Es-Sayed Yassin

It was the circumstances or destiny… or even coincidence that was behind my acquaintance, closeness or friendship to whom I think are the stars of the time period of my life… as I knew Mr. Muhammed Ouda and was close to him… I knew Mr. Kamel Zoheiri and became a close friend or even a sticking one to him for many years… I knew Mr. Mahmoud es-Sa’adani, was close to him and for long time we were so close that I only separated from him during his sleeping hours while he was in the UAE… I knew Mr. Ahmed Bahaa ed-Din and met him several times and the relation between us became more than an acquaintance and a little bit less than friendship…

I was also imprisoned in one cell with Mr. Philip Gallab, Hussain Abdel-Razeq, Youssef Sabri, Muhammed Salmawi, Muhammed Youssef el-Gendy, Ahmed Fouad Negm, Zohdi el-Adawi… and during the period from 1974 until he left our world, I knew Mr. Muhammed Hassanien Heikal and was close to him… we also had common things and pains that sometimes reached severe reprimand and other times sincere amity.

And due to my work in journalism and my political and thought interests, I went so close to Mr. Salah ed-Din Hafez, Mr. Muhammed Sayed Ahmed, Mr. Fahmi Howeidi, Mr. Gamil Matar, Dr. Sami Mansour, Mr. Mahmoud Murad… and many others whom I may not remember right now to mention their names… some of those I mentioned made a lot of favors to me… some lent me money when I was totally broke… some invited me to eat when fava beans and Falafel was the most I may dream of eating… others offered me drink when beer was the most I may wish for.

Some of my friends and colleagues push me to write a book about all these acquaintances that represent part of Egypt cultural and social history, especially that those relations lasted for long time… moreover, they also included aspects of thought, culture, sincere friendship, passion, satire… there were also disputed issues started from joking and reached to the criticizing attacking articles.

In the last ten years, or even 2 or 3 years more, I knew Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin from a distance… as many of his students or those who worked with him were my friends and colleagues… then our acquaintance developed to quick discussions in the meetings gathering both of us until there was an incident that started the heated attack between us and which took place in the newspapers… as I was invited for the first and last time by the Coptic Evangelical Organization for a seminar in Hurghada as I can remember… the opening lecture was of Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin… in which he talked a lot about globalization mentioning a wealth of information with tens of foreign names of sources, references, authors and thinkers… then the audience was allowed to ask and then the dispute between us took place… I will not repeat what happened again… then we came back and Mr. Yassin wrote an article in “Al-Qahera” newspaper narrating part of what happened… I then replied back in “Al-Arabi” newspaper… this heated dialogue in the articles lasted for two or three weeks… then we stopped until it happened that I discovered the other side of Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin.

Away from his sheer persistence to stay updated with all that is modern… and even the most modern in the world of political and social ideas and the world of IT… and in addition to his ability to read and digest what he read and then presenting it to the Arab reader and researcher in an easy-to-grasp way… Mr. Yassin had a cultural and social eye that goes beyond the common patterns to discover in no time the precious from the fake… he also enjoyed the ability to coin his words in a fluid easy-going discourse… adding to all this the Egyptian way of joking and sometimes bitter satire… I have not seen him exceeding this limit for once in any time I met or listened to him… that limit of respecting the humanity of the other party and keeping his dignity.

It looked to me that Mr. Yassin hated those people with no talents and loathed more those half-talented… he did not hesitate to ridicule their talk without ridiculing them… he also was decisive if someone tried to exceed his limits with him… especially if he was one of his students who became close to the ruling power, in particular the circle of the National Democratic Party, presidency and Mubarak’s “heir”.

He used to be very meticulous in choosing the words he thought were exceeding attacking the regime and government into attacking the country and state… finally but not last, this high-standing man in thought and culture did not hesitate for a moment to call and present to you – if you were the writer – his opinion about what you wrote while affirming his respect in a way that makes you look as if you are the master and he is the student.

May the liberal Arab-national Egyptian intellectual and thinker Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin rest in peace.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Almasry alyoum newspaper on March 22, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/03/blog-post_22.html

#almasry_alyoum #ahmed_elgammal #es_sayed_yassin

Unbiased… and brave

The hall was full… all of them were “crème de la crème” of the society including some non-Egyptians amid an Egyptian majority… the session started and the inviter started by introducing the speaker… the place was the house of the Saudi Ambassador at Cairo… the ambassador was the late Dr. Hesham Nazer… the speaker was Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin… the discussion was about the western cultural project…

Mr. Yassin talked and then comments started to follow… there was a comment from Mr. Farouq Shousha – may he rest in peace – who asked a more stating than exclaiming question: “what is Mr. Yassin’s explanation for the collapse of the liberal cultural project by the coup of July, 1952?”

Mr. Shousha presented an almost explaining memo for his question, saying that July, 1952 did not produce figures like Al-Aqqad, Al-Rafei’e, Taha Hussien, Al-Mazni, Az-Zayat and others… the question reminded me of my late friend Mr. Kamel Zoheiri when he used to mock the presenter or interviewer who asks the question and gives the answer with it… like “what do you think of the policy of our caretaker wise government?”

As to me, I felt nervous from Mr. Shousha’s question and was all set to reply… especially that we were on a “land” that some may think does not like July, 1952 or its leader… however, the answer amazed me… and the ambassador’s comment after this was even more amazing… Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin started his reply by saying: first, July, 1952 was not a coup but a real revolution… second, there was no liberal or non-liberal cultural project before July, 1952… actually, it was a cultural atmosphere where some individuals shined like stars… as to the real project of culture, it came with July, 1952 when the big starts were replaced by thousands of creative people in literature and arts… cheap-in-price rich-in-context books spread… base of education went wider… research centres were established… and specialized magazines and in-depth periodicals grew.

Mr. Yassin kept detailing his answer until he apologized for not answering any more questions for time was over… after this, the inviter commented… Mr. Nazer said that while he was a post-graduate student in Harvard University, a professor asked the students to put the world countries in order according to power… that was in 1959… the answers varied between those who put the US first and others who listed the Soviet Union at the beginning…etc… however, Hesham Nazer put Egypt at the top of the list and then the hall burst into laughing mocking his reply… his professor asked him to give an explanation why he chose Egypt… the then-post-graduate student said that he assumed the criterion to measure the power of any state is its ability to achieve most, if not all, of its declared targets… and that he thought Egypt, at that time, have achieved the targets it have declared; independence, development and deep-rooted wide-spreading cultural and Arab unity… his professor was astonished to the extent that he told him “this is gonna be your thesis to get your degree”.

I mentioned the inviter’s comment to pay your attention that Mr. Yassin’s answer, that was shocking to the one who asked and to many of the audience who expected a another reply… or even a vague one to avoid any embarrassment with the people who invited him, encouraged the ambassador to tell this story that no one knew anything about.

You can say whatever you want about the knowledge, culture and the wealth of information of Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin and his diligence to stay updated with the latest creations of the human mind in the field of the social and humanitarian sciences… but we really need to cherish the man’s courage in the stances he adopted and his ability to acknowledge those who deserve… whether they were his students, friends or even have no human relation with him… as the man did not hesitate to call anyone to speak well of an article that one wrote, an interview or a talk-show he took part in… in the same time, he did not hesitate to give an unbiased critic for what deserves to be criticized…

It is a big loss that Egypt lost a noble man like Mr. Es-Sayed Yassin.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on March 20, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/03/blog-post_20.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #es_sayed_yassin