Egypt’s Identity Crisis
Egypt’s future begins when Egyptians see themselves as Egyptians — not Arabs, and certainly not Islamists.
With Egypt’s “July Revolution” of 1952, for the first time in millennia, Egyptians were able to boast that a native-born Egyptian, Gamal Abdel Nasser, would govern their nation: Ever since the overthrow of its last native pharaoh nearly 2,500 years ago, Egypt had been ruled by a host of foreign invaders — Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, and Brits, to name a few. After 1952, however, Egypt, it was believed, would finally be Egyptian.Yet, though Nasser was Egyptian, the spirit of the times that brought him to power was Arab — Arab nationalism, or “pan-Arabism” — the theory that all Arabic-speaking peoples, from Morocco to Iraq, should unify. (Along with Nasser, the tide of pan-Arabism also brought to power Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, Syria’s Hafez Assad, and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.)
The revolution significantly Arabized Egypt. That Egypt’s official name became the Arab Republic of Egypt — as opposed to simply the Republic of Egypt — speaks for itself. Whereas before 1952, one could have spoken of a distinctly “Egyptian” character and identity, after it, this identity gave way to an Arab identity. From there, it was a short push to an Islamic identity. Or, as Egyptologist Wassim al-Sissy recently put it, the revolution “erased the Egyptian character, which had been known for its tolerance, love, freedom, and so on. The revolution created a nation of slaves.”
My Egyptian-born parents, who personally lived through the 1952 revolution before immigrating to America, often reminisced on this change. Growing up I used to hear how pre-revolution Egypt was absolutely nothing like it is now. According to them, because it was under British rule, it was freer and more secular; hardly any women wore the hijab; Alexandria was something of a “mini-Europe.” Indeed, if you look at pictures taken in 1940s Egypt and compare them to pictures from today, you might think the former were taken in Europe, the latter in Arabia.
In short, Egyptians saw themselves first and foremost as Egyptians. Certainly no Egyptians would have referred to themselves as “Arabs” — a word back then that connoted “lowly bedouins” to Egyptian ears. (After all, for Egyptians to think of themselves as “Arabs,” because their first language is Arabic, is as logical as American blacks thinking of themselves as “English,” because their first language is English.) In fact, in the decades preceding the revolution, there was a Pharaonist movement, led by influential thinkers like Taha Hussein, which sought to define and promote a distinctly Egyptian character.
Today, as Egypt rocks with revolution, it is poised to assume an even more alien identity. Enter the Muslim Brotherhood: if the 1952 revolution Arabized Egypt, a Brotherhood takeover will thoroughly Islamicize it, thereby taking it even further away from its roots. Whereas the Arab nationalists of Egypt maintained remnants of the Egyptian character — their Islam was notoriously lax — the Salafist brand of Islam promoted by Egypt’s Brotherhood since its founding in 1928 is thoroughly alien to Egypt.
For example, as opposed to the Egyptian Arab nationalist, who takes great pride in his nation’s ancient heritage, today’s Egyptian Islamist exults in rejecting and condemning it, calling the pharaohs “infidels” and “tyrants” (according to the terminology of the distinctly Arab Koran), and even trying to destroy Egypt’s proudest treasures — as we have seen with the recent attacks on Egypt’s museums — hardly the behavior of someone who thinks of himself as an “Egyptian.”
Born in America, I often returned to Egypt, beginning in 1974, when I was a year old. My experience of Egypt’s evolving identity differs from my parents’: whereas they watched the Arabization of Egypt, I have been observing its Islamization. Yet, from personal experience, I also know that hardly all Egyptians share the Brotherhood’s ideology: for starters, there is a significant Christian minority, the Copts, who clearly have the most to lose should the Brotherhood come to power; then there are the many secularists. Put differently, a great many revolting in the streets of Cairo are doing so for mundane reasons — food and jobs — rather than to implement sharia law (which, incidentally, is already a “principal source of legislation” in Egypt’s Constitution).
The problem, however, is that, along with having a strong base of direct support, the Muslim Brotherhood is especially poised to assume leadership simply because many Muslims, while indifferent to the Brotherhood’s ideological vision, have come to trust them. After all, Hamas’ famous strategy of endearing the people to it by providing for their basic needs was learned directly from its parent organization: Egypt’s Brotherhood.
Thus, as turmoil engulfs Egypt, it is well to remember that, fundamentally, who the Egyptians see themselves as will determine who they will be. Egypt’s future begins when Egyptians see themselves as Egyptians — not Arabs, and certainly not Islamists. This is not to say that Egyptians should resurrect the pharaonic language, dress like Imhotep, and worship cats. Rather, as Taha Hussein and others till this day maintain, the Egyptian identity needs to be resurrected, thereby allowing all of the nation’s sons and daughters to work together for a better future — without the dead weight of foreign elements, namely Arabism or, worse, Islamism.
Raymond Ibrahim is the associate director of the Middle East Forum, the author of The Al Qaeda Reader, and a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College.
Note:
Egypt, a country with a rich history and also, a place where tourists flock to visit Cairo and Egyptian resorts yearly. The Pyramids and its beautiful scenes resemble Biblical times right off the pages of ancient history books. Egyptians are proud of their heritage. Today, after the crowds of demonstrators celebrated their President's decision to "step down", it is now important for Egyptians to work together for a better future - a future that will determine future relationships with the West, Israel and the world.
Note:
Egypt, a country with a rich history and also, a place where tourists flock to visit Cairo and Egyptian resorts yearly. The Pyramids and its beautiful scenes resemble Biblical times right off the pages of ancient history books. Egyptians are proud of their heritage. Today, after the crowds of demonstrators celebrated their President's decision to "step down", it is now important for Egyptians to work together for a better future - a future that will determine future relationships with the West, Israel and the world.
However, that being said, there is a disturbing report of how Egyptians view Westerners and how they view themselves. The following report from Fort Liberty is an example that causes alarms to ring:
February 13, 2011
Egyptians Hate America and Want Islamic Rule
In July of last year, the University of Maryland commissioned Zogby to poll the people of Egypt. Here are a few of their findings:
- 85% of Egyptians hold an unfavorable attitude toward the U.S.
- 87% of Egyptians have no confidence in the U.S.
- 92% of Egyptians believe the U.S. is one of two nations that is the greatest threat to them (the other nation the Egyptian people hate is Israel)
- 52% of Egyptians hold an unfavorable opinion of American people
- 65% of Egyptians believe that Islamic clergy must play a greater role in the Egyptian political system
- 79% of Egyptians believe that it would be positive if Iran is able to acquire nuclear weapons
The Zogby poll results back up a similar project conducted by Pew in April and May of last year. Among Egyptian Muslims polled, 85% felt that Islam’s role in politics was a positive one. In a struggle between modernizers and Islamist fundamentalists, 59% of Egyptians who foresaw such a conflict stated they would side with the Islamists, while only 27% stated that they would side with the modernizers.
Another Pew poll last June revealed that only 17% of Egyptians hold a favorable view of the United States, while 20% hold a favorable view of suicide bombing. Yes dear readers, Egyptians like suicide bombing more than they like you.
Pew also revealed that 82% of Egyptian Muslims support stoning human beings to death for having sex outside of marriage and that 77% of Egyptian Muslims support public whippings and cutting people’s hands off for theft. In addition, a terrifying 84% of Egyptian Muslims support the death penalty for anyone who has the good sense to leave the religion of Islam.
As much as we may not like Hosni Mubarak, there are many worse people who could be in power in Egypt — and they are very likely to be in power before the end of the year. We would all like to believe that the protesters in the streets of Egypt are all fighting for freedom — but that is not what they say about themselves. By their own admission, they prefer Islamic fundamentalism to modern civilization by more than 2 to 1. They don’t want a modern democracy; they do want to murder people for having sex outside of marriage. They don’t want freedom of religion — in fact 84% of them want to establish the death penalty for it.
What does this sound like? It sounds a whole lot like Iran in 1979. Westerners with common sense should be leaving Egypt as quickly as possible, with no plans to ever return. We would like to hope for the best, but we must plan for the worst.
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The Egyptian Military is reassuring the West that relationships between Israel, the United States will continue, while other reports from a potential candidate for President in Egypt is claiming he would "revise Egypt's peace treaty with Israel". The United States has poured billions of dollars into Egypt and it is my understanding the Obama administration is preparing another aid package for Egypt, but would not say if that included aid to the Muslim Brotherhood.
We wish the Egyptians citizens well in their quest for "democracy" and "freedom" - may they choose wisely. Meanwhile, the Israeli Embassy has closed and Westerners have fled Egypt during the 18 days of demonstrations.
