SANDStorm

Excellent article which discusses the questions I’ve been asking myself and my friends for the past month: What does it mean to be Egyptian? and What does it mean to be a good Muslim?

January 28, 2007
In Egypt, a New Battle Begins Over the Veil

FORGET about widespread poverty, dilapidated schools, chronic unemployment or public anger over police brutality. What brings Egyptian officials to their feet, what makes them shouting mad, what inspires the call for public hearings and a minister’s resignation?

Lately the answer has been: criticism of the hijab, the Islamic style of dressing in which a woman covers her head and neck beneath a scarf, and drapes her body in loose-fitting clothing to hide her figure.

When one of Egypt’s longest serving ministers called the hijab “regressive” recently, 130 members of Parliament called for his resignation.

Behind that challenge lies a long competition for the loyalties of Egyptians between the Muslim Brotherhood, which is technically banned but feels it benefits every time a woman puts on a veil, and the country’s authoritarian leaders, who fear the power of religious symbolism and have tried to co-opt it with less and less success.

Today the debate is less over whether women should adopt Islamic dress — as many as 90 percent of women cover at least their head — but over how veiled or modest they should be. It is a debate that cuts to issues tugging at the fabric of Egyptian society: What does it mean to be a good Muslim? What does it mean to be Egyptian? How can the governing party hold back the rising popularity of the Islamists?

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/weekinreview/28slackman.html

We woke up at dawn and set out for the camel market, about an hour outside of Cairo, on Friday. More information about actual camel-selling later, but for now, here are some great pictures of the fuzzy beasts.

We weren’t sure of our directions to the market, but once we approached this truck with a camel in the truck bed we figured we were on the right road. (and yes, the air was really, really nasty that morning – you could reach out and grab the particulates.)

Camel market main drag.

Camels, lots of camels.

Camel auctioneer.

Once the camel is sold, it’s time to get it into the truck for delivery.

One of the front legs are tied up to keep the camel from wandering too far (or going on a rampage).

And another method of controlling the camels…

Chillin’ with the herd.

Thrashin’ Badger knows how to professionally tilt his head for the camera.

There comes a time in every man’s life when he must embrace facial hair. Sometimes his own, sometimes others’. That time, for me, has come. I enjoy tugging at the bits of my beard, and I am told that it makes me look very thoughtful. (Little do they know that I am trying to solve the most daunting of puzzles: “Is it ‘Panama ah ah ah ah ah ah ah,’ or ‘Panama, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh’?” Damn that David Lee Roth.) The only complaint I have is that the mustache grows straight out, like I have half a toilet brush on my upper lip.

Before I grew lazy enough to allow myself to grow a beard, I wondered what Egyptians would think about a foreigner with one. Most of the same foreigners I run into from time to time have grown and since shaved a beard. I presume from the same cycle of hygenic laziness that affects me. In Egypt, however, the beard carries a much deeper connotation. Here, growing a beard can land you in jail. Islamists, recognized by their long beards, among other things, are often picked up on the street by police, and many Egyptians have told me they would never grow a beard, for fear of being questioned by police. Being questioned by the fuzz here is a little more dramatic than in the USA. At least outside New York and L.A. The Associated Press had this grisly story to educate you on the subject:(http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6361278,00.html).

Here is what an unnamed source told S (S doesn’t know the person’s name or whereabouts, or even appearance, so don’t ask. Do I sound paranoid? Did you read that article?): “Someone who follows the example of the Prophet Mohammed and goes to the mosque for the five prayers each day, or a woman who wears a niqab (face veil), or a man with a beard – they are all looking over their shoulder, afraid that the police will come and arrest them.”

So my doorman, Hamdi, whether driven by such fears, or simply a heightened aesthetic refinement, has urged me several times to shave my beard. He tells S, in explicit English and Arabic, that it is no good. Keeping the mustache, however, is apparently okay, preferably with the ends waxed up like a silent-movie villain (this is traditional among the Sa’idis, people from the south of Egypt).

Likely the beard won’t last for long, but my villainy may very well get the best of me. Anyone know the Arabic for ‘mustache wax’?

We visited the Nilometer today, a large stone column built in 861 AD to measure the rise and fall of the Nile. It was used up until the 1950s when the Aswan High Dam was built, thus ending the annual flood. The Nilometer is on the tip of Rhoda Island – an oasis of green, secluded from the street noise and traffic. Definitely recommended if you are looking for something a little off the beaten path. Make sure you get someone to open up the doors for you, and then also with a little more money you can climb down the stairs to the bottom of the Nilometer.

The Nilometer is several meters below ground level.

When the Nile reached 16 cubits, the harvest was likely to be good (which also meant that taxes would be higher).

The guard opened the locked gate for us to enter into the Nilometer. D made it all the way to the bottom of the stairs for this great view of the domed roof.

The Nile, looking very serene.

Taxi passing by the Northern Cemetery

A friend of ours told us that a few years ago the police started cracking down on seat belt usage in cars. Well, lots of the taxis in Cairo are really old and beat up without such essential safety features like safety belts. So the taxi drivers got creative.

One driver installed airplane seatbelts. And one cabbie had seat belts stashed in the glove compartment for his passengers to lay over their chest when riding in his taxi. As the taxi driver pulled the seat belt out of the glove compartment and offered it to my friend he pointed to his bag and said, “No thanks, I’ve got my shoulder bag and it has a strap I can use.”

A very ugly day in Cairo

The taxi driver thought that solution was just fine and put the seat belt sash back into the glove compartment. Needless to say, the seat belt crackdown was just a fad and these days nobody seems to bother with real, or fake, seat belts.

Taxis in lush Maadi

I went to Makan last night to see a group which performs traditional Egyptian music from the Nile Delta. This was the third time I’ve been there and, hands down, it’s my favorite spot in Cairo for music.

The music last night included two drums, a type of flute, a two-stringed instrument made out of half a coconut and played with a bow, and a double-piped instrument which the musician played using “the technique of circular breathing to produce an uninterrupted sound.” I don’t really understand what circular breathing means, but the sounds he produced were unwavering and sustained for minutes – he never appeared tired or about to pass out.

The lead singer was a striking, older woman with high cheekbones and a lazy eye. She planted herself in the middle of the room and although she leaned on an extra microphone stand, using it as a cane, she exuded strength through her husky voice and unwavering gaze. She completely commanded the band with her authoritarian nods and improvised vocals. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her.

Except when a woman from the audience was moved to jump into the singer’s circle and begin to bellydance.

With a blue sash tied low around her hips, she shimmied with precision, paradoxically shaking her hips, thighs, knees, waist, and shoulders, while maintaining complete control of each movement. The flute player entered into the circle with her and picked up the pace. The double-pipe player in the rear of the room giggled and averted his eyes from her suggestive hips which shook and shook then abruptly stopped in a pose, drawing your eyes sharply to her hips to see what move she’d do next. The audience clapped and yelled without any self-conciousness.

I walked home from the Metro that night by myself. I rarely walk by myself at night and, as I immediately noticed, there weren’t too many Egyptian women who were walking the streets at 11:30pm by themselves either. Mostly men on the streets and the few women I saw were accompanied by men. As I walked up the steps to the sidewalk, I was aware that eyes were on me. I walked past a young man sitting on the hood of a car and as I passed by I heard in a soft voice, “I want to marry you.”

I recently came across the website of an acquaintance of mine in Cairo who makes 360 degree images. He’s got some great images to view of Egypt (you’ll need Quicktime and a little bit of patience). You can use shift and ctrl keys to zoom in and out and your mouse to move around the image. So cool!

Protest in Cairo against Israel’s bombing of Lebanon and Gaza:
http://www.madeena360.com/fullscreen/007.html

Birkash camel market:
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp906/html/WaleedNassar.html

Pyramids in Giza:
http://egypt.madeena360.com/giza/04.html

Protest against Sexual Harassment in the streets of Cairo (this has audio):
http://www.madeena360.com/fullscreen/008.html

Al-Azhar Park:
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp606/html/WaleedNassar.html

Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo:
http://egypt.madeena360.com/cairo/04.html

Starbucks opened its first two stores in Egypt this December, but with calls for a boycott, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the chain can make it in the Middle East. My prediction: capitalism will win again.

Boycotting campaign to resurface with Starbucks opening
Daily Star Egypt

CAIRO: An unlikely coalition of Islamists, reformists, youths and Socialists are uniting against the overwhelming powers of a cup of coffee.

Starbucks, however, is not just any cup of coffee. Internationally the chain has been criticized by leftist activists for using globalization tactics, promoting consumerism, and stifling competition. Regionally, however, the debate is centering in on the chain’s ties to Israel.

Egyptians and Arabs started circulating emails highly critical of Starbucks months before the opening.

One of the more caustic email forwards includes a letter allegedly written by CEO Howard Schultz thanking customers, stating that “$5 billion per year from the US government are no way near enough to pay for all the weaponry, bulldozers and security fences needed to protect innocent Israeli citizens from anti-Semitic Muslim terrorism. Corporate sponsorships are essential.”

The true author of the letter admits it was a hoax on www.ziopedia.org, but claims the essence of the letter is accurate.

Read more: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4872

We’ve updated our recommended reading links with a lot of good books, both fiction and non-fiction. A few we’d really like to highlight for anyone interested in learning more about Cairo and Egypt:

Cairo Cosmopolitan: Politics, Culture, and Urban Space in the New Middle East
Published in 2006 by AUC Press (We are constantly amazed by the wonderful books put out by AUC Press)
Cairo Cosmopolitan is a collection of essays about various aspects of life and economics in modern Cairo. Some of the essays were a little too dense for me, reading more like an economics thesis, but there are a number of essays which make the book really worth it such as essays on public green spaces, movie theaters, the rise of modern shopping malls, and restoration of historic places in Cairo.

City of Sand by Maria Golia
Wow, this book will answer all your questions about the history of Cairo, Egyptian government, housing, education, Egyptian Arabic, and every other question you could possibly have. There are so many details and anecdotes that it’s hard to get it all with just one reading.

The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany
If you’ve been paying attention to fiction from Egypt, you’ve surely come across this controversial novel which paints a hopelessly corrupt picture of Egypt through the lives of the residents of the Yacoubian building in downtown Cairo. It seems as though every publication in Cairo has had an interview with the author during 2006. Check out NPR’s interview with the author and read some excerpts from the novel.

We were pretty energetic after visiting Beyt as-Suhaymi, so we continued along to Al-Azhar Park. Al-Azhar Park is an expansive new construction in Islamic Cairo, built on an old garbage dump. The grounds are immaculate and every tree and shrub is tamed to perfection. It’s a little surreal.

On the way to Al-Azhar Park we walked past the Northern Cemetery, which functions as a cemetery and as a neighborhood where people live among the tombs.

People enjoying the greenery of the park.

Squint and you can see in the left corner a wooden structure painted with a green and yellow triangle. That’s a rooftop pigeon house and there is a boy standing on the roof with a flag calling home the pigeons.

Focus in on the beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds. Yep, that’s right – those are the Pyramids!