21 - 27 December 2000
Issue No.513
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 December 2000 Issue No.513 |
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Pack of Cards
By Madame Sosostris* My dear friend Ibrahim El-Mu'allem is a publisher like no other: elegant, stellar, elevated; and the Dar Al-Shurouq Iftar over which he annually presides has a reputation for being the season's most prestigious event (for the cultural community at least). In as generous and warm atmosphere as you could imagine, hosted luxuriously by the Semiramis Inter-Continental hotel and in the presence of such well-
known pillars of the current literary media as Mohamed Hassanein Heikal and Fahmi Howeidy, Speaker of the People's Assembly Fathi Surour, former vice-president and member of the Revolutionary Council Hussein El-Shaf'i, and renowned journalist and MP Hamdin Sabbahi prayer and an open seminar with an eye on Egypt's cultural future, moderated by Islamic thinker and writer Kamal Abul-Magd, progressed like a dream in
direct succession. In a discussion to which many stimulating contributions were made, Heikal of course, historian Tareq El-Bishri and graphic artist Helmi El-Touni are the ones that stand out in my mind.
El-Mu'allem, for his part, spoke with the precision of an engineer, the warmth of a family relation and the sense of national obligation that goes with being an Egyptian intellectual and the head of the largest literary empire in the Arab world. His greatest concern (as is ours, dears) is the future of Egyptian intellectual life.
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* At the Oriental Hall of AUC, the university held its annual media Iftar with prominent Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama as the guest of honour. AUC Director of Public Relations Nagwa Shoeb presented him with the university's silver shield for his environmental activism and audacious articles that tackle hot local and international topics. Among other attendees were AUC Provost Tim Sullivan, Salama's charming wife Juliana, Sylvia El-Naqqadi, editor-in-chief of Al-Beit magazine (published by Al-Ahram) and renowned journalist and writer Louis Greiss.
Salama hailed the role played by AUC in the cultural and scientific life of Egypt. He pointed out that other Egyptian universities and institutions are trying to follow in its footsteps. As usual, he did not disappoint his fans: the main topic of his talk was the famous TV drama Awan Al-Ward, which aroused the outrage of Muslim and Christian viewers alike. Salama encouraged a discussion with members of both faiths, who were prompt to air their viewpoints on this thorny TV series. The majority criticised Wahid Hamid, the scriptwriter, for frankly tackling very sensitive issues. Salama ended the heated debate by stating that the issue of national unity is no longer taboo and that facing our problems is the only means to solving them. I, along with others of course, also enjoyed the voice of gifted songstress Layla Tareq, AUC graduate in mechanical engineering, who performed songs from Umm Kulthoum's repertoire, accompanied by the oud and riqq.
* Long ago, dears, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Professor Cliverenga of Leiden University was sent to a concentration camp in eastern Europe for speaking out against the occupiers. The university was closed till the end of that year as punishment for having allowed a dissenter to express his views. The professor survived his ordeal, returning five years later to the Law Faculty of Leiden University. After his death, the university decided to honour him by establishing in his name a chair awarded to a professor in any discipline, the choice of the winner being strictly based on his or her academic achievements. Since its establishment, only Dutch professors have earned the honour of holding the Cliverenga Chair, a title which recipients hold for life; but for the first time this year, a non-Dutch professor was honoured. In a traditional yet moving ceremony, former professor in the Arabic department at Cairo University's Faculty of Arts Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, now living in exile in the Netherlands, has been selected for the prestigious position in view of his outstanding achievements. My dear friend and prominent journalist Mohamed Abul-Ghar attended.
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