18 - 24 April 2002
Issue No.582
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 18 - 24 April 2002 Issue No.582 |
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Chivalry and honour
Tharwat Abaza had the ethics of a horseman or a musketeer; he was a true knight. Courage, chivalry, generosity: these virtues have become increasingly rare, and he had all of them. In each of these virtues, however, he excelled to an almost unhealthy degree.
When we were drafting Tewfik El-Hakim's protest of the no-war, no-peace state that dominated the scene in the early 1970s -- the letter was to be sent to the president -- it was Abaza, rather than El-Hakim or I, who insisted on making the tone harsher and modifying particular statements to make the criticism more explicit. In fact he was so courageous he never showed any hypocrisy towards the powers that be, and spent many years without a job as a result.
His chivalry was equally striking. Even his political detractors resorted to his counsel and aid whenever they need it; and he would never disappoint them. In fact, he never hesitated to go to their rescue.
He founded the Writers' Union, not in an attempt to achieve personal fame but out of a genuine desire to assist authors. In political debates he was equally hard on the left and the religious stream, yet it never prevented him from helping authors irrespective of their political orientation and even providing for their needs at his own expense.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
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