23 - 29 August 2001
Issue No.548
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 23 - 29 August 2001 Issue No.548 |
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A spin on the dervishes
Sir- Congratulations on the occasion of "125 years of Al-Ahram" and sincere compliments to Al-Ahram Weekly, which I have enjoyed reading for nearly 10 years now, including on-line from Germany.
Last Wednesday, the end of a great trip to Egypt was spoiled by an event I would like to report to you, since it is related to "Music & Dance: Whirling dervishes perform to live Sufi music," an item regularly featured on your useful Listings page. I had enjoyed the performance a few years ago, but was deeply disappointed to learn that there are people trying to exploit foreigners' interest in this performance.
When arriving at Al-Ghouri Palace at 8.30pm, which I hoped would be early enough to secure a seat, I found a queue of around 10 tourists standing in front of a small portable wall, and being told by a young man blocking the entrance that every place had been occupied. Some of the waiting tourists informed me that paying an extra LE20 would get one into the Palace.
Having studied in Egypt for a year, I inquired in Arabic what this was supposed to mean: were all seats really occupied? I spoke to two persons responsible for keeping foreigners out -- an Egyptian lady just walked in. Both "Essam" and "Mohamed" refused to tell me their full names or to allow me to just take a quick look into the Palace. "Mohamed" (a young man of 20 or so) told me I obviously knew Egypt well and that he would let me and my friend into the Palace without paying. "Essam," an older person, told me it was all a misunderstanding, that the LE20 given to them were related to a coffee shop bill. Another statement was that empty seats were to be reserved for "important people." My friend and I chose to give up, as did most other tourists.
I was deeply disappointed, especially as my friend, who was in Cairo for the first time, wanted to see the whirling dervishes. All I can do now from Germany is to ask the competent Al-Ahram Weekly team either to follow up on this issue or to add a note to the Listings page. According to "Essam" and "Mohamed," tourists should arrive at 7.00pm to secure a seat...
Jochen Moeller
Bielefeld, Germany
Breaking the wall
Sir- Notwithstanding the bullets, it was the ever-present bulldozers that reminded me. According to rabbinical stricture, God warned the Jews not to "break the wall," meaning not to take the land of Israel by force of arms, nor to "rebel against the nations" that ruled over the laws. The alluded "promised land" only became theirs with the advent of the Messiah.
It seems to me that if things continue as they are progressing, the land in question will be as dust. Many more innocent people will die, not only in Israel but in the region as a whole. The fallout, with or without nuclear weapons, will contaminate our world.
Of course, the fact that the Israelis managed to ignore the words of God in the past and seemingly got away with it should hardly deter them now -- unless, that is, they are Jews. But, of course they are. So what gives them the right to go against God and their own scriptures? Although it could be argued that there is currently only one world power (the US) setting the laws, I doubt that even George W Bush, in all his wisdom, sees himself as the new Messiah.
Mary Ross Macarthur
Heliopolis
Two clarifications
Sir- In reference to an article entitled "Not impartial, not scientific," which appeared on the front page of your esteemed paper (Al-Ahram Weekly, 2-8 August) quoting me, I would like to make the following clarification.
There are two major errors of fact. One is that the Israeli Supreme Court allowed the group [the Temple Mount Faithful group] to place the [foundation] stone [of the third temple] for a short time outside of the walls of the city, not near Al-Aqsa Mosque. The second error is that the excavations carried out to the south and southwest of the Haram were directed by perfectly competent professional archaeologists, however one is to interpret the result of their work and its incompleteness. It is the work done on the tunnel alongside of the western wall of the Haram which did not have full archaeological supervision.
Oleg Grabar
Professor of Islamic art and architecture and UNESCO special envoy to Jerusalem
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