Egypt and the Egyptians.. “Curse my son, but hate whoever says Amen”

Written by Dr. Hamada Al-Antably

Allow me as I write today to write in colloquial Arabic, because I will speak and describe a feeling that only the colloquial can convey… because I will talk about us as Egyptians and about our country, Egypt. We as Egyptians have a strange composition that you won’t find anywhere else in the world: we criticize our country and curse the circumstances and tight living conditions, but we love our country to the point of madness, and we would oppose—and perhaps even kill—anyone who wrongs our country, and we would die for it while feeling happy. There is a proverb our mothers always say: “Curse my son, but hate whoever says Amen.”

The love Egyptians have for Egypt is something words cannot describe, and no matter how much poets say, they cannot express it. You feel as though we and our mothers were breastfed with it; it was as if mother’s milk was mixed with the soil and love of Egypt. From this premise, you find that whenever any supposedly brotherly country takes measures against Egypt—such as a flight ban or something similar—our blood boils and we are overtaken by a Sa’eedi zeal.

Folks, quite simply, every country has the freedom to take whatever measures it chooses; the matter is purely utilitarian politics—for instance, regarding the #Coronavirus. Many countries had thousands of cases, but the initial lack of cases in Egypt caused hysteria for many people, with talk that Egypt was hiding things and lacked transparency. And when we finally announced cases, we started saying, “Oh dear, it turns out they have Corona, what are they going to do?” But that still doesn’t give anyone the right to transgress against Egypt’s dignity.

#Egypt_Is_The_Mother_Of_The_World—despite anyone. And we as Egyptians are more decent and greater than anyone else. Travel the world from end to end, and you will never find the warmth that exists in Egypt. Egyptians mean the sweet smile drawn across a face full of hardship and fatigue, yet we still love it. In Egypt, you find everything and its opposite; that is why the movie “Assal Eswed” (Black Honey) by the genius artist Ahmed Helmy expressed us in all our details, and even its songs were deeply expressive.

And in the end, I recall the words of the Poet of the Nile, #Hafiz_Ibrahim, in his poem #Egypt_Speaks_For_Itself: “I am the crown of glory upon the brow of the East, and its pearls are the jewels of my necklace.”

…Egypt is the story, and with that, words are complete.

By Dr. Hamada Al-Antably