Wednesday, August 22, 2007

to Evy

A comment on a Comment
Anonymous said...
I am an Arab christian and I totally agree with Raouf.
As for those who posted comments, the idea is not to debate on religions;
it is simply to suggest that all 3 holy books could have similar backward statements,
no matter what the interpretation is, and therefore it is not logical to criticize
one religion and pretend that others are more "civilized" ones.
Raouf, you're my hero!
Can I translate your passage so I can send it to non English-speaking persons?
Evy
Raouf comments
Yes Evy!
I like the way you describe yourself as "An Arab Christian"... It took me some years to combine Arabism with Christianity. First I consider myself an Egyptian atheist... Then commoner, then social justice fighter!
I think - though I am not very sure - that I am still a social justice fighter (if there is something like that) and proud also of my roots which are mainly in cultures descending from the ancient Egyptians, to Hellenism to Coptic, to Islam and Arabism. Now I like to think of myself as a pot of identities: born in Sudan and still keeping deep and pleasant memories about the places and peoples... And I have travalled and walked in Sudan so many times lately. And in three of my books Sudan is in the background. I wrote an in depth 16-article story about Sudan published in "El Quds" (London -November 2000)
Most probably, you are feeling the same about your identities.
I would like to read more about this and about you.
Why you do not begin now?!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Raouf,
I am really flattered of your interest to know about me and my background! It is certainly far less impressive than yours! But since you and Elly are encouraging me to write about my thoughts and ideas (so far my writings were limited to emails, as all big writers of the internet era), I wrote something about my “Christian Arab” identity that I will send to Elly when she comes back to London.
I am going to be in Lebanon on the 7th of September till the 29th. If you happen to be there during this time, and you have some free time, I will be happy to show you and your family my Ehden and we can sit on the balcony (or “tahtil arichi”?), listen to Fairouz, and watch the moon coming out from behind the mountain… :)
Evy