The future of culture in Egypt is linked to its distant past

Coinciding with the Book fair, the relationship of culture in Egypt with its distant past

Written by Dr Taha Hussain

I am one of the most ascetic people in illusion , and turning away from false images that don't depict anything. And I am convinced that only God can create something out of nothing.

As for people, they cannot and are not able to do that. For this reason, I believe that the new Egypt will not be innovated, nor will it be invented, and that it will only be established on the ancient, eternal Egypt. And that the future of culture in Egypt will be nothing but a valid, uplifting and excellent extension for its humble, dilapidated and weak present.

That's why I don't like to think about the future of culture in Egypt without highlighting its distant past and its near present because we neither want nor can cut what connects between us, our past and present, and the more we establish our future life on our past and present life, the more we avoid many dangers that happen because of exaggeration, underestimating, surrendering to delusions and getting carried away with dreams.

However, the real serious issue that we must make clear and free from all doubts: Is Egypt from the east or the west?  And here I don't mean geographical east and geographical west but I mean the cultural east and the cultural west. As it may appear, we have two different kinds of culture on earth with a hateful struggle between them, and each of them meets its owner only as a warrior or preparing for war. One of these two kinds is that we find in Europe since old ages, and the other one is that we find in the far East since old ages as well. 

We can put this issue in a clear situation by answering those questions: Does the Egyptian mind have an eastern perception, realization, understanding and judgement on things? or does it have a western perception, realization, understanding and judgement on things? In short, which is easier for the Egyptian mind: to understand a Chinese or Japanese man? Or to understand a French or English man?

This is the issue that must be clarified before we think about the foundations on which we should base our culture and science.

I think one of the easiest ways to clarify this issue is to return to the history of the Egyptian mind since its ancient ages, then keep pace with this mind in its long, arduous, twisting history until now. The first thing we notice in the history of Egyptian life is that we don't know that there were continuous links between Egypt and the distant east that could affect their thinking, politics or economic systems.

I don't think that scholars of ancient Egyptian history can point us to monuments or texts that testify the existence of these continuous and organized connections between Egypt in its early ages and the far East. And perhaps the most they can tell us about that is the attempts that history almost tells at the end of the Pharaonic era, showing Egypt's tendency to explore the Red Sea coasts, going further in that in somehow but with some caution, precaution and shyness. And I don't think that they passed some of the economic ambitions that were aroused in them by some of the yields of India and southern Arabia. From this way, they tried something but didn't move forward, didn't push away and didn't set any kind of connections that could have a profound effect on thinking, politics and economy.

I don't think that the connection between ancient Egyptians and eastern countries have gone further than the near East which we call Palestine, al-Sham and Iraq. This east which is located in the Mediterranean basin.

There's no doubt that the connection between the ancient Egyptians and these countries from the near East was strong, continuous and highly organized. Moreover, it had a great impact on the mental, political and economic life of all these countries. As the myths of the Egyptians tell us that their gods have crossed the Egyptian borders and went to visit people of these eastern countries. And the history of the Egyptians tells us that the kings of Egypt have sometimes extended their authority over these countries, and it also tells us that Egypt has been exposed to some political danger in these countries.

The ancient Egyptian history also tells us that Egypt was a major force of the political-economic balance in those ages, not only in comparison to these countries but also by comparing it to other countries that were the cradle of this European civilization, which we want to know what connection could be between them and us.

Wasting time and effort in vain is to separate the relations between Egypt and the ancient Aegean civilization, and the relations between Egypt and the Greek civilization in its early ages, and then the relations between Egypt and the Greek civilization in the ages of its flourishing since the VI century BC till the days of Alexander.

Students learn in schools that Egypt has known Greece since a very long time ago, and that the Greek colonies were acknowledged by the Pharaohs in Egypt before the first century BC.

Students also learn in schools that an eastern nation, somewhat far from Egypt, occupied it and removed its authority at the end of the VI century BC, and it's the Persian nation. Egypt didn't submit to this foreign eastern sultan except hatedly and it continued to resist it with the strongest and most violent resistance, aided by the volunteer Greece at one time and the alliance of the Greek cities at another time, until the era of The Great Alexander.

The meaning of all this is very clear, which is that the Egyptian mind didn't connect with the mind of the Far East in a dangerous manner, and didn't live a life of peace and cooperation with the Persian mind but rather lived with it a life of war and strife.

This also means that the Egyptian mind has connected, on one hand, with the countries of the near East in an organized manner, influencing and being influenced by its life, while on the other hand, it has connected with the Greek mind since its early ages, a connection of cooperation and agreement, with a continuous organized exchange of benefit, in art, politics and economics.

The meaning of all of this is, in the end, self-evident, the European smiles when we tell him about it because he has it from the first, but the Egyptian and the Arab East meet it with something of denial and amazement, which differs according to their share of culture and science, which is that the Egyptian mind since its early ages is a mind that if it is affected by something, it is affected by the Mediterranean Sea ,And if there are exchange of various benefits, they are exchanged with the peoples of the Mediterranean.