Gandhi and national unity

By Naguib Mahfouz

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We were brought up in an atmosphere completely different to that which I hear about today. The Copts were integral to the support of both Saad Zaghloul and El- Nahhas Pasha. National unity was one of our strongest weapons in the fight for independence.

My friend Ibrahim Pasha Farag once told me a story. El-Nahhas once nominated a Copt to a constituency that contained few Christians. The candidate asked El-Nahhas why he had not been nominated for Shubra, where there were more Copts to vote for him. El-Nahhas replied that he wanted the candidate in parliament not as a Copt but as an Egyptian, representing other Egyptians.

And, indeed, the candidate was elected, entering parliament thanks to the votes of the Muslim majority in his district, and despite the fact that his opponent was a Muslim.

El-Nahhas told him after his election victory that he was now a representative of the whole nation, and not just of the Copts. This, El-Nahhas said, is what national unity is all about. Dividing people into Copts and Muslims and appointing each to represent their own groups serves only to emphasise the differences between the two sides, not to remove them.

Egyptian national unity aroused the admiration of the Indian leader Gandhi, who always believed that because of its unity Egypt would inevitably triumph in its battle for independence.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.