Helwa ya Baladi – My Lovely Country

February 13, 2011 in The Official Blog | No comments

Cleaning a statue on Kasr El Nile Bridge - Photo, Arwa Mahmoud

Beautification efforts began Saturday in what appears to be Egypt’s biggest cleanup initiative in recent history.  Not only did people take to the streets to clean and repair Tahrir Square, they turned out in droves to clean their own neighborhoods.  Inspirational songs like Helwa ya Baladi played over the loudspeakers.

A flyer that was distributed yesterday said:

Today this country is your country. Do not litter. Don’t drive through traffic lights. Don’t bribe. Don’t forge paperwork. Don’t drive the wrong way. Don’t drive quickly to be cool while putting lives at risk. Don’t enter through the exit door at the Metro. Don’t harass women. Don’t say, ‘It’s not my problem.’ Consider God in your work. We have no excuse anymore.

Before, people threw garbage on the street wherever they went.  When I asked a friend why they did that, he said, “the street sweepers have to do their jobs; no trash, no job”.  Huh?!?  What kind of justification is that?

In 2004, my then-12-year-old son and I met with a group of children in a village community center in Giza.  After we told them about ourselves, one child raised her hand and asked what we liked best about Egypt.  That’s a very easy answer that remains true even today – the people.  Another child raised his hand and asked what we didn’t like about Egypt. That’s also a very easy answer (and still true today) – the garbage in the street.   A boy of around 10 raised his hand when I talked about the garbage and said, “yes, America is very clean”.  I tried to explain that America hadn’t always been clean; in fact, when I was a child it was much like Egypt, with trash on the street, in waterways and barely a care for the fact that much of the population was litterbugs.

If you’re around my age or older, you’ll remember that back in the early 70s, when Earth Day was in its infancy, the Ad Council released two public service campaigns about protecting the environment.  Woodsy Owl and his still memorable “Give a hoot, don’t pollute” slogan was directed at elementary-aged children.  Young students across America then guilted their families into finding a trash can every time the smallest gum wrapper was tossed on the ground.  Slowly but surely it started to make a difference.

The Crying Indian (who we found out later wasn’t an Indian at all, but an Italian-American actor who played Indian characters in Westerns) was famous for the single tear running down his face when nature had been trashed.  His slogan – “People start pollution; people can stop it” – is especially relevant to Egypt.  Those PSAs changed the mindset of Americans about littering. 

Now, there has been a sea-change in the psyche of Egyptians.  I can only hope that Egyptian advertising, PR and marketing agencies will form their own Ad Council-like organization to bring public service messages to the Egyptian people.  Egyptian children – like children worldwide – are sponges.  They’ll soak up what we teach them, especially if we make it fun.  They can then pass it along to their older brothers and sisters, parents, aunts, uncles and neighbors.  Eventually it will stick and people will think twice about dropping their trash.

Tonight, eight representatives of the youth movement which was at the forefront of the demonstrations were invited to meet to exchange ideas with two members of the Supreme Military Council that is acting as the interim government until elections.  At approximately 10:30 Cairo time Sunday night, Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who has become one of the iconic faces of the Egyptian revolution after he disappeared for 12 days in secret police custody, tweeted, “Got approval from the army to start the 100 Billion [Egyptian] Pounds campaign to reconstruct Egypt and help the families of martyrs & injured”.  Egyptians could be off to an even better start than they imagined.

Just as the images of the past three weeks are burned into your brains, the pictures of Egyptians out with brooms, disinfectant, graffiti cleaners and repair tools can’t adequately be described in words.  It’s best that I just share a few so you can get an idea of the magnitude of their efforts.

Jan Diggs is Arabia Inform’s Global Business Development Manager and has been based in Cairo for more than 5 years.

Other posts about the Egyptian revolution:

Tahrir Square: day of departure?

Muslims and Copts hand in hand

Today we are all Egyptians

Anthems of the Egyptian revolution

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You say you want a revolution – Songs & Anthems of the Egyptian Revolution

February 12, 2011 in The Official Blog | No comments

Egyptian Revolution Poster (artist unknown)

Last week, Richard Cohen, Washington Post columnist, wrote an editorial called Democracies Don’t Happen Overnight about the events occurring in Egypt.  In it he noted, “the only revolutionary element missing was a rousing song”.  On that point he was absolutely wrong. Music is something incredibly important to Egyptians and has been since the days of the Pharaohs.  There’s no way any major event here – much less a full-out revolution – could occur without music.

From the spontaneous singing breaking out all over Tahrir Square to the gut-wrenching images accompanied by nationalistic lyrics and sweeping melodies to an angry piece written by a group of Arab-American rappers & musicians in solidarity with the demonstrators, the past two weeks were replete with “rousing songs” – the anthems of Egypt’s revolution.  Some are sung in English, others are subtitled, but many are only in Arabic.  Some are very professional and others amateurish but heartfelt.  Forget the fact that you might not be able to understand the words and just immerse yourself in the moment.

The first song that came to my attention was in one of the spontaneous events mentioned above – it happened on the Friday after the terrible Wednesday/Thursday when the protesters were attacked with horses, camels, whips, sticks, stones, tear gas and Molotov cocktails.  The atmosphere in the crowd was festive and celebratory.  Nothing fancy here – just a few guitar chords and the slogans used by the demonstrators all that week – but it’s a catchy little tune that you won’t be able to get out of your head easily.  [Updated:  learned on Feb 28 that the singer's name is Ramy Essam.  He's from Mansoura Egypt and what I called the 'slogan song' is actually entitled "Leave".]

This rap song by a group of Arab-American rappers and musicians was “inspired by the resilience of Egyptian people during their recent uprising” and one of the artists – Omar Offendum (offend ‘em – get it?  It’s also a play on words of a Turkish word adopted by Egyptians during the Ottoman rule – effendum – which is a polite and formal way of saying “mister” or “sir”) had several TV interviews to express their support for the protesters.

Fun and informal things that came out of the crowds in Tahrir Square included:

  • Singing a Sheikh Imam revolutionist song from the 1970s, accompanied by one of my favorite instruments – the oud (and if you had any doubt left that this was a revolution of the people – all people – take a look at the faces of the children, young adults, middle aged, the elderly, men, women, city dwellers, suburbanites and farmers)
  • Ahlaf b’smaha wi turabha (I swear with the sky and the soil) – a nationalistic song from 1956 – being played over the loudspeakers
  • OST Revolt Song with singing and dancing
  • Laugh with the Revolution – the same guy from the ‘slogan’ song [Updated:  learned on Feb 28 that his name is Ramy Essam.  He's from Mansoura Egypt and what I called the 'slogan song' is actually entitled "Leave"] sings “laugh o revolution (i-sawra)”  and the crowd shouts back “Ha, Ha, Ha!”
  • El Tanbura (folk music troupe) in Tahrir Square, calling for the people to join them in protest and celebration

From Egypt, but not directly from Tahrir Square:

  • From a singer so famous they call him “The Voice of Egypt,” Mohamed Mounir’s Ezzay (How?)
  • Another of Egypt’s very famous singers, Amr Diab, recently released Masr A’Let (Egypt Said), in tribute to the revolution’s martyrs (click on “Interactive Transcript” below the video to see English lyrics)
  • This rap song by Ramy Danjewan – Egypt’s Revolution Song Against the Government – has some very interesting kanoun instrumentals in the background, but also contains a few graphic images (no worse than what’s been shown on Al Jazeera but definitely more graphic than a US TV station would show)
  • Kareem Abd El-Wahab’s original electronic music, interspersed with protesters chanting – with clever stop-motion video of some revolution scenes that weren’t commonly shown on TV 
  • (Nile) Delta Monsters
  • The Man Behind Omar Suleiman (referring to a “mystery man” who was standing behind Vice President Omar Suleiman during his February 11 announcement that Hosni Mubarak had resigned).  Despite many calls to know his identity, no one has stepped forward.
  • The Birth of a New Egypt
  • Egyptian Revolution Theme Song (one of many called by this name)
  • A tribute to the revolution’s martyrs
  • And another tribute to the martyrs
  • This was a popular anti-government rap song
  • Not Your Prisoner has a few parts that sound like “The Chipmunks sing the Egyptian Revolution” but morphs into another angry rap number
  • Dream with Me (Ehlam Ma’aya) – simply beautiful – English subtitles (it was not written specifically for the revolution but was juxtaposed with images from the protests) – the song is by Hamza Namira
  • Sabry/Digla’s Tamam Ya Fandim (sic – Tamam ya’efendum – Yes Sir) is dedicated to the heroes of the Egyptian revolution
  • Egyptian actor, Ahmed Mekky, teams with Mohamed Mohsen to rap 25th January about humiliation and injustice vs. dignity
  • From the Mado Acoustic project comes Alo Magnoon Gadeeda (Hello New Crazy) addressing the cynics of the Egyptian revolution…”they call him crazy/he who thinks this country could one day change” (the melody was originally used in a TV advertising campaign for Etisalat, one of the three Egyptian mobile telephone service providers)
  • Khalid Al Sawy, an Egyptian actor, re-released a 2004 rap song – Al Ghadab (Anger) – and dedicated it to the Egyptian revolution
  • Egyptian Intifada – using in the background a classic Sheikh Imam song by the poet Ahmed Fouad Negm – the lyrics of which are relevant again decades after it was originally recorded
  • Egyptian rappers, Arabian Knightz (mixing in Lauren Hill) song Rebel - recorded during the first week of the revolution but released a few days later because of government internet shutdown
  • A thank you from the Egyptian people to the international media

And there were also tributes from other parts of the world:

Finally, in a constant battle for my designation of “favorite” (against Sout Al-Houriya – by Hany Adel and Amir Eid – and the spontaneous ‘slogan’ song  [Updated:  learned on Feb 28 that the singer's name is Ramy Essam.  He's from Mansoura Egypt and what I called the 'slogan song' is actually entitled "Leave".]) comes Tehia Masr (Long Live Egypt).  Watch these three one after the other and you won’t know whether to shout with joy or cry your eyes out for the people who died.

There may be more “anthems” out there, so if you know of others please feel free to comment, provide me a link and I’ll add it to the post here.

( ♪  Just in case anyone missed the post title’s reference to “you say you want a revolution,” it’s the first line in the 1968 Beatles’ song Revolution, inspired by political protests against the Vietnam War earlier that year.  ♪ )

Jan Diggs is Arabia Inform’s Global Business Development Manager and has been based in Cairo for more than 5 years.

UPDATE February 14:  As I get new links, I’ll be adding them into the body of the post.  However, this tribute video posted on YouTube February 11 by Egyptian singer Tamer Hosny required a further explanation.  Tamer did a TV interview during the height of the demonstrations and urged protesters to go home.  He fawningly referred to Mubarak as his father, saying that a father wants what’s best for his children.  A few days later when it was clear the protesters were winning, he went to Tahrir Square and (supposedly) sincerely tried to show regret for his original statements and support for the revolutionary cause.  He was booed out of Tahrir Square and then filmed crying about why they wouldn’t welcome him.  A sign in Tahrir Square that night read “Down with Hosni Mubarak….and Tamer Hosny”.  It remains to be seen whether or not his musical “apology” will be accepted.   Will all be forgiven or is his career over?

UPDATE:  February 16.  Several more songs have been added above, so take a listen to whatever you haven’t heard already.  There’s another song I’ve been looking for and just found today.  It also needs further explanation (video has English subtitles).  It was recorded by an all-star cast of Egyptian celebrities.  Misr Moftah Al Haya – Egypt is the Key of Life  was actually released in mid-January to foster Christian/Muslim national unity after the Alexandria church bombing on New Year’s eve (according to some reports, there may be evidence to suggest that the Ministry of the Interior was directly connected and there is an investigation ongoing).  The reason I include it in this “Anthems” post is that – at the height of the protests and after 2 days of violence against the protesters – Mehwar TV brought its viewers a “surprise” and broadcast this video during a very popular politically-focused talk show.  Although the message is beautiful – rejecting any enemy of life and bringing all Egyptians together – it was controversial because the independent Mehwar generally has a strongly pro-government stance and several of the celebrities involved had come out publicly during the protests, supported Hosni Mubarak and encouraged the protesters to go home. Airing the video during the protests was considered by some to be sponsoring propaganda that might have been interpreted to mean “we’re all Egyptians who support Hosni Mubarak”.

Other posts about the Egyptian revolution:

Tahrir Square: day of departure?

Muslims and Copts hand in hand

Today we are all Egyptians

Helwa ya Balady – my lovely country

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Today We Are All Egyptians! (Innaharda Ehna Kullina Misryeen!)

February 11, 2011 in The Official Blog | No comments

Egyptians had hoped that Feb 10 would be the day Hosni Mubarak would step down when this rainbow appeared after a rare thunderstorm - Photo, Ayman Mohyeldin

We are all Egyptians.  That’s been one of the mantras of the past 2-1/2 weeks but today it was truer than ever.

When I moved here 5-1/2 years ago, something puzzled me about Egyptians.  There seemed to be some fundamental difference with me as an American.  Took me awhile to figure it out, but it finally hit me that Americans expect to be able to get almost anything until they’re told they can’t have it (and even then sometimes they go after it anyway).  Egyptians (generalizing here, but indulge me) expected that they couldn’t have something until they were told that they could.  In my mind – and to close friends – I postulated that what they really needed was a sense of pride in themselves and national pride in Egypt.  I wasn’t sure that the tides could turn in this – or even the next – generation.

Since the protests started on January 25 and on every day since then, Egyptians have turned my simplistic theory on its head.  I’ve always known that Egyptians were resourceful, resilient people who had an incredible sense of humor, but I couldn’t dream of them turning the world upside down in 18 days. [here's another example of Egyptian humor]

Everyone who knows me will tell you that I’m rarely, if ever, speechless – but today left me without words.  Well, at least for about 2 minutes and then I was yammering away with a room full of three generations of Egyptians – some of whom had lived through two wars and then still suffered directly from oppression and inexplicable detentions under the 30-year Emergency Law, others of whom are young and had wondered about what future they could possibly have in the Egypt they were born into.

Tonight, the streets of Egypt are on fire – this time not with Molotov cocktails or burning tires but with joy, elation, pride, hope and optimism.

Each and every Egyptian has a picture in their minds of the Egypt they had never imagined they’d imagine.  Tomorrow and the days to come will bring new details of the hard job ahead of them – to rewrite their constitution, define presidential qualifications and powers, prepare for the first “free and fair” elections in their history, rebuild the economy and welcome expats and tourists back into a country that is known for its hospitality. 

Anyone who tells you that Egypt is not ready for democracy is flat out wrong.  It may not be the style of democracy that Western powers think they should have, but it will be democracy nonetheless.  A democracy fought for by Egyptians, won by Egyptians, created by Egyptians and – with every ballot in that box, whether it’s in September or a few months later – voted into reality by Egyptians.  They will be Christians and Muslims (Brotherhood, conservatives,  moderates and Sufi), secular, Baha’i, young, old, rich, poor, political or not, even the few remaining Egyptian Jews in a society that is rapidly becoming extinct - they are Egyptians who deserve this chance to use the voice they’ve finally freed.

If you’ve never been to Egypt, come.  It’ll be the trip of a lifetime (long ago I thought it would be my “once in a lifetime”) that you’ll never regret.  You’ll have a great time and every dollar you put into the tourism industry here will have the extra bonus of being a vote of confidence in their future.  It’ll take a little while to get things back to operating smoothly, but for the adventurers, there will be some amazing travel bargains coming up soon.

If you’re in business and looking for a way to get in on the ground floor, there will be myriad opportunities during and after the transition period.  Come share your experience and also use the time to listen and learn from people who will be more than willing to be motivated, hard working and eager to prove themselves.

No one thinks it will be easy, but Egyptians are up for the challenge.

In closing, I’d like to share a few of my favorite images of this revolution and I hope that you will feel Egyptian too.

This YouTube video – Sout Al Houriya (Voice of Freedom) shows some of the collected images of Tahrir Square and is set to original music.

Hats off (pun intended) to the bread-head and halla helmeted (halla are pots & pans) men who created innovative ways to protect themselves from rocks hurled by the thugs who sought to crush them a few days into demonstrations.

To share a tiny bit of the Cairo celebration with you, check out this video from Al Jazeera English, shot from their Cairo bureau office and allowing you to be a part of what it would be like if you were here.   And this video in Tahrir Square, with fireworks and flares set off in celebration.

There were so many clever and funny signs in Tahrir Square, but this was one of my favorites.  My son has said for years that the reason Egyptians love me is that they treasure ancient things.  May be, but I treasure them right back.

I have a hundred or more things I loved that I could put here, but in the interest of time, I’ll end with something from one of my two favorite correspondents, Ayman Mohyeldin of Al Jazeera International (as noted in my earlier post, Ben Wedeman of CNN was the other one).  Their superb coverage of events in Egypt over the past few weeks should leave no doubt in your minds that Americans should also have unfettered access to this channel.  At around 11:15 Cairo time tonight (4:15 EST), Ayman tweeted, “today witnessed the fall of one man from power and the empowerment of 80 million Egyptians”.  So true.

From this humbled honorary Egyptian, alf mabrouk – 1000 congratulations - and I hope that I can be a part, in any small way, of building the new, extraordinary Egypt of today and tomorrow.  I hear that the cleanup effort starts Saturday in Tahrir Square.  I’ll be there with the garbage bags and gloves I’ve been saving for the past 5 years and just waiting for Egyptians to give me a chance to use!

Jan Diggs is Arabia Inform’s Global Business Development Manager and has been based in Cairo for more than 5 years.

Other posts about the Egyptian revolution:

Tahrir Square: day of departure?

Muslims and Copts hand in hand

Anthems of the Egyptian revolution

Helwa ya Balady – my lovely country

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Sunday Chant in Tahrir Square: Muslims and Copts hand in hand for a new dawn to rise

February 7, 2011 in The Official Blog | No comments

 
 
 
Photo by Nadia El-Awady

On February 6, a Coptic priest led a mass for Christians in Tahrir Square, joined by tens of thousands of Muslims.  That might look commonplace to Americans who readily join friends of other faiths in celebrations of various lifecycle events, but let me assure you that here in Cairo, it’s rare for the two groups to be intertwined so deeply in a religious event.  A lot of people are noticing that any sectarian tension at all between Muslims and Christians seems to have disappeared overnight.  Coptic churches that two weeks ago were guarded by Egyptian security forces now stand alone.  Yet there has been no aggression against Christians at all.  None.  Egyptians are loving that and praying that the unity continues.  

Original artwork by Carlos Latuff

There are many photos online that show the events of February 6, but this cartoon particularly caught my eye as capturing the intended spirit of the day…

Flickr

 …as did this photo of a Coptic priest and a Muslim Imam hoisted into the air by the protesters.   

At the beginning of the demonstrations on January 25, the majority of Christians seemed a bit wary of participating.  Now many of them are in Tahrir Square every day and are increasingly joined by their religious clergy, despite the fact that Baba Shenouda (Pope Shenouda III, head of the Egyptian Coptic community –baba is casual Arabic for “father”) early on expressed his support for Hosni Mubarak to continue until the end of his term and encouraged other Copts to do the same.

On February 6, the Coptic priest in Tahrir Square ended the service by saying (in Arabic), “In the name of Christ and Muhammad, we unite our ranks all together.”  And the mixed Christian and Muslim crowd expressed their unity by roaring back, “One hand!  One hand!  One hand!  One hand!  One hand!  One hand!”  There were Coptic crosses side by side with crescent moons, Qurans and Egyptian flags. 

Daily News Egypt, one of the English language papers, published this article hailing the day as one more unprecedented thing in a couple of weeks full of both positive and negative unprecedented events.  Global Voices featured this story about the elderly father of one of the protesters, who had decided to come join the crowd.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, before I moved to Egypt 5-1/2 years ago, I didn’t know much about the Arabic language or about Islam.  Well, even after 5-1/2 years here, I can say that I know even less about the Coptic Christians.  It’s inevitable in a country of approximately 80 million people, where around 71 million of them are Muslim, that I wouldn’t be deeply exposed to Coptic Christians on an average day.  So when I heard that they were going to have a Coptic mass in Tahrir Square yesterday, I set out to do some research to educate myself. 

Several years ago on one of my many tourist visits to Egypt, I had the great pleasure to visit a thousand-year-old Coptic church in one of the small villages outside Giza.  It’s well off the beaten tourist path – I was with only four other people and we were welcomed with open arms.  The artwork and religious artifacts were beautifully preserved and still in regular use.  The caretaker was blind, but told us (in Arabic, with a friend translating for us) that he knew the church so well that he could do everything even without his sight.  Before he gave us a tour of the small structure, he described the history of the church, recited some of the Coptic scripture and sang a hymn or two.  He had the most beautiful, lyrical voice that could almost put you into a trance.

Ignorantly (before I moved here), I’d always thought that Copts were a single unit, practicing their faith in exactly the same way.  According to Wikipedia, the majority of Copts are members of the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Orthodox Church, but there are also Protestant (called Evangelicals in Arabic), Catholics and other Orthodox congregations. 

Technically they’re all Copts, because the word “Copt” evolved from the ancient Greek word for Egypt.  Copts were the original Egyptian Christians and have been here for thousands of years.  In their everyday life, Egyptian Copts speak the native language – Arabic.  However, in their religious services, they use the Coptic language.  Obviously that’s been adapted by Copts in the Diaspora and services in other countries may use the language of wherever they are, interspersed with some Coptic.  Diaspora services are very much like a Catholic church in the US that might do the service in English with a bit of Latin thrown in – or a Jewish service with mixed English and Hebrew.

Written, the Coptic language looks a bit like Greek.  Many churches in the Diaspora have multimedia lessons to teach children Coptic.  This presentation from the Coptic churches of Northern California, teaches the Lord’s Prayer.

Many of the Coptic hymns trace their origins to Pharaonic times.  Obviously the words were different, but the melodies were the same.  This is a version of Epouro, reportedly one of the melodies traced back to ancient times.  The Library of Congress offers a few videos about the late Ragheb Moftah, a Coptic music historian, and the preeminent authority on the subject if you’d like to learn more.

Hymns and liturgies can be slow and subdued or uplifting and joyful.  This video shows a Coptic priest in Wadi Natroun, Egypt reciting part of the liturgy in preparation for communion.

I had planned to post this hours ago, but got lost in my research and thoroughly enjoyed watching the different videos and listening to the absolutely breathtaking sounds that emanate from the Coptic churches.  A Google or YouTube search for “Coptic Hymns” or “Coptic Liturgy” will yield further results if you’re interested in hearing more.

If the protesters in Tahrir Square have their way, this week is just the beginning of a renewed national unity and the opportunity for all – including Coptic Christians – to have a strong voice in the future of Egypt.

Ahmad and Oula in front of Egyptian army tank

 

 On another note, there was a second celebration in Tahrir Square yesterday.  Dr Ahmad Zaafan, a pharmacologist, and his fiancee, Oula Abdul Hamid, got married and plan to spend their honeymoon with the protesters.

 

 

UPDATE February 23:  Love this video of an Egyptian flag connecting a mosque and a Coptic church. 

Jan Diggs is Arabia Inform’s Global Business Development Manager and has been based in Cairo for more than 5 years.  This article is not intended to promote any political or religious position, but is to encourage you to learn more for yourself.

Other posts about the Egyptian revolution:

Tahrir Square: day of departure?

Today we are all Egyptians

Anthems of the Egyptian revolution

Helwa ya Balady – my lovely country

Tags: , , , ,

Tahrir Square: Day of Departure?

February 5, 2011 in The Official Blog | No comments

Photo by Gigi Ibrahim, Egypt

 

This would have been more current on February 4 when I wrote it, but due to some unexpected server disruptions, we were left without a blog.  I am still in Egypt but far outside the city center, so I haven’t experienced much of what’s happening in the streets of Cairo.  I feel very fortunate to be able to access Al Jazeera International and CNN, both of which have had superb coverage.  Until Thursday’s widespread and seemingly coordinated attacks on journalists, Al Jazeera had almost 24-hour live streaming video of Tahrir Square and CNN wasn’t too far behind.  Both stations have had correspondents on the ground and some of them have extraordinary insight into the situation. 

All of the journalists in Egypt and associated with these two channels are excellent, but in particular I have to commend CNN’s Ben Wedeman (Twitter @bencnn) and Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin (Twitter @AymanM).  Ben has lived in Egypt since 1998 and has the kind of understanding of subtleties that only comes from living in a place and interacting with the people on a daily basis.  I don’t know much about Ayman, but I’ve been watching and listening to him regularly since the beginning of the protest and greatly appreciate his reporting.  A print columnist I’ve loved reading for capturing the deep humanity in these events is Pulitzer Prize-winning Nick Kristof from the New York Times (Twitter @NickKristof).

 I’m sure you’ve heard the English translations of the political slogans that the protesters have been chanting:  “Down, Down with Mubarak!”  “Leave, Leave!”  “Illegitimate!”  “Corrupt!” and hearing the political, foreign policy and economic analysts breaking down anything and everything and pontificating about what’s next.  I’ll stay away from that angle and let you judge for yourself through the traditional and social media.  I do highly recommend you watch or read a range of domestic and international sources, because there are definitely some biases one way or the other out there.  There are also so many rumors I’ve lost track.  Although firsthand Twitter and blog accounts are fascinating to follow, they may also be sources of unconfirmed information and unfounded rumors.

You may also hear many shouts of Allahu Akbar.  Literally the phrase means “God is the greatest” but like the American phrase “Oh My God” it is used in a variety of ways in different contexts, including some more lighthearted and sarcastic ones.  The West is used to interpreting it as a symbol of jihad (another widely misunderstood term, but that’s a subject for another day).  In the case of Tahrir Square, Allahu Akbar is being used both as a term of blessing and as a term of celebration. 

On Wednesday and into early Thursday morning – when the protesters were being viciously attacked – you may have also heard people shouting Ya Rab.  Translated, it means “Oh God” or “Oh My Lord”.  In that time when those people feared for their safety and their lives, they were calling on God to help and protect them.  It is also a term that’s used in different contexts, including in everyday slang. 

You might have also heard frantic screams of Ya Lawhi!  That’s an Egyptian expression of shock or grief (in its lighter inflection it can also be an expression of surprise).  In the context of these demonstrations/attacks, it was used as a profound disbelief at the violence and deep grief over Egyptians being badly injured or killed in shocking and disturbing situations.

Insha’allah (another very common expression used all over the Arab world – in Egypt it’s used by both Muslims and Christians – means “God willing”), events will continue peacefully and you won’t be hearing Ya Rab and Ya Lawhi on TV anytime soon, because it will likely mean things have turned more negative again.

Our Moheet news website (www.moheet.com for those Arabic speakers among you) has been tracking the news and reporting the Arabic language stories.  Since the moment our internet service returned on Wednesday (February 2), I’ve spent 18 hours a day following about 50 different Twitter accounts, plus American, Canadian and British media, in order to try to give Moheet reporters both an English language (from inside and outside Egypt) and Western perspective.  I’ve also been following a forum of expats living in Egypt and some Egyptian expats in the Western world.  News burnout is imminent, but I’m riveted and can’t tear myself away!

One of my favorite images is this picture that has been widely circulated on the internet and is reported to be Egyptian Coptic Christians making a human chain and encircling Muslims in Tahrir Square earlier this week to allow them to pray without danger.  No one is speaking now about the controversial issue of “sectarian tensions” – they are all simply Egyptians.

 

Like most Americans, I didn’t know much about the Arabic language or about Islam until I moved to Egypt 5-1/2 years ago.  You may have woken up on Friday (February 4) to images or videos of tens (hundreds?) of thousands of Muslims praying in Tahrir Square and wonder what they’re saying and doing.  This primer might be useful to give you an idea so that it doesn’t seem so “strange” or “exotic”.  Don’t want to put words in your mouth, but those are terms that I have personally heard from Americans talking about seeing Muslim prayers for the first time.

An overwhelming majority of Egyptian Muslims are Sunni, so everything I note below references Sunni Islam and not Shi’a, although there are commonalities.  Without needing to understand everything, you can certainly get the basic idea that Sunni and Shi’a are like Catholic/Protestant/Fundamentalist in Christianity or Reform/Conservative/Orthodox in Judaism.  They believe the same core concepts, but there are big enough differences that they distinguish themselves in other beliefs and practices.

In Islam, Muslims are required or encouraged (depending on what you read) to pray in a mosque – or at least congregationally – for the Friday noon prayers.  This Friday there was special dispensation from Al Azhar, the central Islamic religious authority in Egypt, to pray outside the mosques if necessary.  The other days of the week and the other four prayers on Friday may be in a mosque or individually, wherever you are.  It’s like Jews attending temple on Saturday or Christians attending services in church on Sunday – there’s usually a sermon, readings from the relevant holy book, followed by prayers.

The adhan (pronounced in Egyptian Arabic as azzan) is the call to prayer and sounds from every mosque before each of the five daily prayers.  You can liken it to church bells ringing to announce upcoming worship. The words are the same but the melody and inflections vary from country to country.  I travel in the Middle East a lot for business, so I’ve heard many versions, but my favorite one is Egyptian (of course).  I’ve gotten so used to hearing it, sometimes I don’t even notice that it’s happening.  This site offers audio of several different Shi’a and Sunni adhan.  If you want to listen to what I hear out my window every day, click on the one that says “Abdul-Basit” or “Adhan Egypt”.   It’s a great honor to become a muezzin (the man who chants the adhan) and they range from very local people in the small neighborhood mosques to revered professionals within the religious community.

The call to prayer (thanks to this source for the translation) says:

 Allahu Akbar
God is Great
(said four times)

Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah
I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.
(said two times)

Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasool Allah
I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
(said two times)

Hayya ‘ala-s-Salah
Hurry to the prayer (Rise up for prayer)
(said two times)

Hayya ‘ala-l-Falah
Hurry to success (Rise up for Salvation)
(said two times)

Allahu Akbar
God is Great
[said two times]

La ilaha illa Allah
There is no god except the One God

For the pre-dawn (fajr) prayer, the following phrase is inserted after the fifth part above, towards the end:

As-salatu Khayrun Minan-nawm
Prayer is better than sleep
(said two times)

Because it is part of everyday life in the office, in the street and the home, I’ve watched Muslims praying for years now, but have never really focused on exactly what they are doing or saying.  There are a number of sources that lay this out step by step, but this one is very simple and easy to understand.  Note that if a Muslim can’t find a clean place to pray (like on the bare ground of Tahrir Square), they can pray almost anywhere – the act of praying itself is more important than the environment.  “Ablutions” referred to below, in Arabic are called wud’u, the ritual purification before each prayer, which prepares your physical self to approach God.  When Muslims “prostrate” themselves with forehead on the ground, they are submitting themselves to God.  (In fact the word Islam means “submit” – implied “to the will of God”.)  To pray, Muslims face Mecca (Saudi Arabia) from wherever they are in the world.  It’s very similar to the concept of the way an ark in a synagogue is placed so that praying Jews will face Jerusalem.

The description of how a Sunni Muslim will likely pray is this:

Make sure your body and place of prayer are clean. Perform ablutions if necessary. Make the intention to perform your obligatory prayer.

  1. Standing, raise hands up and say “Allahu Akbar” (God is Most Great).
  2. Standing with hands folded over chest, recite the first chapter of the Qur’an in Arabic. Then recite any other verses of the Qur’an that you would like.
  3. Raise hands up, saying “Allahu Akbar.” Bow, reciting three times, “Subhana rabbiyal adheem” (Glory be to my Lord Almighty).
  4. Rise to standing while reciting “Sam’i Allahu liman hamidah, Rabbana wa lakal hamd” (God hears those who call upon Him; Our Lord, praise be to You).
  5. Raise hands up, saying “Allahu Akbar.” Prostrate on the ground, reciting three times “Subhana Rabbiyal A’ala” (Glory be to my Lord, the Most High).
  6. Rise to a sitting position, saying “Allahu Akbar.” Prostrate again in the same manner.
  7. Rise to a standing position, saying “Allahu Akbar.”
  8. This concludes one rak’a (cycle or unit of prayer). Begin again from Step 3 for the second rak’a.
  9. After two rak’as, one remains sitting after the prostrations and recites the first part of the Tashahhud in Arabic.
  10. If the prayer is to be longer than these two rak’as, one now stands up and begins again to complete the prayer, sitting again after all rak’as have been completed.
  11. Recite the second part of the Tashahhud in Arabic.
  12. Turn to the right and say “Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah” (Peace be upon you and God’s blessings).
  13. Turn to the left and repeat the greeting. This concludes the formal prayer.

So now you know.  It’s no longer something to be considered strange or exotic, even though it may look or sound so the first time you’re exposed to it.   

It’s around 2:00 pm in Egypt (February 4) and I’ve just seen that Ayman Mohyeldin is back on camera for the first time in several days.  Al Jazeera English must be feeling much more confident of their freedom to report.  Thanks for reading – now I’m back to my monitoring and reporting.

Jan Diggs is Arabia Inform’s Global Business Development Manager and has been based in Cairo for more than 5 years.  This article is not intended to promote any political or religious position, but is to encourage you to learn more for yourself.

UPDATE, February 5, 2 pm Cairo time:  For the most part, protests in Tahrir Square (Cairo), Alexandria and many other parts of Egypt passed very peacefully on February 4.  It was a festive and celebratory atmosphere, with people from all walks of life, including children, the elderly, religious figures from both Al Azhar and the Coptic Church, farmers, housewives, and business professionals.  Many of the people who had disagreed with the protest from the beginning but then had heard accounts of potentially state-sponsored violence against peaceful protesters decided to come out and see for themselves what was happening.  They still may not agree with the central demand of Hosni Mubarak leaving office now, but they do realize that maybe they are not being told the truth by their state media.  Today, the state-owned or affilated print and broadcast media are beginning to tell selected parts of the story, but their accounts still differ widely from independent Egyptian and foreign media.  Although there is still a core group of protesters in Tahrir Square who vow not to leave until Hosni Mubarak is gone, life is slowly beginning to normalize, companies and banks are expected to start working regular hours on Sunday and the stock exchange will reopen on Monday.  Negotiations are ongoing about next steps.

UPDATE:  February 16.  As we know now, Friday, February 4 did not turn out to be Hosni Mubarak’s Day of Departure, which actually ended up being Friday, February 11 when Vice President Omar Suleiman announced in a very short statement that Hosni Mubarak had resigned.  This post was originally entitled, “What You’re Seeing and Hearing in Tahrir Square,” but I was asked by Egyptian friends to change the title to reflect the name of the day that the protesters had given it.  While everyday life is slowly returning to normal, most schools and universities remain closed, the stock market is closed indefinitely and poorly paid workers have become emboldened to strike and demand higher salaries and better pensions.  The Supreme Military Council is moving forward with efforts to hold a preliminary constitutional referendum within 2 months to allow broader presidential and parliamentary elections within approximately 6 months.  Political parties are being established from a number of former “opposition” groups and loosely organized ideological groups.  The outlook is cautious but generally optimistic.

Here are the other posts related to the Egyptian revolution:

Muslims and Copts hand in hand

Today we are all Egyptians

Anthems of the Egyptian revolution

Helwa ya Balady – my lovely country

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Can you say confusion?!

December 24, 2010 in The Official Blog, Uncategorized | No comments

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the brief hiatus but we’re back up and running. Thought we’d start off with this rather accurate comic featured in this week’s American Affairs in the Arabic Media.

Asharq Alawsat | 12/13/2010 |

America stands confused in front of the Middle East, due to its complex politics and ever-changing faces.

NCUSAR Conference Recap

October 28, 2010 in The Official Blog, Uncategorized | No comments

Last week’s Policymakers’ Conference hosted by the National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) at the Ronald Reagan building brought a turnout of over 950 attendees throughout Thursday and Friday. Panels revolved around answering “How?” questions. An excellent piece written by NCUSAR founder, John Duke Anthony, was given to conference participants as an introduction to frame the panels they would be viewing.

The conference included three panels that addressed important issues affecting the geo-political dynamics of the region: Iraq, Iran, and Palestine. The central motif tying these panels together brought to light the cost of war on the populations and what it means for the near future. Panelists included representatives from the region, the State Department and several NGOs, as well as academic intellectuals monitoring the development of these issues as they occur.

The ringing theme throughout the conference, as well as other events held lately throughout Washington, is the significance of the role of public diplomacy. With a surprising, but welcome lesson from Grover of Sesame Street and current and former ambassadors like James Smith, Shaun Donnelly, and Ford Fraker, attendees gained knowledge of how the US extends its support to the region through non-political means. A couple of panels concentrating on energy and education offered outlooks on the future economies and what it means for the growing youth population.

Overall, the conference proved to be a success. Arabia Inform looks forward to again being a sponsor at next year’s conference!

NCUSAR Policymakers Conference Announcement

October 21, 2010 in The Official Blog | No comments

Dr. John Duke Anthony, founding President and CEO of the National Council on US-Arab Relations, announced at tonight’s pre-conference VIP event that the 2010 Policymakers Conference has logged a record number of registered attendees, a record number of corporate sponsors and will be covered live and in its entirety on C-SPAN.

Follow live conference updates on www.twitter.com/arabiainform and visit this blog again next week for conference highlights and developments.

NCUSAR Policymakers Conference

October 20, 2010 in The Official Blog | No comments

The National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) is holding their 19th annual Arab-US Policymakers’ Conference.  Arabia Inform is proud to be one of the corporate sponsors. This year, the conference will revolve around where Arab-US relations are heading.

The two-day conference is shaping up to garner interest from all over. Prominent speakers will address a spectrum of issues, from the geopolitical dynamics of Iraq, Iran, & Palestine, to defense and energy security concerns, to global education challenges and more.  With more than 35 confirmed speakers to tackle the question of HOW policymakers can implement effective policies, this conference should prove to be worthwhile.

Some speakers of note can be found here.  With the currents constantly changing in the Middle East, NCUSAR has organized various panels and networking opportunities, right time and right place.

We will be tweeting live from the conference. Be sure to follow us at www.twitter.com/arabiainform.

Mohamed Eliwa Gift from AI Graphic Design Manager

October 15, 2010 in The Official Blog | No comments

Original Digital Portrait by Yusuf Abdo

In celebration of Mohamed Eliwa’s AFLI Person of the Year Award, Yusuf Abdo, Arabia Inform’s graphic design manager, presented him with the gift of art. This original digital portrait is created with a calligraphic montage of Arabic letters and numbers.

You may wonder why Eliwa/Elewa has two different spellings.  The Arabic  عليوة can be transliterated both ways.  Mohamed has used the English spelling Elewa his whole life, but in official documents it had been noted as Eliwa.

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