Intellectuals with no ambition

Yes… there is a respected bunch of intellectuals burdened with the public affairs of the nation and who adopted an uncompromising stance towards the will of change during the two revolutions of January 25^th and June 30^th… and the more days pass, the bigger and deeper challenges are… and the more negativities appear on surface as well… also, the stauncher they become in supporting the regime and leader of June 30^th… with no ambition in any personal gains of any kind or degree.

Moreover, they see meetings, seminars, and conferences convene without being invited to… councils formed without having their names among the lists… while they do know the kind, composition, and behavior of some whose names recur in meetings, seminars, conferences, and councils… besides, such bunch of intellectuals – at least some of them – possesses capabilities and visions more knowledgeable and insightful into the nation’s problems than others.

That bunch of those burdened with the public affairs realizes that at certain times in the course of national ruling, specially that which come after an era of break down, chaos, and weakness of the state, seeking help from figures with certain qualities is inevitable… consequently, excluding or postponing seeking help of other figures is logical and acceptable.

Illustrating such ambiguous phrase, the ruling regime that tackles the responsibility of bringing stability and reconstructing the falling-down establishments finds that seeking help from figures that participated in change, spearheaded some fronts, and mastered the language of objection and discourse of opposition represents a big obstacle that may hinder the mission of achieving stability and reconstruction.

Meanwhile, the models that gained past experience from dealing with the government, authorities, decision makers, and takers; meaning the state in general are dependable in the decisive intermittent phase… for this reason, one can simply explain the appearance of names and faces which were present in similar positions during past or toppled regimes.

I claim having what I may call a “study case” proving my point of view… as the post-January-revolution government contained figures that belong to the liberal, Nasserite, and Marxist wings of the opposition in the times of Mubarak’s regime, including names that used to preside known parties, others heading demonstrations, third group that enjoy an established reputation in the field of economy and politics… if an accurate and objective evaluation process over such figures was made, I believe the result would have been negative to a large extent.

I do not want to go into detailing names, positions, and results… not to mention that some other names occupied, and still do, leading positions of workers’ unions and who belong to those pan-nationalist and leftist orientations while their performance was not as expected.

Therefore, help was sought from those previously tried in tasks assigned to them by pre-January and June revolutions regimes… for, at least, they do not claim to have the right of being rivals and partners… they do not claim to be retroactively wise… and to exclusively possess the right vision and the one and only unique revolutionary discipline… most importantly, those sought-after figures, in plain words, “listen to what they are told to do”… which means they pick the message and translate it into action without much need to details and instructions.

Here, I do not mean to underestimate anyone or nail the efficiency of some others… also, I do not hint at those who took the decision of choosing such names… however, it is a reality that recurs in many countries and societies, especially in times of reconstruction and restoring what fell down.

Few years ago, I wrote about what I called the state intellectuals and distinguished between them and the regime intellectuals… as in many times, the professional cultivated intellectual, possessing the vision and capacity to run an executive position, finds himself enrolled in the official entities as there is no other way to serve the country and build the state but to work from inside the already-established entities.

Egypt has witnessed examples of such figures since Sheikh Hassan al-Attar and his student Refa’a al-Tahtawi to the tens of professors and experts who worked in the already-existing political institutions… as it is not logical to assassinate the characters of those who found no other way to do their scientific or technical mission but through working and collaborating with the regime.

However, such bunch is different to those profiteers who serve the rulers for their own gains and who usually have no talent or dignity… adding to this that nations during phases of transformation – actually in all phases – are not built by the rule of excluding the efficient talents of its sons but by achieving maximum use of employing them everyone in his place.

Egypt witnessed unique models of such respected intellectuals who staunchly supported the state and its leadership despite being excluded and sometimes even restricting their freedom… in such regard, one should mention names like Ismail Sabri Abdalla, Fouad Morsi, Abdelazim Anis, Ahmed el-Refa’ie, and Ibrahim Abdelhalim of the Egyptian Left leaders in the fifties and sixties who spared no effort in backing the Nasserist leadership and letting go of many negative acts… also letting go of the harm inflicted over them during their detention.

Nations, at certain times, need those who can tackle missionary-like tasks while they have no ambition in gains, positions, titles, and privileges no matter how tempting they are.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on August 3, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/08/blog-post_2.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #intellectuals

Muslim brotherhood, salafists… and intellectuals

It was a notice worth paying attention to that I encountered while I was following the online publishing of what I write in Al Ahram every two weeks; that is the number of those who read online the articles concerning the current of muslim brotherhood and salafists reaches almost sometimes thousand readers and exceeds this some other times… while the number of readers who were interested in reading the last article published fifteen days ago about the intellectuals’ conference reaches almost two hundred readers; meaning nearly one fifth… despite that what was written about the intellectuals’ conference exceeded the matter of culture from the limited prospective to the broader definition that includes all that is related to life affairs.

And so, continue writing about the political movements that raise the holy Quran above spears of mundane economic social political conflict seems more tempting to the writer… and gives a new indication added to other previous ones affirming that people are interested in politics and religion… and maybe sex which I have not tried to write about it… such indications remind us that our society is still categorized as an underdeveloped one.

It is a temptation – as I said – to continue writing over the same theme… as a result, it poses a real problem facing any writer who respects his readers and profession; that is how to tackle such theme… and how serious this tackling is… also how much new information such tackling can add… whether on the level of analyzing what already exists and tacking place or on the level of future vision along with its different aspects politically economically and intellectually… also domestically, regionally and internationally.

Moreover, the issue of being subjective in tackling any phenomenon is totally different to being unbiased because I am one of those who believe that being unbiased is hard to apply and almost impossible even in the scientific laboratories… as it was said before: that the scientist or researcher in chemistry, physics or alike branches of science can tend to approximate the results to what was established in his mind before and during the experiment… you can imagine the case regarding issues related to politics, sociology and similar branches of studies.

As a result, being objective does and will not be interpreted into being unbiased between options… and here I say in advance: I am biased to a certain understanding of the contemporary and modern Egyptian historical context… such understanding is based on the notion that conflict – which is a law governing the course of history – since the end of the eighteenth century to date and until for long time – maybe – to come was between two orientations in the Egyptian public life; a conservative traditional one hallowing old texts and totally agrees to their interpretations and which takes religion – at large, whether Islam or religions other than Islam – as a base and attacking tool… another orientation is the one realizing the importance of mind and dealing with social phenomena as accumulative human acts subjected to development and change… such orientation also regards religion as a main component of the general social conscience and an important source of elite moral values… and that religion is, after all, a relation between man and God no one has the right to interfere in or claim to be guardian over others regarding such relation.

For all this, I agree with those believing in the necessity to separate between the religious sacred issues and positive practices… I believe such positive practicing started since the dawn of Islam and was strongly present in the negotiations between al-Muhajirun and al-Ansar in the first establishing meeting of as-Saqeefa in which al-Muhajirun refused to distribute or rotate positions… as positions’ distribution and rotation was an idea presented by al-Ansar after al-Muhajirun refused to appoint an Emir from al-Ansar after they – al-Ansar – said: you first appoint an Emir then we appoint one… later, they said: you take the rule – equal to presidency position now – and we take the consultancy – equal to ministerial cabinet in our present time – but all these suggestions were rejected until the rule went to the Umayyad who turned it into an hereditary monarchy… and so ruling was established over wars and deceitfulness after that… and caliphate stayed as a tyrant ruling regime until it went old, eaten away by corruption and finally collapsed.

Again, the problem as I said above is what credible material can the writer provide for his readers?... especially if the theme readers like to read about is of an issue without much to say about and most, if not all, who write in the public Egyptian affairs off and on tackle it.

I guess the answer to such question cannot be summed in an article… however, we can hint at some points we can write about… it is what I call going deep in understanding the phenomenon by searching in its microscopic minute details… or what I call bridging the gaps between political practices and scholarly theories, knowing that history is a branch of study with research disciplines and research tools and related to the core of it are rules of historical criticism… also there are many aiding branches of studies connected to it… all this and more is present in the references concerning disciplines of historical research… I have mentioned what connect to history so that no one, either with good or bad intention, may think that diving deep in the history of what is called political Islamization is an escape from the due tackling of the current events.

I cannot deny it is a real challenge and I will try to keep on what I used to do; that is to study and understand before I write… in such context, I remember revising many resources and references when I wrote in Al Ahram about Ibn Tayimmiya and Hassan el-Banna and the origin of the two swords that el-Banna and his muslim brotherhood took as a slogan… the most exhausting thing about it was the thorough reading in Ibn Tayimmiya’s Fatwas and Hassan el-Banna’s messages.

Finally, the article of intellectuals and their conference that did not enjoy a high number of readers is a phenomenon worth more research and understanding.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on October 24, 2013.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2013/10/blog-post.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #intellectuals #muslim_brotherhood #salafists