The Future of Culture in Egypt

"Yes, that book was published in 1936, and to a large extent the same question that Hussein faced then actually faces Egypt and many other parts of the Arab world today. At that time the Arab world, especially Egypt and the Levant and even parts of North Africa, was really in a dilemma. Sixty or 70 years had passed since the Europeans had arrived in the Middle East in the mid-19th century. And some of the brilliant minds of the Arab world had gone to Europe, mainly to Vienna, Paris, London and Rome, to try to learn from the West. By that time Egypt had already had its first modern constitution in 1923, in which the parliament rather than the monarch was the most important player in internal politics – which was a major development in the ruling framework in an Arab country. The society as a whole was opening up. Girls were getting educated; it was the time of the first wave of Egyptian girls to go to university. The Islamic headscarf was on the retreat. The society as a whole was gradually embracing new experiences and to some extent new identity. This was not Kamal Ataturk’s Turkey, where a ruling elite has decided to jettison its heritage and adopt a different identity. It was a gradual development taking over the entire society, across all social classes. What Taha Hussein was trying to work out was how Egypt, like many other parts of the Arab world, should develop its own frame of reference in that period. On the one side you had very conservative movements within the religious establishment trying to close down all of these moves towards modernity. On the other side you had some players, especially within certain political parties, who were very open to a blind imitation of the West. Yes. Hussein provided a very interesting narrative in which he challenged the foundations upon which the religious establishment was opposing taking anything from the West. He said, look at the Islamic culture and theology and recognise that they were influenced by Hellenic ideas, by Ancient Egyptian ideas, by Persian ideas. He didn’t advocate trying to create ‘a Paris on the Nile’ as some politicians dreamt. He was realistic in trying to see how a society such as Egypt’s (and by extension others in the Arab world) can marry its heritage with modernity: what to retain, what to discard, what to adopt. Remember, he has discussed these themes in the 1930s, but this is all relevant today, because the new generation which is taking over the region’s political scene at the moment and which is leading the revolts across the Arab world and certainly in Egypt, face a similar situation to what Taha Hussein’s generation faced decades ago. Because they have inherited different experiences that proved severely lacking, this new generation will confront the same choices that Hussein’s generation faced, and will need to take decisions about how they want the future of their countries to be. One of the most important choices that this generation faces is how to reconcile their heritage with the lives of this generation now. Again, there are many similarities with the situation in the 1930s when Egypt – and other parts of the Arab world – tried to forge a new social framework. That is why I think that Hussein is still so relevant today."