quote:The historical documentary series “Om al-Donya” (Mother of the World), the first of its kind which follows the history of the ancient Egyptian civilization from the beginning of history until the present day, will begin airing on Thursday on the WATCH IT platform.
The series begins by tracing the traces the development of the ancient Egyptians about 20,000 years ago, passing through the unification of the two lands, the era of building the pyramids, the first and second Intermediate Periods, the Hyksos kings and the prosperity of the kings of the New Kingdom until we reach the rule of Cleopatra and the end of the dynastic era.
Om al-Donya’s” 15 episodes shed light on the historical material to link the scenes with important figures in the history of the Egypt and add to the historical material.
A large number of Egyptologists and modern Egyptian history professors participated in the making of the documentary, along with a committee of specialists in different fields to review all the information and historical contexts, in order to ensure an accurate portrayal of information.
The series is part of a large project to produce professional and scientific documentaries about the Egyptian state. It is written and directed by Mahmoud Rashad,
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You have to see this in the context of modern Egypt trying to pretend that it is a literal continuation of the ancient dynastic kingdom, when it is not. And part of that is due to Egypt trying to define for itself a key role in Arab world since the birth of the modern Egyptian state and the creation of Pan Arabism. As such it is impossible to claim that this Arab state extends back into prehistory but that is what they are trying to claim.
But don't take my word for it, they put it in the constitution:
quote: In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
This is Our Constitution, Egypt is the gift of the Nile for Egyptians and the gift of Egyptians to humanity.
With its unique location and history, Egypt is the Arab heart of the world. It is the meeting point of world civilizations and cultures and the crossroads of its maritime transportation and communications. It is the head of Africa on the Mediterranean and the estuary of its greatest river: the Nile.
This is Egypt, an immortal homeland for Egyptians, and a message of peace and love to all peoples.
In the outset of history, the dawn of human conscience arose adn shone forth in the hearts of our great ancestors, whose goodwill banded together to found the first central State that regulated and organized the life of Egyptians on the banks of the Nile. It is where they created amazing wonders of civilization, and where their hearts looked up to heavens before earth knew the three Abrahamic religions.
Egypt is the cradle of belief and the banner of glory of the revealed religions.
On its land, Prophet Moses - to whom Allah spoke - grew up and on Mount Sinai, the Revelation of Allah shone on his heart and Divine message descended.
On its land, Egyptians harbored in their bosoms Virgin Mary and her baby and offered thousands of martyrs in defense of the Church of Jesus, Peace Be Upon Him.
When the Seal of the Messengers Mohammad (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) was sent to all mankind to perfect the sublime morals, our hearts and minds were opened to the light of Islam, and we, labeled the best soldiers on Earth fighting for the cause of Allah, disseminated the message of truth and sciences of religion across the world.
This is Egypt, a homeland in which we live and in our souls it lives.
In modern age, minds were enlightened, humanity became mature, and nations and peoples progressed on the path of knowledge, raising the banners of freedom and equality. Mohamed Ali founded the modern Egyptian State with a national army as its pillar. Refaa, the Azharian, called for having the homeland "… a place of happiness shared by all its people." We, Egyptians, strived to keep up with the pace of advancement and offered up martyrs and made sacrifices in several uprisings and revolutions until our patriotic army stood up for the overwhelming will of the people in the “Jan 25 – June 30” Revolution that called for freedom, human dignity and social justice for all, and for Egypt to regain its independent will.
And Arab commentators have called them out on this as nonsense.
Egypt is no longer the heart of the Arab world
quote: Arabs must stop waiting for Egypt, rid themselves of this irrational nostalgia for its past role and start looking towards the future
The status of a country is not determined, as some historians would have us believe, by its history alone, nor just by its geography, nor indeed by its political will. The role of countries is fashioned by the interaction of geography, history, politics and resources together.
It is through a combination of these forces that Egypt's role was born and developed in the lives of Arabs during the 20th century, in the aftermath of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Egypt's soft power, if you could call it that, emerged in the second half of the 19th century. However, one should not exaggerate it. Egypt fell to British colonialists in 1882.
Working on the back of the modernisation project undertaken by Khedive Ismail, the British endeavoured to create a relatively liberal climate, which attracted a number of educated Christians in the Orient along with an equal number of reformist Salafist scholars.
The role played by all of these elements in Egyptian, and more generally in the Arab culture, exaggerated the importance of Cairo in the 19th and early 20th century Cairo. But the truth is that, until the First World War, Istanbul continued to be the centre of culture and politics in the region.
First there was Istanbul
It was to Istanbul that hundreds of Arab and Muslim activists headed, including many Egyptians. It was in Istanbul that decisions and key political currents were formed. And it was from Istanbul that these individuals went out to start the struggle against foreign hegemony.
If Damascus was the first cradle of the Arab movement, the more important streams of Arabism sprung from within the circles of Arab students and educated Arabs who lived in the capital of the sultanate.
Istanbul's role came to an end with the defeat of the Ottomans and the birth of the Turkish Republic, whose first act was to isolate and disengage itself from the Arab world.
From then on, Arabs embarked on a tough journey in search of a new frame of reference for their identity, as well as for liberation from foreign hegemony and deliverance from partition imposed on them from afar.
Rise of Egypt
Not only did the Arab movement expand its horizons throughout the 1920s and the 1930s, but it also achieved significant steps in the fields of Egyptian culture and politics.
This development was accompanied by the birth of a noticeable level of awareness, particularly among the Egyptian elite, commensurate with the size and position of the country and with its potential role.
With much support from secular circles in his country, King Fuad tried in the 1920s to inherit the post of caliph after the Caliphate was annulled by the republic in Turkey. King Farouk surrounded himself with Egyptians, both Arabists and Islamists, who imagined that Egypt could lead the entire Arab world.
Despite the hesitation and political jealousy seen so often in Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia, Arabs as a whole saw in Egypt their most important centre of gravity, perhaps even the only one they had.
There is no doubt that the birth of the Palestine question, and the role played by Egypt, or the role Egypt had to play, in support of the Palestinians helped to elevate the Arabs' view of Egypt and the Egyptians' view of their own country.
Maker of Arab conscience
During the post-1952 era, Arabism became the official frame of reference for the Egyptian republic. The Arabist trend, which had been controversial during the period between the two world wars, transformed into well-respected policies, drawn with strategic considerations – economic, political and cultural – even if at times Egypt would seem to be the underdog.
This is how Egypt became the centre of Arab culture and a reference for policies. Starting in the late 1930s, Egypt led the Arab world's struggle for Palestine and hoisted the banner of Arab unity. It became the home of the Arab League, supported Arab liberation movements' struggle for independence and waged war after war in order to assert the position of the emerging Arabs on the global scene.
Not many Arabs paid much attention to the roles played by Baghdad and Aleppo in developing modern Arabic music because Egypt, and only Egypt, had become the centre whose role was recognised by the Arabs as essential in shaping their musical taste.
In addition to that, Egypt continued to host the bulk of the Arab cinema industry. So much so that the Egyptian dialect became a sort of synonym for Arabic proper. For decades, the Egyptian University - now known at Cairo University - was a mecca for Arabs ambitious to receive a modern education.
Higher education institutions that soon sprang up in the capitals of the recently independent Arab countries, one after the other, followed the example of the Egyptian University and emulated it. This was not confined to modern education.
The status of Al-Azhar as a bastion of Islamic sciences did not waver, neither with the spread of competitive Islamic education centres nor as a result of the disconcerting clash between the republican regime and the Muslim Brotherhood.
In short, Egypt not only became the beating heart of the Arabs but also the maker of their conscience and their modern soul.
...
Total wreck
It must be recognised that Egypt is no longer the fountain of Arab conscience, nor any longer is it the maker of Arab culture. Egyptian education fell apart quite some time ago, and Egyptian arts are in a state of decay, while the Egyptian media are a source of shame.
Egypt suffers from an economic crisis that is likely to last for many more decades and has suffered a major collapse in most if not all its service sectors from transport to health.
Although state institutions are not in particularly good shape in any Arab country, the Egyptian state started declining as early as the 1960s and is a total wreck today. For all its size and history, Egypt has become captive to - and under the total influence of - a much smaller and much younger state in the Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia.
And we all know that the ancient dynastic state was not oriented towards the Mediterranean, Arabia, the Levant or Turkey. It was oriented towards the South as the source of the Nile, the people and the culture. But of course I would have to watch the documentary to see what it says.
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