and later pharaoh Sekenenre. She was Queen Titisherry, a wonderful woman, a great queen and a loving wife. She stood by her husband in his struggle against the foreign people who occupied the northern part of his kingdom. Queen Titisherry conceived two sons who ruled one after the other. Kamose, who died during the struggle, and Ahmose, who managed to sweep the invaders away and to unite the country? Pharaoh Ahmose was the founder of the eighteenth dynasty and the new kingdom, as well as the Egyptian empire.

Around 1400 B.C., nearly 3400 years ago, when the rest of the human race was still living in caves acting like monkeys, Egypt was ruled by a very strong, powerful woman, whose name will remain forever Queen Hatshepsut. She ruled for around 22 years in the middle of the time when men ruled the whole earth, and she managed to gain the respect of her enemies before her friends the queen maintained very strong relations with the other neighbors, especially in Africa, and she built a number of magnificent monuments. The best of all was her mortuary temple of el Dir el Bahari on the west bank of Luxor. She erected two massive obelisks at Karnak Temple, and added two of the main pylons there.

Not a long time after lived an amazing woman, queen Ti, who was married to the very famous pharaoh Amenhotep III. Although Queen Ti did not have royal blood, it seems she was the actual ruler next to her husband. The queen was a great support to her son Akhenaten later on, with his great wife Nefertiti. Perhaps the best example, someone like Ramses the Great would not be that great without his royal wife, and his great love, Queen Nefertari.

In different parts of Egypt, we discovered remains of the villages of the builders and workers, such as in Giza and in Luxor, and the documents from those villages tell us a lot about the situation of women thousands of years ago. At the time when women in Europe were hardly 

Living, the women, wives and mothers, daughters and sisters of the artisans were enjoying full rights of inheritance and free will.

Even at the time of the Greeks, who learned a lot from the Egyptians, women had rights.

Queen Cleopatra, though she had Greek origins, was an Egyptian queen. She was born in the tenth generation of the Greeks in Egypt, was brought up and educated in Egypt, spoke Egyptian and worshipped Egyptian gods. She lived, died and was buried in Egypt more than 2000 years ago.

When the Arabs arrived in Egypt during the first half of the 7th century AD, the leader of the Arabs (Amro Ibn El Aas) wrote to the Khalifa Omar to tell him that it was quite noticeable that women in Egypt at that time were enjoying full rights. Islam was teaching the Egyptians how to behave and respect women, which prepared them to accept a woman later on as a ruler, Queen Shagar Ell Dor around the 12th century AD.

In modern times, Egypt has many examples of women who played a great role. Mrs. Hoda Shaarawy, during the first half of the 20th century, led a great movement for women’s liberation and the right for education. Mrs. Safia Zaghlol was the wife of the great Egyptian leader who fought against the British occupation. Mrs. Gihan Al Sadat set an early new law for women’s justice during the 1970’s. Professor Samira Mousa worked in the Egyptian nuclear project in the 

1960’s, and later worked in Iraq until she was assassinated by the Mosad (the Israeli intelligence). Today you will find women in Egypt who are great doctors, engineers, teachers, bankers, etc. They play a magnificent role in the life of Egypt.