Egypt Mon Amour
Rafik Baladi
Monday, July 02, 2012
All copyrights reserved to the author in part or full ©
Rafik Baladi, Monday, July 02, 2012: Egypt was rediscovered by Sultan
Mohammed Ali in AD 1805, the modern Turk; once a subordinate to the Ottoman
Empire (for Egypt). He seized Egypt as an independent state. He founded it,
then, and united it, so as to rekindle its glorious past, judiciously and,
within an avant-garde state of mind. He planned to shift its peoples from
passive radical religious fascism to active contributors in the rebuilding of
their homeland and, most of all, in order to oblige them (the Egyptians) to lead
their lives within modern and healthy systems.
Mohammed Ali instilled their
hearts and minds with true aspirations, self esteem and responsibility, for the
first time in Egypt’s seven thousand years of history. Mohammed Ali was not Egyptian
but he and his dynasty did it, despite their inevitable drawbacks paralleled
with unimaginable successes. Then Egypt flourished and flourished and
flourished on all levels to the point where it had become the citadel of
civilization in Africa, the Mediterranean and Near-East. But the ambitions of
Wahabis and foreign colonialism threatened Mohammed Ali and his dynasty then. Mohamed
Ali and his Dynasty, coped with it. Alas, today Egypt is being crushed all the
way back to more than four thousand years before Christ, by God only knows
whom!
Many know historical Egypt as a
melting pot for four major heritage pillars: Pharaohs and their thirty
dynasties; Jews (Jacob and his sons, the tribes, circa 1900 years B.C. as well
as Moses the wise Prophet, circa 1400 B.C.); Egypt the refuge and shelter of
the Holy Family (Holy mother Mary, Joseph the Escort and Jesus of Bethlehem, in
the first year Advent) and the Egypt of Arab conquests, its rule and its intertwining
Muslim civilizations starting from the Arab invasions of Amr Ibn El Assi in AD
641. Of course Egypt is renowned for its three monotheistic faithful peoples:
Jews, Christians and Muslims (in historical order).
These are just the main lines of
historical Egypt and, the inevitably, religiously vibrant Egypt. Pharaohs were
long extinct since the middle of the fourth century before Christ with the
first Persian invasion and rule of Egypt until Alexander the Great swept them
out of it and took over. In fact, the last Egyptian head of state before the Dynasty
of Mohammed Ali was in B.C. 340 circa. (Read Jasmines from Egypt Branches Forever). Just as much, Egypt has
struggled to survive various ruthless assaults before and after the last Pharaoh
in 340 B.C.: such as by the Hyksos, Persians, Romans and Arab conquests, across
the millenniums. This weakened Egypt, her people and economy, a lot. Of course
the Greek dynasty of Alexander the Great (in 340 B.C.) and its subsequent Ptolemaic
rule had its say, too; a positive one, yet not for long. But that was it; it was short lived and
Egypt fell again into the grip of foreign rule, the Romans and, then, the Arabs.
And while the west was preparing itself for the European Renaissance in the
twelfth century, Egypt was preparing itself for centuries of Maméluke rule
and various conflicting Arab trends of diverse shades, seeking power, until
1798, when Napoleon Bonaparte assaulted Egypt in Alexandria.
By the time Napoleon Bonaparte
invaded Egypt in 1798 and engaged in his extensive research for a modern Egypt
while deciphering its earlier glories, with the help of his Savants, he
was soon obliged to cede power to the British, following the victory of the
British navy over him in Alexandria, Egypt, in AD 1803. The French cultural influence
continued non-the-less. After that, Egypt found itself shifting from rigid
outdated religious rule; it found itself stabilized by both the Napoleonic Code
Pénal and a vibrant modern rule
under the Royal dynasty of Sultan Mohammed Ali that rekindled the lustre of
Egypt’s agriculture, industrialization, military, trade, education, art, music and theatre (let alone the
reconstruction of the glorious and strategic Suez Canal).
He (Mohammed Ali) founded modern
Egypt in AD 1805, as such. At the same time, Egypt was heading for over a
century of British rule as well as one hundred and fifty years of interaction
with British and French post-renaissance culture. In 1855, Mohamed Said, fourth
son to Sultan Mohamed Ali, concluded an agreement with the French to build the
Suez Canal, hence reviving a similar canal that was first built, under Pharaoh Senusret the Third, circa
1900 years B.C. (Please click to order and read a preview of Jasmines from Egypt Branches Forever) or order from your bookstore.
In AD 1869, Khedive Ismail sealed
the deal with French Engineer Ferdinand Delesseps and opened the new Suez
Canal while inaugurating the Historical Opera of Cairo to cross-market both the
Canal and Egypt, as a whole, to the world. And it worked! But in 1954 the one
hundred and fifty years vibrant rule of the Egyptian Monarchy, came to an end
and so did the British troops evacuate Egypt and the French and British
cultural institutions (amongst others), shrink to nil. This was due to the ousting of King
Farouk, traditionally, the last of the Royal dynasty of Mohamed Ali. He was
ousted by the military Freedom Fighters of Gamal Abdel-Nasser. Ever since that
day, the Egyptian military prevailed in Egypt’s affairs. And then hell broke
loose for the sake of the strategic Suez Canal claiming the lives of
hundreds of thousands in a series of wars and worldwide espionage tactics, starting
in 1954 until this day in 2012.
Today, with the ambiguous shift
of a glamorous Egypt to a hard headed multilayered clerical rule, a narrow minded and a
helpless mainstream Egypt (of all faiths) created over the last thirty years, together with a
dark complicated ensemble of international political ambitions, Egypt is
shaken. It is staggering again, just like it did across the centuries thanks to the fierce plight of the world for its famous and strategic Suez
Canal. It is the Egypt that was once founded in AD 1805 by Sultan Mohammad
Ali; the Egypt that was capable of rekindling the beautiful but dissonant main
lines of its heritage, cohesively. It is the Egypt that had become a magnet, around
AD 1880, for hundreds of thousands of Jewish, Greek, Belgian, Austrian, German and Italian migrations (amongst others) from
Europe to its land. These were migrations that nurtured the Egypt we experienced, economically
and culturally. But, alas, it has fallen to a new cruel tunnel. It is a tunnel
of darkness, capable of extinguishing not only the Egypt of the last two
hundred years that had revived and regulated its thousands of years of history
in a lovely moulding pot, but also of wiping away all of its past seven
thousand years of glory.
Reminiscing the last two hundred
years of the Egyptian glorious tree, is not romanticizing it; it is mourning
the unfair destruction of its solid and stable branches (though, frequently,
corrupt). It is lamenting the withering hopes and aspirations of its fruits, only to feed the whims
and ambitions of some invasive political, religious and financial powers. It is watching, helplessly, the reaction of millions of non-educated, passive and irresponsible Egyptians who choose to yield their world and
heritage to promises for a “…better life” instead of seeking to attain
it, on their own, with some minimum contribution to reach their objectives, interdependently, while complying with law and order and while committing some respect to social justice
and tolerance of the present and past fellow Egyptians. Listen to Egypt Mon Amour by Rafik Baladi or download it here.
Rafik Baladi
Trilance Film Music
Please read my blogs:
Egypt Mon Amour
Terrorism Hate and Bullying
Obama Clinton Tactics for Egypt
Please read this short overture to my book:
Jasmines from Egypt Branches Forever
Trilance Film Music
Please read my blogs:
Egypt Mon Amour
Terrorism Hate and Bullying
Obama Clinton Tactics for Egypt
Please read this short overture to my book:
Jasmines from Egypt Branches Forever
Lovely, eloquent, powerful and full of sentiment.
ReplyDeleteGood job
LS