One of the songs closest to my heart is “The Migrating Bird” sung by the diva Nagat and composed by the renowned musician Baligh Hamdi. The words are an expression of poignant yearning for loved ones who left home and settled abroad. “We send you a message with the migrating bird, and a tender reproach as well …” The melody feels coming from the depth of the heart as it addresses the sons and daughters of Egypt who emigrated and settled in other corners of the world.
I kept recalling this song while reading the new book by Laila Farid, “The soul is Egyptian… Glimpses by an Egyptian of the Diaspora.” The author has been living in the United Kingdom for many years, working as a specialist in the early detection of cancer. Her book contains 52 articles published between 2001 and 2007 in the Cairo papers Watani International and Cairo, in addition to several Internet sites.
The book’s title reflects the degree of attachment the author—in common, no doubt, with other Egyptian emigrants—has to Egypt. It appears that distance and time make no difference; the soul will always be Egyptian.
Away from home
The author dedicates her book to “The loved ones in Egypt, those who are around as well as those who have passed away, and the friends brought together through our shared desolation of the remoteness of home and the grievances of our people.”
Each article in this book truly reflects the dreary longing of emigrants for their homeland. They prove that, in spite of prolonged separation, Egyptians remain involved in their country’s joys and troubles. Dr Farid has managed to depict all these meanings in a language that combines scientific accuracy with literary charm.
The first part of the book contains six articles devoted to the great novelist Naguib Mahfouz. They celebrate his 90th, 91st and 92nd birthdays, concluding with a final farewell to Mahfouz in an article headed: “You are not alone”. In this article Dr Farid says: “With the departure of this unparalleled man—together with all the vanishing values his rare character presents—we felt that the ties connecting us to the Egypt we knew and loved, were disintegrating. With each visit to our homeland our feeling of remoteness intensified. We became aware that Egypt was not the Egypt we had lived in and that Egyptians were not the Egyptians we had known. However, just as the existence of the pyramids assured us that we were actually still in Egypt—the homeland of our great forefathers, and not in an alien place—the presence of Mahfouz gave us confidence that the qualities of the true Egyptian—the essence of the great civilisation—had not vanished altogether.”
Dr Farid allocates a whole section of the book to commemorating some special people whose death has created a void and left our world less rich and less beautiful.
Great humanitarian
Among those whose memories she perpetuated was my dear late friend Hosni Guindy, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Weekly. The caption of a cartoon by George al-Bahgori accompanying Dr Farid’s essay says: “With your death, the world has lost a man for all seasons.” It is amazing how Dr Farid managed to write about Hosni Guindy as if she were with us at the Weekly.
I wish it were possible to publish her article, entitled “With Hosni Guindy’s death, great humanitarian worlds are unfolding,” in full, but here at least I will quote an excerpt from it: “A man named Hosni Guindy has passed away. His death has led to an overwhelming expression of honest and genuine feelings, opening our eyes to some of the brighter aspects of life that we thought had disappeared forever. There were certain regrettable postulates we accepted as an unpreventable fate that could not be surpassed or conquered. Then, all of a sudden, we found that the seeds of goodness and sublime humanitarian values were still there, buried in some place, at a certain point in time.”
Dr Farid allocates another section of her book to such contemporary issues as a tendency in the youth of the West to revisit religion, the outcry of Christians in Great Britain about the raw deal they are currently getting, and philanthropic billionaires.
The section of the book that follows addresses the problems facing Egypt and Egyptians. Finally, there are reviews of controversial books and works of art such as From the Holy Mountain book and the artistic world of George Bahgori.
The diverse variety of interests expressed in this book reflects the author’s deep and wide scope of knowledge as she combines the best of both the scientific and literary worlds.
This article appeared in Arabic in Al-Ahram on 11 December 2007