The Wisdom of A Disgraced Man

 

Reading Richard Nixon’s In The Arena, was an interesting experience for me. Growing up in Egypt and seeing Nixon come to Egypt in the early 1970’s and literally help Egypt out of the Soviet orbit made me like him. When Nixon resigned in August 1974, I was just 14; I didn’t know much about the cultural wars of the 1960’s, Watergate didn’t mean much to me, I only viewed Nixon from the eyes of an Egyptian boy. Today, in my sixties and having left Egypt a year after Nixon resigned and spent most of my life in the US, I’m on the opposite political spectrum of Nixon. While I continue to lean right on issues of Defence and some economic issues, I’m on the liberal left on some economic and most social issues. 

Still, I found these Nixon memoirs fascinating and moving in terms of his journey from the greatest heights to complete disgrace and his ability to build back a productive meaningful life after leaving the White House. There is plenty of regrets and contrition over his role in Watergate, but it’s mostly of the type I should have been firmer, there is some of the I never ordered, my predecessors did worse, I didn’t know and the media this and that. Once there was a clear cut acceptance of the blame of not having set the right moral tone. I felt some sympathy but I suspect it’s carryover from my boyhood admiration. 

After few early chapters on Watergate and some interesting history of his “wilderness” years, following loss to JFK in 1960 and loss of California governor race in 1962, the book is mainly made of short chapters on various fascinating topics ranging from his views on religion, to stories about his wife and parents, to stories about his rise in Congress, winning the Senate in 1950 and fascinating stories of his meetings with Mao and Li and later following Tienman Square with Deng Chao Peng. 

There is plenty of wisdom from Nixon’s life and those he admired the most like Churchill, DeGaul and others. I especially enjoyed some of his saying on various topics. These include: you may not lose what you have if you don’t risk, you certainly can’t win more without risk, small people seek office to make something out of themselves while great people seek office to achieve something and of course several sayings on failure and not defining oneself by failure.  Several of the sayings may come across as cliché, but from Richard Nixon, they came across as wisdom gained from an incredible lifetime of trials, successes, failures, or as he learnt from a friend life is made up of 99 chapters. 

From Jesus to Christ - by Paula Fredriksen - Book Review

This is very dense book, but it is absolutely brilliant. Fredriksen's writing style requires a high level of reader focus, indeed full attention and concentration;  I often found myself having to read some paragraphs several times, but it’s certainly worth in terms of insight. 

Fredriksen argues that the Apostle Paul viewed faith in Jesus as an alternate path for Gentiles to salvation, unlike many historians who argue that Paul viewed, what would become, Christianity, as a successor to Judaism, Fredriksen argues that Paul's faith in the Jewish Covenant was unshaken. Paul didn't believe that Gentiles were required to adhere to the Covenant to attain salvation, but Jews had to. The lashing punishments Paul received in various synagogues were an evidence of his desire to remain Jewish and not to be expelled from synagogues. 

Fredriksen also argues that Jesus was likely a Pharisee, she marshalled several points to evidence this, including Jesus's sayings on "house of prayers" suggesting that Sadducees who controlled the Jewish priestly classes and the Temple advocated animal sacrifice which the Pharisees later opposed. She suggested that the earlier gospels showed the scribes and priests opposing Jesus whereas the later gospels singles out Pharisees for blame. As only Pharisaic Judaism survived the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem 70 CE, they were the one remaining Jewish voice, worshipping the same God, but not accepting Jesus as the Christ or Messiah. On this one point, I found Fredriksen less persuasive than  other historians who suggested closer alignment between Jesus's movement and the  Essenes or the Jews of the Dead Sea Scrolls who advocated communal ownership, celibacy and were vehemently opposed to the Pharisees and their non literal interpretations of the Bible. 

Fredriksen examined three questions closely and how the Apostle Paul and the four gospels dealt with them. First the issue of the end the ages and the arrival of God's Kingdom, second was why most Jews rejected Jesus and how his message received traction with the “God fearer” Gentiles and lastly is the issue of differences amongst the followers of Jesus. Fredriksen showed the changing narratives on all three areas from the earliest teachings of Paul on to Mark immediately after the Jewish War on to Matthew and Luke, almost two generations after Paul and then on to John at the end of the First Century. Fredriksen's analysis of the four gospels, taking the reader to their time and the surrounding challenges was fascinating and demonstrated how and why stories changed over time. 

There is a lot more there and I will certainly read again! 

Book Review: The Syrio Aramiac Reading of the Quran by Christoph Luxenberg

This odd book is neither accessible nor academic, it does not appear to be addressed to the ordinary reader, nor to the scientific academic community. For an ordinary reader it’s overwhelming with extensive multilingual references, scripts and footnotes. For academics it’s overreaching in scope, lacking in focus, full of opinions and not presented in a manner that lends itself to peer review. I conclude it’s a hodgepodge of opinions presented as science and designed to impress and overwhelm ordinary readers. The central hypothesis of the book, the origins and development of the Arabic language is far from proven, agreed upon or established science.

Christoph Luxenberg, the name the author wrote under, presents an unfounded assumption that the early Quran manuscripts were written in Syrio Aramaic script. This central assumption drives much of the work of the book. Yet, this assumption can’t be supported by manuscripts, archaeological or historical evidence. A critical thesis presented in the book is that the Quran was never meant to be a “scripture”, rather it’s a liturgical poems for communal recitations. The Author supports this hypothesis with linguistic analysis of the Arabic word Quran and its relation to Syriac Aramaic words and how the sound “ya” in Aramaic was confused when writing Arabic with the sound “ah”. Few other similar minor arguments led the author to jump to this conclusion as an established fact. The author chose not to address numerous differences of narratives between the Quran on one side and what the Author references as Scripture, namely the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The Author simply chose to ignore all references in the Quran to the humanity of Jesus and the Quran’s insistence that Jesus is not divine and simply convinced himself that he, the Author, is single handedly dismantling the myth of the divinity and is correcting centuries old misunderstandings of it.

The Author puts forward more thoughtful analysis into various words used in the Quran and proposes Syrio Aramaic explanations for them such as الرقيم, قسورة، عتل، زنيم. The analysis of the points or dots on the letters and the possible connections to Aramaic in the early manuscripts is interesting but clearly needs to be subjected to historical critical peer review.

One of the author most far fetched or rather more outlandish theories comes in his interpretation of the Arabic word يسر and يسرنا where the author imposes a Syrio Aramaic reading on this straight forward Arabic meaning of to easing or make easier and insists that it means “translate”. The author then proceeds to suggest interpretations that the Quran itself states that it was translated.

The Author attributed parts of the Sura of Mary, specifically Quran 19:24 to the non canonical Gospel of Pseudo Matthew.  Historians date Pseudo Matthew to around 800 AD/CE, it is therefore hard to argue that it was influential in the Mecca region nearly 160-190 years earlier. The author presented no evidence of a connection, yet proceeded to offer further interpretations to Sura 19 based on his unfounded and unsupported assumptions.

Moving beyond his stated specialty in Syrio Aramaic language, the Author proposed corrections for Arabic words that he didn’t attribute to Syrio Aramaic origins in a short chapter titled "Misread Arabic Expressions". While he offered  interesting arguments based on his logic for his “corrections” of the placement of the dots for Sura 17:64, his approach indicated a weak methodology of research. The threshold or the substantiation for altering texts whose immediate intent may have not been clear appears to become the Author’s opinion.

The Author then proceeded to state in Chapter 15: “Now that it has become clear from the preceding analysis of individual samples of the language of the Koran that already in normal linguistic usage the Koran text has been in part so misread and misinterpreted by Arabic philologists and exegetes, it will no longer be surprising it meanwhile deeply anchored notions in the Islamic tradition, indeed religious contents, have been partially based on equally misunderstood Koran text.” This one unwieldy sentence betrays an approach of antagonism towards Islam disguised as scientific critical study of the language of the Quran.

On the topic of the so-called Virgins of Paradise or حور العين , the Author offered a fascinating discussion, in what appeared as a standalone paper or essay that was incorporated in the book. His approach to this particular part appeared  more restrained,  less opinionated and more engaging. He concluded that the concept of virgins of paradise was a misreading of the original Quranic texts.

The author concluded with detailed analysis of two short Suras 96 & 108 offering cogent arguments to possible Syrio Aramaic roots and reasoned interpretations. The author then, lacking substantiation, absurdly, offered the First Epistle of Peter as a root for Sura 108 and suggested erroneously that the text is rooted in an invitation to partake in a Christian Communion and to receive a Eucharist. The Author’s failed to offer any evidence of the First Peter being particularly important in the Syriac Christian history in terms of number of Syriac manuscripts or other indication of influence. The alleged connection to Eucharist was presented with no support whatsoever.

The coming decades will no doubt present the Muslim world with an increasing number of western historical critical studies of the text of the Quran and fundamentals of Islamic history. The work in this book sadly belongs to the category of orientalist islamophobia, and is not serious scientific work. This book is essentially an expression of the unfounded opinions of one man that, presented with the ornaments of a scientific study, but is certainly not that. This work does the field of historical critical study of Islam a great disservice. 

Ayman S. Ashour

Gun Island - Book Review

Adventures of a Quiet Man 

Amitav Ghosh is my favorite writer. This book was another Ghosh magical journey deep inside the fragility and humanity of an ordinary and lonely Bengali Indian American. Ghosh beautifully brings Bengali geography, rivers, smells, colors and storms with various rural and city people of differing classes with the changing environment, pollution, wild life … all come together with a host of interesting characters.

Gun Island reminded me a lot of Ghosh’s non fiction 

In An Antique Land when chapters alternated between Ghosh’s present day experience in Egypt with the history of a Jewish trader who left Egypt to settle in India. In this case, the contemporary Indian American is attempting to decipher the mysteries of the story of a Jewish sea Capitan trader with his Indian freed slave across multiple continents.

Ghosh added to all of this a whole other layer which is that of the refugees, the migrants, who escape various third world countries for the better life and opportunities in Europe. As usual Ghosh paints vivid images of the horrific journeys across borders into Europe via Turkey or Egypt.

A couple of minor details irked me a bit. Ghosh employed some supernatural devices, while he did so with restraint, I felt they detracted from the novel. The other issue which bothered me more was most female characters, particularly Cinta, the Italian professor and main patron of the main character. Cinta came across too perfect, too saintly, the consistent powerful savior. Cinta was too cardboard like to be a Ghosh character.

Overall, loved it and highly recommend it!

Motherland Lost - Book Review

Samuel Tadros did a superb job researching and presenting Egypt’s history from a Coptic perspective. The scope of Tadros’s coverage of the developments inside the Coptic Church was particularly enlightening. Some of the most impressive parts of this work are Tadros’s challenges to conventional wisdom: Tadros views of the inherent problems with Egyptian liberalism being fundamentally anti democratic, Egyptian liberalism that arose out of infatuation with Europe and West but turned mostly anti western. “Foreign intervention in the internal affairs of the country coincided with the birth of the constitutional movement in Egypt which would have profound effects on its future development. It would ultimately lead to love-hate relationship with the West as a source of inspiration and a model of modernity and, at the same time, the hated occupier. Egyptian liberalism would never escape this dichotomy” Tadros challenges the notion that the so-called Egypt’s “Liberal Age” was truly liberal or that it was “good” for the Copts. 

The following paragraph summarized an important thesis offered by Tadros: “The specifically Egyptian crisis of modernity, understood as a question of the compatibility of Islam with modernity, has resulted in the development of various state and intellectual approaches that have shaped the way Copts were viewed and led to their banishment from the public sphere as a community, though not as individuals. The failure of liberalism in Egypt did not result in the Copts’ current predicament. Rather, it was the very approach that liberalism took that brought about this predicament.” While I personally would have substituted the word “Islam” with “religions”, I think Tadros was clearly on to an important concept. 

Tadros cleverly captures an important trend from the Mohamed Aly era: “Egyptian liberals’ ultimate dream would be a repetition of the story of Mohamed Aly, an autocrat imposing reforms from above on a reluctant population”. 

While I highly recommend this work and rate it very highly, I have a number of criticisms for it which I will now address. 

Devotional v. historical critical study: Tadros presented much of the Coptic tradition as historical facts, starting from the story of St. Mark and his alleged role in establishing Christianity in Egypt. Modern Western studies generally challenge this view. Tadros’s admiration of St. Athanasius clearly arises out of deeply held beliefs or acceptance of the Coptic traditions, yet the vast majority of historical critical studies show Athanasius to be have been a manipulative political operator. While these aspects don’t affect the core thesis of this great work, they do detract from it. 

Apologia?: With so much discrimination against Copts over centuries of subjugation, it is refreshing to read a passionately pro Coptic work, however Tadros has a times fallen into what I’d term the genre of apologia of all things Coptic. The impassioned defense and glorification of General Yacoub who sided with French invaders along with the harsh attack against the Egyptian Conference of 1911 are examples. Labeling the Egyptian Conference of 1911 as Islamist was particularly grating and misleading. While Tadros lister the point by point demands of the preceding Coptic Conference, he failed to do the same for the Egyptian Conference, yet a simple review of these would show that Egyptian Conference adopted views that even by 21st century standards would be seen as progressive and egalitarian. 

Opinions v. Facts: Tadros presented several important ideas in the book as established facts, while in fact these often appear at best opinions or unproven theories. Lord Cromer, who was a founding member of the Society Against Women Suffrage in England was being portrayed by Tadros as a progressive liberal, with “compassion” for poor Egyptian peasants. Ahmed Lutfy El Sayed was presented by Tadros as an anti Copt agitator. Tadros failed to present sufficient facts to prove this, nor did he offer a balanced discussion that supports his conclusions. The demonization of Lutfi El Sayed was relentless, and frankly shocking. Tadros attempt at nuance when analyzing Lutfi El Sayed was limited to admitting that he and his colleagues were not “fanatics”! 

Similar but less obvious was Tadros’s dismissal of Ahmed Maher as the King’s lackey, yet at some point Tadros admitted that the King was actively trying to appeal to the Copts to counter the popularity of the Wafed Party. In the post 1952 era, Tadros suggested that Nasser came into power with an Arabist and anti Israel agenda, this doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as Nasser hardly addressed either topic in his first few years. It was also ironic that Tadros blamed Nasser for the Coptic Church’s rejection of Vatican II. Tadros seemed to want to whitewash the deeply ingrained antisemitism in the Coptic traditions and history and shift the blame on to Nasser. 

Dhimmitude and 21st Century sensibilities: It was unclear which era Tadros considered was the best for Copts in Egypt other than perhaps the brief 3 year period of the French occupation at the end of the 18th & beginning of the 19th century.  Mohamed Aly and his dynasty according to Tadros were focused on their own struggles against the Turks and the Ottoman Empire and / or against the British. The British according to Tadros had no interest advancing the rights of Copts, the Liberal Egyptian movement of the first half of the 20th century didn’t either. At times it appeared that Tadros thought Copts faired best under the more traditional so called dhimi times, when according to Tadros Copts played an important role in the civil service. Tadros quoted some blatantly discriminatory and aggressive anti Copt language from a newspaper in 1908 responding to an attack from a Coptic paper on Islamic history, yet Tadros did not provide context for such language, nor did he offer any details on what the Coptic newspaper actually printed to start the episode. Contrasting some of this language with the language used by Cairo’s Rabbinical Jewish religious authorities describing Karaite Jews in 1903 "impure bastards" would show the very different sensibilities of the time. It would have been more helpful for the reader if Tadros offered more context or comparisons of the how the various minorities and sects dealt with one another at the various eras of history. 

As referenced earlier, the weaknesses and shortcomings of this work should not take away from its importance. The passion of Samuel Tadros for his church and his fellow Copts made him an outstanding advocate, but readers would definitely benefit from a more scientific approach in assessing and addressing both history and present. The challenges Egyptian Copts face are huge: discrimination, acts of violence, governments that are often complicit in discrimination or at best tolerant of it, brain drain, conflicts within the Church between reformers and traditionalists … these and more are very serious challenges and need to be addressed in an even handed fashion. 

The Parisian - Book Review

I’ve read several beautifully written memoirs by Palestinians touching on the events that led to the creation of the state of Israel. This is however the first English language novel of that period, I’ve come across. The Parisian is an ambitious historical fiction work with a main anchor in Nablus in Palestine from early in the twentieth century to the early days of the Arab Revolt in the late 1930’s. A secondary anchor is France and life in France under the First World War. 

Isabella Hammad is a master painter of settings, her beautiful lyrical prose breathes life in places. Hammad transports the readers to Montepillier gardens, streets and houses, and to the dinner parties and the sophistication of an affluent segment of the French society. With equal mastery Hammad takes the reader to Nablus and the rugged mountains around it, the olive groves, the crowded homes and the bustling streets. 

Midhat Kamel, the central character of the novel, a Nabulsi son to a merchant who is sent to France for education during the war years and comes back to live in Palestine in the turbulent years following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and subsequent British Mandate over Palestine. While the reader gets to know a lot about this central character, he remains aloof, distant even after some 550 pages. The other characters of the novel are sketched by Hammad around Midhat, most are not fully developed beyond their physical appearance and their interactions related to Midhat. 

Hammad displays great knowledge of history, the novel recreates the early days of the Jewish immigarstion into Palestine and beautifully crafts the Palestinian search and development of their identity: Syrian, Arab, Palestinian, Muslim. Hammad humanized the various adversaries, the Jewish immigrants were not made out to be the baddies nor were the Samaritans or other Arabs. The Turks, the French and the British were painted as the cruel masters. 

The part of the story novel that deal with Qassam revolt was particularly fascinating. The tension between the urban city dwellers and the felaheen peasantry was well portrayed. I particularly found Hammad treatment of the issue of women veiling clever. After city women started shedding the veil, they were forced to adopt it again by the adherents of Qassam. This part of the novel reminded me of the beautiful memoir of Afaf Kenfani who viewed Palestinian women struggle for freedom from men as ultimately now less than the struggle against Zionism. 

The breadth of the novel and its adherence to the generally undisputed events of history may have made it difficult for Hammad to develop her characters and plot more fully. At the end we have a beautifully crafted  impressionist painting of characters on top of a vivid historical photograph. 

الثالوث المقدس

تتجنب الدراسة التاريخية للمسيحية في الغرب التعرض للنواحى الدينية والأمور التي هي محض إيمان أو قناعة دينية. تعتمد الدراسة التاريخية على المخطوطات المسيحية القديمة ووثائق الدولة الرومانية و تتعامل مع كل هذه الأمور بطريقة علمية بحتة بعيدة عن أفكار قدسية الأديان والإيمان بها. 

من أهم الأمور في تاريخ المسيحية موضوع ألوهية يسوع. متى تحول يسوع إلى إله. أستاذ تاريخ الأديان بجامعة نورث كارولينا بارت ايرمان ( Bart Ehrman ) نشر كتاب منذ عامين للخوض بالتحديد في هذا الموضوع. ويرى ايرمان ان ألوهية يسوع موضوع غاية في الأهمية في تاريخ الإنسانية. لولا ألوهية يسوع كانت المسيحية استمرت كحركة يهودية محدودة و ما تحولت الدولة الرومانية ككل إلى المسيحية. 

بحث ايرمان بالتحديد في أوضح نص عن فكرة الثالوث المقدس رسالة يوحنا الرسول الأولي ٥-٧ : "فَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَشْهَدُونَ فِي السَّمَاءِ هُمْ ثَلاَثَةٌ: الآبُ، وَالْكَلِمَةُ، وَالرُّوحُ الْقُدُسُ. وَهؤُلاَءِ الثَّلاَثَةُ هُمْ وَاحِدٌ." والمقصود بلفظ "الكلمة" في الايه هو يسوع. لم يجد ايرمان في المخطوطات اليونانية القديمة هذه الآية و في بحثه عن مصدر الآية وجد أنها ظهرت في المخطوطات اللاتينية في العصور الوسطى. الإنجيل المنتشر حاليا في العالم هو ما يسمى إنجيل الملك جيمس بناء على أول إنجيل نشر بالإنجليزية عام 1611. اعتمد مترجمي إنجيل الملك جيمس على  نسخة تمت طباعتها باللاتينية مع الأصل  اليوناني أصدرها آراسموس الهولاندي. 

اول طبعة أصدرها آراسموس كانت خالية من هذه الآية. تعرض آراسموس لهجوم شديد من رجال الكنيسة الموالين للبابا و لكنه رفض تماما ان يدخل هذه الآية لأنه لم يجدها في أي مخطوطة يونانية. وعد آراسموس منتقديه أن يشمل هذه الآية في طبعات لاحقة إذا قدموا له مخطوطة باليونانية تشملها. يخمن ايرمان ان رجال الكنيسة قاموا بنسخ مخطوطة كاملة باليونانية لإرضاء آراسموس الذي وفى بوعده و في طبعة لاحقة ظهرت الآية بالأصل اليوناني و الترجمة اللاتينية. هذه هي الطبعة التي استخدمت في ترجمة الملك جيمس الشائعة إلى يومنا هذا. 

هنالك عدة آيات أخرى في الإنجيل تتحدث عن ألوهية المسيح  و يقدم ايرمان مناقشة شيقة عن التغيير في فكرة ألوهية المسيح من رسائل بولس الرسول ( تاريخيا اقدم اجزاء الإنجيل) إلى أناجيل مرقس، متى ولوقا إلى أحدث أجزاء الإنجيل و هو انجيل يوحنا و سفر الرؤية. نجد ألوهية المسيح تبدأ بعد الصلب و العودة الى الارض مع بولس و مع مرقس نراها تبدأ عند التعميد و مع متى و لوقا نراها تبدأ مع الولادة و عذرية مريم و لكن مع يوحنا نراها موجودة قبل من بداية الخلق (من قبل ابراهام كنت انا).

في كل أجزاء الانجيل هنالك دائماً فكرة ان الرب واحد و رفض تام لفكرة تعدد الاله. كلمة أخيرة، أحب أوضحها وهي انني لا أهاجم المسيحية على الإطلاق و لكن في الحقيقة انا احسد المسيحية على وجود نشاط علمي تاريخي نقدي للدراسة التاريخية بدون خوف و بحرية علمية كاملة خالية تماما من اي قيود. 

أيمن سعيد عاشور

تقول الكلمات: نحن هنا!

مراجعة لكتاب منى الطحاوي: الحجاب و غشاء البكارة

اخر جملة في كتاب مني الطحاوي الحجاب و غشاء البكارة هي " تقول الكلمات: نحن هنا"   صدر كتاب الطحاوي بالانجليزية في اوائل العام الماضي و تمت ترجمته و نشره في العديد من دول العالم. هذه المراجعة للنسخة الاصلية الامريكية.

يثير اسم منى الطحاوي الكثير من الجدل في الحركات النسوية المصرية و تتعرض للهجوم من تيارات مختلفة لاسلوبها تارة و لمواقفها تارة اخرى. هذه المراجعة ليست دفاع عن او هجوم على شخصية الطحاوي و لكنها فقط كما يقول العنوان مراجعة لكتاب غاية في الاهمية، يقراه العالم حولنا و لكنه غير متاح الي الان لقراء اللغة العربية. دعنا نراجع كلمات الكتاب متجردين من الاحكام المسبقة عن الكاتبة و عن العنوان.  دعنا نبحث ماذا تعني الطحاوي بهذه الجملة و ماذا تقول هذه الكلمات؟

تحطيم التابوهات:  تستعين الطحاوي بخبرات الحركات النسوية العالمية و بالاخص من الامريكيات ذوي الاصول الافريقية و اللاتينية. تعرض العديد من رائدات الحركات النسوية ذوي الاصول الافريقية و اللاتينية للهجوم بانهن يسببن زيادة العنصرية ضد السود و المكسيكيين لنشرهن الفضائح الخاصة بهذه المجتمعات، تسرد الطحاوي نقاش هؤلاء السيدات لفكرة تأجيل تحقيق المساوة للمرأة لما بعد تحقيق المساواة العنصرية و توضح انها ما هي الا محاولة للدفاع عن الامر الواقع .. الظالم!  الصمت هو السلاح الاساسي الذي تستخدمه المجتمعات الذكورية لاخضاع النساء، الصمت هنا هو صمت المراة، سكوتها عن الظلم و المعاناة!  و لذا بدأت الطحاوي بنفسها و رغم المرارة و صعوبة تجاربها الشخصية سردت الطحاوي بالتفصيل معاناتها الشخصية من التحرش كطفلة في السعودية و في مصر و تقدم بالتفصيل قصتها مع العنف الجنسي في شارع محمد محمود و ما تعرضت له بعد اعتقالها.

الحجاب و غشاء البكارة ليس كتاب مذكرات منى الطحاوي و لكنه كتاب عن الواقع الذي تعيشه النساء في الدول العربية، تجاربها الشخصية ما هي الا جزء  من تجارب عديدة تقدمها لنا من قصص من نساء قابلتهن بنفسها او قرات ما كتبن او كتب عنهن. الكتاب يقارن بين الواقع في المجتمع و ما هو معلن. تقارن الحقيقة التي تعيشها النساء مع المواقف الرسمية للدول وما تقوله الدول علنا في المحافل الدولية و نص القوانين. تقارن الطحاوي بين ما يقوله رجال السياسة و الدين عن حماية و صون للمرأة و ما تعيشه النساء كواقع حي. هذا ليس بكتاب مقالات او آراء و لكنه بحث جاد مليئ بالمصادر يستخدم القصص الشخصية للكاتبة و عشرات اخرين لتقديم صورة لواقع المعاناة. هذا ليس بكتاب سهل على القارئ و لي فقط ان اتخيل الصعوبة و المعاناة في كتابته. تصرخ صفحات الكتاب ضد العنف و التمييز الذي تتعرض له المراة في العالم، تصرخ الصفحات ضد انعدام المساوة بل و العبودية التي تتعرض لها النساء في كل مراحل الحياة.

يناقش احد الابواب موضوع العذرية و تقدم الطحاوي دراسة مفصلة عن الختان وقص و تشويه البنات كما تسميه الطحاوي و تاريخه و انواعه في البلاد المختلفة . قرأت معلومات جديدة لم اعلمها من قبل رغم قرآتي و كتاباتي في هذا الموضوع. لم اكن اعلم عن الممارسة الواسعة لأنواع من الختان في دول الخليج العربي. ربما يساهم النشر الواسع لهذا الكتاب في القاء بعض الضوءعلى المجتمعات التي يتفشى فيها الختان بدون حوار او مناقشات و بعيدا عن عيون الصحافة و المنظمات الدولية. صدمت تماما عندما قرات عن ممارسة الختان حتي فترة ليست ببعيدة في الولايات المتحدة واوروبا و كما اشارت الطحاوي نجاح بعض المجتمعات في القضاء علي هذا النوع من التعذيب البدني و النفسي للبنات يقدم لنا نوعا من التفاؤل بالقدرة على القضاء على تلك العادة البغيضة.

ربما يكون الجزء المتعلق بقوانين الاسرة و الاحوال الشخصية في الدول العربية اهم ما في الكتاب و اقربه الي اجندات الحركات النسوية في مصر و العالم العربي. تقدم الطحاوي  دراسة مستفيضه من دولة عربية الي اخري عن الوضع القانوني للمرأة و تقود القارئ الي استنتاج ان القوانين في العالم العربي كله تعاني من ذكورية بشعة و تعامل النساء كالاطفال و احيانا كسلع او ممتلكات. نقرأ عن امرأة من دولة الامارات تجاوزت الخمسين، متعلمة و ناجحة و لكنها تحتاج موافقة رسمية من ابنها ذو التسعة عشر عاما للزواج. نقرأ عن رجال الشرطة و الانقاذ في لبنان عاجزين عن دخول بيت زوج عذب زوجته، لم يتمكنوا من دخول "حرمة" البيت لانها مسألة عائلية خاصة بالزوج، ماتت الزوجة و لم ينقذها رجال الاسعاف او الشرطة … مشكلة عائلية خاصة بين الزوج و امرأته! تحدثنا الطحاوي عن غياب قوانين العنف الاسري و المعاملة القانونية للاغتصاب و تشجيع من تقع فريسة للاغتصاب بالزواج من الجاني في البلاد المختلفة مع تقديم امثلة حية و في بعض الاحيان تصريحات سياسية او نصوص من القانون. نكتشف معا ان السعودية و هي رمز للرجعية في الدول العربية نجحت في اصدار قانون لتجريم العنف الاسري قبل لبنان رمز التحرر و التقدم!

تقدم الطحاوي فكرة ذكورية المجتمع و التقاليد كفكرة مستقلة تماما عن الدين. تجنبت الطحاوي الخوض في الدين او التفاسير المتباينة و لكنها قدمت قصة السيدة خديجة كامرأة مستقلة، تعمل بالتجارة و تتعامل مع رجال كمرادف لصورة المرأة التقليدية في الاسلام. اوضحت الطحاوي وجود عملية انتقاء ذكورية فيما يكتب عن  الاسلام. امامنا قصص و تفاسير مختلفة و لكن المجتمع الذكوري يختار ما يناسبه من الاسلام للتشريع و التبني و يتشدق بالقصص و التفسيرات التي تؤيد استقلال المرأة و كيانها و انسانيتها.

تحطيم التابوهات انتقل الي مواجهة الادعاء الشائع بان النساء في الحقيقة يحكمن في المنازل، وان المرأة العربية و المسلمة هي سيدة البيت. الحقيقة كما قدمتها الطحاوي ان النساء في البيت تعملن في خدمة الرجال بدءا من مراحل الطفولة و ان فكرة المرأة القوية في البيت ما هي الا اسطورة يشجع المجتمع المرأة علي تصديقها من اجل الحفاط على الذكورية الظالمة و محاولة لتجنب الخوض في وضع المجتمع الظالم البعيد عن المساواة. كذلك لم تخجل الطهاوي في انتقاد الذكورية في الربيع العربي. رغم المشاركة الواسعة للمرأة المصرية و العربية في ٢٥ يناير و غيرها و رغم وقوف النساء كتف لكتف مع الرجال في الميادين، العديد من الرجال في الحقيقة غاية في البعد عن الايمان بمساواة المرأة لهم في الحقوق و غير مستعدين لقبول حرية و مساواة المرأة للرجل. الاغلبية تريد اسقاط النظام الظالم كأولوية و تري امورا مثل حقوق المرأة ثانوية، تأتي لاحقا.

اعجبني في الكتاب طريقة الطحاوي في تقديم آرائها بوضوح و الاستدلال بالحقائق لتأييد قناعاتها. و لكن هناك نقطة مركزية في الكتاب وهي استحالة نجاح الثورات السياسية بدون ثورة نسوية  اجتماعية لتحقيق المساواة، تري الطحاوي ان ثورة المرأة و المساواة ضرورية لنجاح الثورة السياسية. في هذه النقطة المركزية فشلت الطحاوي في تقديم ما يساند هذه الفكرة. ربما نظرة سريعة الي تاريخ الثورات في العالم ترينا موقف مغاير للطحاوي. دعنا ننظر الي توقيت حصول المرأة على حق التصويت في الولايات المتحدة او بريطانيا، قرون عديدة بعد ثورات سياسية ناجحة. رغم تاييدي لرغبة الطحاوي الا اني ارى هذا الاستنتاج مشابه للفكرة المثالية القائلة بأن الظلم لا يقيم الدول و المجتمعات … الحقيقة مختلفة و التاريخ لا يؤيد هذه المثالية االروحانية لجميلة، الانظمة الاستعمارية، تجارة العبيد و نظام العبودية، الدولة الرومانية، دولة المماليك، احتلال الصين للتيبت، اسرائيل … كلها ادلة على ان الظلم قادر على النجاح و الاستمرارية. ربما تكون هنالك نقطة اخري و هي استغلال مناخ الثورية السياسية في تشجيع النساء على مواجهة الظلم الذي يتعرضن اليه في أسرهن و المجتمع و لكن اشارة الطحاوي لها كانت عابرة و لم تطورها كفكرة متكاملة مستقلة.

شجاعة الطحاوي في الدفاع عن قضيتها، الحرية و المساواة الكاملة للمرأة استمرت في الغرب و ليس فقط في الشرق.  تنتقد الطحاوي صمت الادارة الامريكية عن انتهاكات حقوق النساء في الدول الاسلامية بحجة أنها نوع من الاحترام للتقاليد الدينية و استخدمت موقف الوزير جون كيري اثناء زيارته للسعودية و رفضه الحديث عن حق النساء في قيادة السيارات. كذلك لم تصمت الطحاوي على البعض من التيارات اليسارية في الولايات المتحدة الذين يختارون الصمت على انتهاكات بشعة بحجة تقبل ثقافة الغير. قدمت الطحاوي تحد واضح لمن يسكت على الظلم و أسمته بالعنصرية و الاستشراق الجديد. هولاء اليساريين يقيمون باختيارهم أسقفا لحقوق المرأة في المجتمعات العربية، الشرقية، الاسلامية و يعتقدون أنهم بهذا الاسلوب تقدميون و لكنهم في الحقيقة يشاركون في رجعية بشعة و يمارسون العنصرية النسبية.

الحجاب و غشاء البكارة كتاب هام بقلم كاتبة شجاعة. يتهم العديد منى الطحاوي بانها تكتب للغرب و ربما عدم نشر هذا الكتاب الى الان بالعربية هو افضل دفاع. حقق الكتاب نجاحا واسع من نيجيريا الي الهند و تشارك الطحاوي في منتديات فكرية في شتي بقاع الارض و لكن لا يوجد منبر متاح لها في مصر و العالم العربي. الكتاب يكشف الكثير من القبح في مجتمعاتنا و يسلط الضوء على ما نخشاه و يناقش قضية غاية في الاهمية من عدة جوانب بجرأة و شجاعة و لكنه ايضا يحتوي على الامل في مستقبل افضل. آلطحاوي تقدم لنا العديد من الأمثلة  من المغرب الي السعودية عن شجاعة المرأة في السعي للحرية و المساواة. السكوت عن الظلم هو الاستسلام له، الاستسلام لذكورية و ظلم المجتمعات و النساء الشجاعات اللاتي يرفضن الصمت و يتحدثن و يكتبن و يقدمن البلاغات و يرفعن القضايا و يقصصن قصصهن و يحكن حكاياتهن يتحدين بالكلمات الظلم و يقلن نحن هنا .. بكلماتنا نقول: نحن هنا!

أيمن سعيد عاشور

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ايام من حياتي - مراجعة لمذكرات زينب الغزالي

قرات عن زينب الغزالي بالانجليزية و كان انطباعي عنها جيد. فهمت انها، مع عمر التلمساني قد قامت  بتغيير تفكير الاخوان الي أيدولوجية تنبذ العنف و تؤمن  بالسلمية. قمت اليوم بقراءة مذكراتها و صراحة لازلت في حالة صدمة من ما قرات. 

١. تواجد الأيدلوجية التكفيرية غاية في الوضوح في كتاباتها و لا اعلم اذا كانت هي و عمر التلمساني فعلا قاما بمراجعة كاملة كما قرات من قبل ام لا.

٢. الكتاب ملي بمحاولات غسل المخ و تثبيت الاتباع على إيمانهم و رويات عن تواصل مع سيدنا محمد عن طريق الأحلام

٣. شعرت بقدر كبير من المبالغة اما في تفاصيل التعذيب او في الصمود امام التعذيب و يبدوا ان العديد من وسائل التعذيب الشائعة في سجون مصر مثل الكهرباء و السجاير لم تستخدم معها

٤. رغم مساعدة اليهود لها و عطفهم عليها بسجن القناطر تصفهم بأحفاد القردة و الخنازير مثلها مثل محمد مرسي

٥. و اخير الغرور المغلف بالايمان و الاسلام فهي ترى كل من يخالفها ضال. ينطبق على الجميع من سجناء القناطر الى كل من حزن من هزيمة ١٩٦٧ الي كل من حزن عند وفاة عبد الناصر

لا ادري اذا كان التغيير في الأيدلوجية حدث عقب كتابتها لهذه المذكرات و لكني أشك ان النذعة التمييزية الواضحة في كتابتها قد تكون تغيرت. تركني الكتاب في حالة حزن و غضب و جزء من الغضب كان من نفسي لفشلي في التعاطف الكافي معها في قصص التعذيب الفظيع التي عانتها. سأظل أفكر في هذا الكتاب لفترة طويلة،

Embrace by Brooklyn Bridge .. The Mess that is Egyptian Immigrant Identity!

Review of Embrace by Brooklyn Bridge by Ezzedine Choukri Fishere

As I started reading Embrace by Brooklyn Bridge by EzzedineChoukri Fishere, I found myself thinking of David Guterson’s East of the Mountains. Beautifully written prose of great men coming to terms, with their imminent death, tiding up their worldly affairs and moving on, into the wilderness to face their ends, away from the distractions of their busy successful lives. The book starts with recently diagnosed Professor Darweesh, an accomplished Egyptian American academic, who is planning his departure from New York City after hosting a big birthday dinner for his granddaughter, who is visiting him from Egypt. I had read Fishere’s latest book The Exit’s Gate first and was somewhat surprised at the different pace of Brooklyn, exactly as I had been ten years ago, reading Guterson’s transition from Snow Falling on Cedar to East of the Mountains; from fast moving, taut dramas to a slow reflective, contemplative end of life meanderings.

The first chapter of Brooklyn introduced us to Darweesh’s life and his difficult family relationships. Fishere managed to weave several complex characters with nuances and peculiarities around his central figure. When I finished the first chapter, I was still fully expecting a continuation similar to Guterson’s East of the Mountain, but no! I was in for a surprise, a real treat, other characters came to the fore ... I started to think Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible, with multiple family members recounting similar events and also recalled another Egyptian writer Youssif Al Qaid, whose work was my first exposure to a this new class of Egyptian writers employing innovative literary instruments in their work.

Fishere kept on, with each new chapter introducing us to fascinating new people, all connected to Darweesh, mostly through family. So the masterful character development displayed at the first chapter continued, with yet more nuance, more color around extended family and associates, seamlessly connecting to yet, mostly, additional well-rounded characters.

The people we meet in Embrace by Brooklyn Bridge reveal so much to us about the immigrant experience, from the fully assimilated to those distant and estranged, struggling with identity issues. Fishere’s creations are amazingly real; I feel that I have met people like them. After few chapters, I discovered that Brooklyn is not really centered on Darweesh or his illness but rather a collection of sub plots, each focused on its own heroes and only some remotely related to Darweesh. Virtually each of the people we meet is worthy of their own full-length novel, to deal with their lives and their identity struggles. Novelists rarely display the blatantly obvious truth that all human’s life is ultimately, mostly self-centered; Fishere gets it!

Many Egyptian readers would probably learn more, about the tragedy of neighboring Darfur from Fishere’s book as we get to know Darweesh’s son. To American readers, when this wonderful work is ultimately published in English, Darweesh’s son would probably come across, as a typical American worldly type, the sort that is enlists with Peace Corps, a genuinely conscientious college type struggling with the evils in the world, so not the struggles of an immigrant, but those resembling the native born Americans.  The Islamist Dawood, playing at moderation is a character that would shock western readers, but his beliefs would not shock Egyptians so much. Fishere’s creativity and restraint are amazing; restraint comes in, as he feeds us enough about a character, but leaves us hanging, wanting more; it is seductive restraint! With Dawood, we are left unsure of who the man really is, does he suffer from delusions of grandeur or was he really a master terrorist.

With the large number of primary and secondary characters such as those created by Fishere, it is inevitable that some would wind up being carton like, single dimensional, and we do have a small minority of those here, the most obvious for me ,were the overly cruel and overly loving Washington DC immigrants, where the son eventually ceases contact with the father. Perhaps, the single dimensional aspect here, is a mere reflection of the son own development and struggles as the lone brown boy in his school. While Fishere avoided the trap of flowery Arabic with overly repetitive and redundant adjective, some of his words came across, overly distant, almost of the type one would find in a book translated into the Arabic Language rather than actually written in it.

It is hard to review this work without actually “spoiling it”. The literary quality of the writing and the character roundedness are real treats, but we are actually offered a feast, not just a couple of treats; there is immense suspense too, at multiple levels!  Virtually every single chapter, leaves in suspense as to what will happen next to the particular person, not just in the immediate future, but, we are brought into empathizing with the person in total, their relationships, their future, we want them to overcome, to be happy, to manage … to find solace. The suspense is at different levels, will this person make it to the party on time? What will happen to his or her work, life or love affairs? Even Darweesh’s daughter, who we don’t directly meet, we want to know what really influenced her … what it is next for her.

Ezzedine Fishere created a true masterpiece, beautifully crafted and developed. The style is highly unusual, especially for Arabic Literature, but utterly contemporary.  The detail of the places and customs reflect keen observation and pleasure in the subtle details. As I finished the book, I couldn’t help thinking that, published in the English Language, this book would surely be Pulitzer Prize material. And looking back at it, in total, my Guterson and Kingsolver comparisons apply, only to parts, but not to the whole. Embrace by Brooklyn Bridge leaves me with that sense of loss and emptiness that I had reading works of Annie Proulx; The Shipping News, but more so  Accordion Crimes and Close Range. Embrace by Brooklyn Bridge is a very special work, by an amazing writer who has, truly, mastered his craft.

AA

January 20, 2013   

Jehan Sadat - My Hope For Peace - Book Review

This new book by Jehan Sadat, widow of the late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, reads like combination of timely essays and an autobiography that reads easily. The essays include impassioned well reasoned and referenced defense of Islam as a religion of peace and equality distancing Islam from violence and women subjugation. While Jehan Sadat religious belief of what Islam is, or rather her (our) versions of Islam are closely aligned, this part came across weaker than it could because of excessive generalizations. It is abundantly clear that a small majority or substantial minority of Egyptians doesn’t share Jehan Sadat or my versions of Islam.

Another essay like portion of the book covered Egyptian feminist movement and famous Egyptian feminists of the last one hundred years.  This was well researched and presented and only lacked those leftist feminists that suffered on the hands of Egyptian rulers. While she addressed the struggle for women suffrage, the omission of those who struggled for women suffrage in the early 1950’s and were subjected to regime hostility came across as an obvious omission. Similarly, while “we” may dislike and disapprove of Islamist ideology, leaving out Egyptian women leaders who advocated Islamist policies is another glaring shortcoming, in an otherwise good essay. Needless to say, such leftist and Islamist women suffered under both presidents Nasser and Sadat.

Separate from the essays, two central themes dominate the book, one is the history of President Sadat, including her life as a first lady, and another her life as a widow and an independent woman post his assassination.  Jehan Sadat aimed to portray her late husband actions in the best possible light and primarily as a man of peace, her defense of his actions was total. While this is understandable and perhaps it would be unthinkable for her to comment negatively on the rule of her beloved husband, this part came across somewhat weak. I found it difficult that Jehan Sadat did not recognize that her late husband presided over a totalitarian police state and that many people were imprisoned and tortured during his rule. Moreover, those were not only sectarian Islamists as she claimed but also many who opposed him including leftists, liberals and Coptic Christians. Indeed Sadat took a hostile position against Sana Hassan (author of Enemy in the Promised land) who strongly advocated for peace with Israel, Hassan was the wife of an Egyptian diplomat, Tahseen Bashir, who was pressured by Sadat to divorce her.

While it may help Jehan Sadat view of her husband to portray Sadat as a man of peace, who worked tirelessly for peace for decades, somehow I felt as an Egyptian American who lived the Sadat era, that Jehan Sadat wasted an opportunity at shedding more light on a man who, was clearly an Egyptian patriot, but was more about being practical and goal oriented than being a man of peace. Sadat moved quickly to achieve his goals and his actions could have been more objectively analyzed, while remaining sympathetic. Nonetheless Jehan Sadat had many fascinating tales of President Sadat.

The most enjoyable parts of the book and the parts that come across most honest and revealing are those about Jehan Sadat herself, a real pleasure to read. Jehan Sadat, did not put herself on a pedestal and tried to defend her actions, she rather allowed her fears, uncertainties, weaknesses to show. The tales of her move from Cairo to the US and her life in the US, including receiving her first pay check, her first bank account, her first time arranging her own accommodation in Washington DC are all fascinating to read. Jehan comes across a courageous and determined woman, with deep faith and lots of humanity.

While, the essay and the defensiveness of Anwar Sadat have some obvious weaknesses, this does not reduce from the overall value of My Hope For Peace. Jehan Sadat, is not only a fascinating woman, she clearly is a talented writer with a gift for easy prose that flows. I highly recommend the book and I very much hope, that Jehan Sadat would write again

AA

October 12, 2012