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Al-Ahram Weekly 12 - 18 August 1999 Issue No. 442 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 12 - 18 August 1999 Issue No. 442
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Books Features Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Plain talk
By Mursi Saad El-Din
As far as I know the concept of the "Other" was the brainchild of Edward Said. Both in his book Orientalism and his Reith lectures -- which are available in a published format -- he discusses the place of the intellectual "Other" in both his own society and in his adopted country, the US.
And certainly the term has found great many protagonists, not least Youssef Chahine, whose latest film uses the phrase as a title. My concern here, however, is with yet another "Other" -- that of Dr. Milad Hanna who in his recently published book, The Acceptance of the Other, deals with the issue from the point of view of the move towards globalisation.
I do not intend to review the book; this is the task of our Book Supplement. What I want to do is to discuss what Milad Hanna himself terms his "vision of common human feelings," the driving force, he posits, of history.
Starting with his approach to these common human feelings he moves on through the different phases of history, from the concept of Marx's class conflict in the mid 19th century, to Samuel Huntington's civilisational clashes until, in his ultimate chapter, he arrives at the Egyptian example of the acceptance of the Other.
It is in this chapter that we see most clearly the author's own attitude towards the Other. Egypt, he claims, enjoys a special trait -- namely its ability to accept and accommodate difference. It is a divine dichotomy which has become codified under the rhetoric of national unity. It reflects the close and amicable relation between the two main religions in Egypt, Islam and Christianity, and is a product of the cultural and historical circumstances that have combined to make Egypt a unique example among countries in a region where religious conflicts have led to the spilling of a great deal of blood. Think of Sudan, Algeria and Iraq.
Going through Egyptian history from the time of Mena, The Acceptance of the Other traces the emergence of Egyptian Christianity, which began in the first century AD.
The boom raises an interesting point, and one with which I whole-heartedly agree. Egyptian Islam possesses a unique character, being the result of an accumulation of civilisations and cultures. It is almost preconditioned towards tolerance, something which one seldom finds in other Islamic countries.
What brings Muslims and Copts together in Egypt is their recognition of the fact that they are both Egyptian. I love the way the author sums up his argument, saying that Egyptian culture stands on two feet, Egyptian Islam and Egyptian Christianity, and that both stand firm on the rock of Pharaonic culture.
Egyptian tolerance has deep historical roots. But Egyptian tolerance does not manifest itself only in religion. It encompasses, too, all areas of thought and philosophy. The 1919 Revolution, after all, was an example not only of the "acceptance of the other" but an infusion of the two. Both Muslim Sheikhs of Al-Azhar and Coptic priests faced the guns of the British soldiers.
But returning to the dedication: I feel really rather proud that I have known Milad Hanna for over 50 years, for better or for worse. In a way we are both survivors, witnesses of another.
