Posted on 01/27/2015 4:42:25 AM PST by SJackson
Sisi Revisits Egypts Identity Crisis
Posted By Raymond Ibrahim On January 27, 2015 @ 12:54 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 5 Comments
Of all the recent calls for reform made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, perhaps most adamant has been his insistence that all EgyptiansMuslims and Christianssee themselves first and foremost as Egyptians.
This came out very clearly when he visited the St. Mark Coptic Cathedral during Christmas Eve mass. Then, he passionately (see video) declared:
Listen, it is very important that the world should see us… that the world should see us, Egyptians… and you’ll note that I never use a word other than Egyptians . Its not right to call each other by any other name . We are Egyptians. Let no one ask what kind of Egyptian are you? [Copt or Muslim]… As I said, Egypt has brought a humanistic and civilizing message to the world for millennia and we’re here today to confirm that we are capable of doing so again This is why we mustn’t call ourselves anything other than Egyptians. This is what we must be — Egyptians, just Egyptians, Egyptians indeed!
Ironically, back on February 14, 2011, when the first Egyptian revolution broke out (then called Arab Spring), I wrote an article making the exact same point, arguing that Egypts future begins when Egyptians see themselves as Egyptians.
Titled Egypts Identity Crisis, the article explored how the Egyptian identity was lost in stages. (It also predicted the seduction/threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhoodwell over a year before the group came to power under Morsis presidency. For more on this latter theme, on February 2, 2011, when Hosni Mubarak was still in power, I predicted in this article that the Muslim Brotherhood will take over Egypt by default. And if that happens, the Middle East will rock like never before in the modern erawhich proved true after the largest revolution in human history ousted the Brotherhood in June 2013.)
Due to its exploration of the importance for Egyptians to see themselves as Egyptianswhich Sisi is now adamantly calling forEgypts Identity Crisis is reproduced below.
*****
With Egypts July Revolution of 1952, for the first time in millennia, Egyptians were able to boast that a native-born Egyptian, Gamal Abdel Nasser, would govern their nation: Ever since the overthrow of its last native pharaoh nearly 2,500 years ago, Egypt had been ruled by a host of foreign invadersPersians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, and Brits, to name a few. After 1952, however, Egypt, it was believed, would finally be Egyptian.
Yet, though Nasser was Egyptian, the spirit of the times that brought him to power was ArabArab nationalism, or pan-Arabismthe theory that all Arabic-speaking peoples, from Morocco to Iraq, should unify. (Along with Nasser, the tide of pan-Arabism also brought to power Libyas Muammar Qaddafi, Syrias Hafez Assad, and Iraqs Saddam Hussein.)
The revolution significantly Arabized Egypt. That Egypts official name became the Arab Republic of Egyptas opposed to simply the Republic of Egyptspeaks for itself. Whereas before 1952, one could have spoken of a distinctly Egyptian character and identity, after it, this identity gave way to an Arab identity. From there, it was a short push to an Islamic identity. Or, as Egyptologist Wassim al-Sissy recently put it, the revolution erased the Egyptian character, which had been known for its tolerance, love, freedom, and so on. The revolution created a nation of slaves.
My Egyptian-born parents, who personally lived through the 1952 revolution before immigrating to America, often reminisced on this change. Growing up I used to hear how pre-revolution Egypt was absolutely nothing like it is now. According to them, because it was under British rule, it was freer and more secular; hardly any women wore the hijab; Alexandria was something of a mini-Europe.
Indeed, if you look at pictures taken in 1940s Egypt and compare them to pictures from today, you might think the former were taken in Europe, the latter in Arabia.
In short, Egyptians saw themselves first and foremost as Egyptians. Certainly no Egyptians would have referred to themselves as Arabsa word back then that connoted lowly bedouins to Egyptian ears. (After all, for Egyptians to think of themselves as Arabs, because their first language is Arabic, is as logical as American blacks thinking of themselves as English, because their first language is English.) In the decades preceding the revolution, there was even a strong Pharaonist Movement, led by influential thinkers like Taha Hussein, which sought to define and promote a distinctly Egyptian character.
Today [writing in February, 2011], as Egypt rocks with revolution, it is poised to assume an even more alien identity. Enter the Muslim Brotherhood: if the 1952 revolution Arabized Egypt, a Brotherhood takeover will thoroughly Islamicize it, thereby taking it even further away from its roots. Whereas the Arab nationalists of Egypt maintained remnants of the Egyptian charactertheir Islam was notoriously laxthe Salafist brand of Islam promoted by Egypts Brotherhood since its founding in 1928 is thoroughly alien to Egypt.
For example, as opposed to the Egyptian Arab nationalist, who takes great pride in his nations ancient heritage, todays Egyptian Islamist exults in rejecting and condemning it, calling the pharaohs infidels and tyrants (according to the terminology of the distinctly Arab Koran), and even trying to destroy Egypts proudest treasuresas we have seen with the recent attacks on Egypts museumshardly the behavior of someone who thinks of himself as an Egyptian.
Born in America, I often returned to Egypt, beginning in 1974, when I was a year-old. My experience of Egypts evolving identity differs from my parents: whereas they watched the Arabization of Egypt, I have been observing its Islamization. Yet, from personal experience, I also know that hardly all Egyptians share the Brotherhoods ideology: for starters, there is a significant Christian minority, the Copts, who clearly have the most to lose should the Brotherhood come to power; then there are the many secularists. Put differently, a great many revolting in the streets of Cairo are doing so for mundane reasonsfood and jobsrather than to implement sharia law (which, incidentally, is already a principal source of legislation in Egypts Constitution).
The problem, however, is that, along with having a strong base of direct support, the Muslim Brotherhood is especially poised to assume leadership simply because many Muslims, while indifferent to the Brotherhoods ideological vision, have come to trust them. After all, Hamas famous strategy of endearing the people to it by providing for their basic needs was learned directly from its parent organization: Egypts Brotherhood.
Thus, as turmoil engulfs Egypt, it is well to remember that, fundamentally, who the Egyptians see themselves as will determine who they will be. Egypts future begins when Egyptians see themselves as Egyptiansnot Arabs, and certainly not Islamists. This is not to say that Egyptians should resurrect the pharaonic language, dress like Imhotep, and worship cats. Rather, as Taha Hussein and others till this day maintain, the Egyptian identity needs to be resurrected, thereby allowing all of the nations sons and daughters to work together for a better futurewithout the dead weight of foreign encumberments, namely Arabism or, worse, Islamism.
I hope our friend General Sisi has world class security. He is the one bright light in the Muslim World.
It used to be said that Egypt was the only real “nation” in the Arab world; all the rest were artificial creations—”tribes with flags”.
I think that’s largely true.
Invite al-Sisi to speak to Congress - he looks like the kind of leader we would want in the countries of the ME.
And, also he and Obama dislike each other because of Obamas’ love of Muslim Brotherhood.
The GOP must never let Americans forget that Hillary Clinton preferred the clit-cutters over the secular Al Sisi. She wanted Muslim Brotherhood savages who stand with ISIS.
...”though Nasser was Egyptian, ‘the spirit of the times’ that brought him to power was ArabArab nationalism, or pan-Arabismthe theory that all Arabic-speaking peoples, from Morocco to Iraq, should unify. (Along with Nasser, the tide of pan-Arabism also brought to power Libyas Muammar Qaddafi, Syrias Hafez Assad, and Iraqs Saddam Hussein.)”....
Interesting the author mentioning it was “the Spirit” of the times and in the same breath called it pan-Arabism.....which is another word for “Islam”. ...so that spirit he mentions was the spirit of Isalm.
Therefore how can Egypt ever hope to have “Peace” as long as the Brotherhood keeps rising? As long as “that spirit” promotes the violent and victimhood of Islam.
Actually at the time it was a secular socialist pan-arabism. Hence the Baathist parties in Syria and Iraq. Think also the PLO vs. Hamas. The former were bad enough but nothing compared to the Islamists today.
Well......Pan-Arabism was highly secular & regarded MB as a rival gang to be wiped out. Islam in the post-colonial era was not a player in government. IMO, Nasser saw the success of Kemalist secularism in Turkey & wanted its modernizing benefits for Egypt. He became a client of the world’s most secular state, the Soviet Union.
Pan-Arabism was also virulently anti-Israel. Egypt’s Jews had been all but driven out by 1956. Israeli victories in the next three wars with Egypt only exacerbated the hatred.
Al-Sisi’s speech against Islamic extremism is an attempt to pull back from the abyss wherein all Muslims are seen by the majority non-Muslim world as dangerous jihadis.
It’s a tactical move since Al-Sisi has expressed his desire to see the return of the Caliphate. As the old saying goes, nothing in the Middle East is what it seems.
I'm no expert on Egypt although I have been there. But it seems to me that Sisi has the Brotherhood on the run. I cannot believe they are rising in Egypt. In Washington D.C. YES. In Cairo NOT LIKELY.
IMHO.
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