نقد العقل العربي - من عيوب تفكيرنا المعاصر - طارق حجي

One may download the complete text (in Arabic) of my book here.

رحيل رجل كبير : البابا شنودة الثالث (1923-2012).

ساد هدوء كبير في العلاقة بين القيادة السياسية فى مصر ( جمال عبد الناصر ) وقيادة الكنيسة المصرية ( البابا كيرلس السادس ) طيلت فترة باباوية البطريرك رقم 116 ( كيرلس السادس ) من مايو 1959 إلى رحيل جمال عبد الناصر فى سبتمبر 1970 . وبعد أقل من نصف سنة من رحيل جمال عبد النصر ، رحل أيضاً البابا كيرلس السادس ( يوم 9 مارس 1971 ). ويرجع هذا الهدوء في المقام الأول لعقلية جمال عبد النصر التي كانت لا تسمح بإختلاط الشأن الديني بالشأن السياسي . وقبل نهاية السنة التالية لموت جمال عبد الناصر ( أي في 1971 ) كان الوضع فى مصر جد مختلف . فقد جاء لحكم مصر رئيس إرتكب من اليوم الأول خطيئة اللعب السياسي بالدين . فقد أطلق أنور السادات على نفسه تسمية " الرئيس المؤمن " كما أطلق على مصر تسمية " دولة العلم والإيمان ". وهي الخطيئة التي ستكلف مصر وتكلفه هو شخصيا) بعد ذلك الكثير ( ومن بين هذه التكلفة مصرعه هو برصاص جماعة من الإسلاميين). في هذا الجو والمناخ العام المختلف تماماً عن سنوات حبرية البابا كيرلس السادس جاء للموقع الأول في الكنيسة المصرية أكثر رجال الدين المسيحي في جميع الكنائس الشرقية ثقافة وإهتماما بالشأن العام ، ناهيك عن حيوته الإستثنائية. فالبابا الجديد ( شنودة الثالث ) كان قبل انخراطه في سلك الرهبان ( 18 يوليه 1954 ) خريج كلية الآداب بجامعة فؤاد الأول وصحفياً وشاعراً ومدرساً وسياسياً من الشباب المقربين للزعيم التاريخي مكرم عبيد زعيم الكتلة الوفدية وقتئذ . وهكذا وضعت الأقدار البابا الجديد في مواجهه حتمية مع قيادة سياسية إختارت ان تلعب بالدين لعبة سياسية شديدة الخطورة . في ظل هذا المناخ العام بدأت ثم تصاعدت أحداث الفتنة الطائفية طيلة سنوات حكم أنور السادات . وخلال هذه الفترة قام إسلاميون بخطف وإعدام وزير الأوقاف الشيخ الذهبي كما قاموا بعد ذلك بإغتيال رئيس الدولة نفسه ( يوم 6 أكتوبر 1981 ). ولا شك عندي ان السادات هنا كان يتماهي مع السياسة الأمريكية التي كانت تعتقد ان كون الإسلاميين أعداء طبيعيين للتوجهات الماركسية واليسارية ، تجعلهم بالضرورة شركاء لاعداء الإشتراكية (وفى مقدمتهم الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية). وهذه النظرية الحمقاء ( نظرية عدو عدوي بالضرورة حليفي ) هي التي كانت خلفية الكثير من الأحلاف السياسية الكبرى في عدة مناطق من العالم كانت مصر من بينها . ولا شك عندي ان البابا الجديد ( شنودة الثالث ) لم تكن أمامه مسارات غير المسار الذي إختاره في مواجهة " الرئيس المؤمن " وتيار الإسلام السياسي الذي شاع وذاع في مصر مع توجهات خليفة جمال عبد الناصر . وطيلة العقود الأربعة التي كان البابا شنودة الثالث . خلالها على رأس الكنيسة المصرية فقد كان همه الأول الدفاع عن الخصوصيات الثقافية للمصرين الأقباط في مواجهة ريح عاتيه تحاول ان تفرض لونا واحدا من ألوان الطيف الثقافي على مصر ومجتمعها وأبنائها وبناتها. وقد أتاحت لي صداقة شخصية عارمة بالبابا شنودة الثالث استمرت طيلة السنوات الثلاثين الماضية ان ألمس بنفسي ان هذا التحدي كان هو همه الأكبر الذي سار بمحاذة هم أخر شغله منذ ان كان أسقفا للتعليم ( منذ 1962 ) ، وأعني رفع المستوى التعليمي والثقافي والمعرفي لمعظم رجال الكنيسة المصرية من رهبان وكهنة . فبعد ان كان عدد كبير من الرهبان من غير المتعلمين ، فقد توفى البابا شنودة الثالث تاركاً الكنيسة المصرية في يد ألاف الرهبان والكهنة من خير أبناء مصر المتعلمين والحاصلين ( معظمهم ) على درجات علمية عالية في معظم التخصصات العلمية.

·وقد أتاحت لي الظروف قضاء مئات الساعات مع البابا شنودة الثالث وأن أتعرف عن قرب على تكوينه المعرفي الثري وعلى رؤيته الإستراتيجية للعديد من الأمور ، ناهيك عن إبداعاته الأدبية الشعرية التي قل نظيرها في واقعنا الثقافي المعاصرالذى يتسم اليوم بالسطحية والتهافت وقد لعب هذا التكوين المعرفي الثري دوراً كبيراً في المجالاين الأكثر أهمية طيلة حبرية البابا شنودة الثالث وأعني المحافظين على الخصوصية الثقافية لأقباط مصر والإرتقاء برهبان وكهنة الكنيسة المصرية .

·ولولا التكوين المعرفي الثري للبابا الراحل شنودة الثالث ، ولولا معرفته الدقيقة والعميقة بعواقب حدوث صدام بين الأغلبية المسلمة والأقلية المسيحية ، لصارت مصر نحو انفجارات مجتمعية لا تبقى ولا تذر، , وأفدح بكثير من كل الأحداث المؤسفة التى حدثت خلال فترة حبريته والتى تكرر فيها العدوان من طرف لا يتغير بذات الطرف المعتدي عليه فى كل مرة.

أردت بهذه الكلمة العجلي ان ألقي الضوء على اثنين من أكبر التحديات التي تعامل معها البطريرك العظيم البابا شنودة الثالث (الأشد والأكثر تميزاً بين بطاركة الكنيسة المصرية) خلال أربعة عقود كاملة ( 1971- 2012 ) . أما الذكريات العديدة لعشرات اللقاءات والحوارات حول الكثير من المواضيع السياسية والثقافية والأدبية ( وبالذات الشعرية ) فستكون موضوع العديد من كتاباتي المستقبلية عن البابا شنودة الثالث صاحب واحد من أعلى القامات المصرية في تاريخ مصر الحديث ... هذا العملاق الذى إنتمي لمادة خام من مواد العبقرية كانت متوفرة فى مصر إبان حقبة تألقها الثقافي ، ولكنها اليوم شديدة الندرة.

Why Do I Write?

I have been writing for more than three decades in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that we are, first and foremost, Egyptians. Our identity is shaped by our geographical location on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. We have Muslim, Christian, Arab and African ties, but none of them can replace our only identity as Egyptians.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind the fact that although the outside world will harbour animosities towards us at times, and will work to further its own interests most of the time, our problems, in their entirety, originate inside our country and can only be solved internally. We alone are responsible for those problems and for the fact that they remain unsolved. The excessive belief in the conspiracy theory is a confession of our impotence and an admission of the supremacy of others in the face of our ineffectiveness.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind the values of liberalism, democracy, general freedoms and human rights as the most noble, sublime and civilized achievements of mankind.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind the value of civil society, as the most effective mechanism for public participation in public life.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that the negative perception of women in some cultures is disgraceful. Not only do women constitute half the population but, far more important, they are the mothers who rear future generations. As such, they are a valuable societal asset, and a society that does not grant its women full rights in all fields cannot hope to realize its full potential.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that effective and creative modern management is the only way to achieve progress. The sad reality, though, is that there is a dearth of human resources trained in the techniques of modern management.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that our educational system is in need of an overall revolution. As it now stands, the system only produces citizens who are totally incapable of facing the challenges of the age. Repeated claims by some that a process of reforming Egypt’s educational system is currently underway are grossly exaggerated, as borne out by the quality of graduates produced by the system.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that Egypt’s Copts are not second class citizens, that they are as entitled to full citizenship rights as its Muslim population and that all the problems they are facing can and must be solved.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that there are shortcomings in Western culture, but it is an essential rung on the ladder of human civilization. To oppose Western culture is to oppose science, development and civilization.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that we have to curb our tendency to indulge in excessive self-praise and to glorify our past achievements. We have to learn to criticize ourselves and to accept criticism from others. We have to try to break out of our subjective culture into a more objective one. And I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that the deification of officials is one of the major sources of our problem-filled reality… and the responsibility here lies with us as individuals.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind that our media institutions need to be radically reformed in line with the requirements of the age. The changes required are not in the formal aspects or the number of television channels operated by our state television, but in the substance of the media message. If education is the reform tool in the long-term, the media is the ideal tool by which awareness can be raised in the short-term.

I write in order to instill in the Egyptian mind (especially in the minds of the young) that where there is a will there is a way and that, armed with a solid formation and determination, they can achieve anything. The future does not exist as such; it is the product of what we create today.

These are the messages I have tried to convey in the hundreds of articles and the twenty eight books I published over the past three decades. Skeptics may consider that my voice, like that of John the Baptist, is a cry in the wilderness. They would do well to remember that the words of John the Baptist were far more than a cry in the wilderness, that they were, in fact, stepping stones towards a noble and glorious path.

Society in Transition -- Educational Reform

A consensus of opinions, vociferously expressed in articles, lectures, talk shows and informal conversations, holds that educational reform is the key to society’s salvation, the lifeboat that can take us from our dismal present towards a brighter future. Without educational reform we are doomed to sink into further decline, decadence and, ultimately, chaos, to be plucked like a rotten fruit by the forces of darkness watching and waiting for just such an opportunity. In any gathering, whether between people on the highest rung of the social ladder or among ordinary citizens, talk invariably turns to the urgent need for educational reform and the disastrous consequences of not putting it into effect without further delay.

Conversations abound with nostalgic references to education as it was in the past and lament the standard of education on offer today, occasionally touching on the reasons our educational institutions have sunk to such abysmal depths, with their lack of quality, low standard of educational output and the yawning gap separating them from the realities and innovations of the age. But rarely, if ever, is the reader, viewer or listener of these plaintive symphonies apprised of what alternative model of education the lamenters are proposing in its stead. This article shall try to sum up, very briefly, the main guidelines we should follow when embarking on educational reform. I believe the first requirement is to formulate a clear vision, a declaration of intent, as it were, that would be based on the following simple formula:

The educational institutions aim to imbue the sons and daughters of the society of the future with the values of the age and with the qualifications that would enable them to make effective, creative and positive contributions towards achieving progress, social peace and quality of life at all levels. The most important values of the age that our educational institutions must plant in the minds of society’s children are:

- A love of pluralism in all its material, intellectual, sectarian, religious, political and cultural aspects as one of the most noble and beautiful realities of life, and a respect for its results, the most important being otherness and cultural and religious tolerance;

- A recognition of the universality of science and knowledge and an awareness that they are the cumulative legacy of humanity as a whole;

- The extirpation of all the seeds of fanaticism;

- A respect for human rights and the rights of minorities, and an acceptance of the imperative need to elevate the status of women, who make up half of the human race not only numerically but in terms of their role and contributions;

- An appreciation of progress and a deep respect for science and knowledge;

- A sense of the common humanity shared by all peoples and a love of art in all its forms;

- A recognition of the sanctity of human life and a respect for work.

Task forces composed of men and women experienced in all related fields, drawn from both inside and outside the educational establishment, must be formed to translate that vision into educational programmes. It is also necessary to study and address the reasons why the majority of those enrolled in the educational process are bent on completing the journey from primary to preparatory to secondary school to university. On the one hand, society does not need so many university graduates; on the other, it is in dire need of skills in many domains that are not acquired through a university education.

On a recent visit to Finland, a country experts consider to have the best educational system in the world today, I met one of the leading personalities in the field of education. She told me that in her opinion the problem is not whether education is free or paid - in Finland education is free from elementary school through post-graduate studies, even for non-citizens. Rather, it is the failure of many educational systems to attract society’s young people towards vocational schools where the training they receive can serve society in ways that university graduates cannot.

Speaking as one of the architects of this highly developed Scandinavian country’s educational policies, she added that no society could possibly need more than one quarter of those enrolled in the educational process to graduate from university; it needed the remainder to train as skilled workers in various areas of specialization. If the educational policy succeeds in directing a quarter, or, at most, a third of its young people towards a university education and three quarters or two thirds towards modern vocational training, society would not only receive all the contributions required for its advancement, it would also be able to provide free university education to its most brilliant students. 

Although the prescription set out in this article appears simple on its face, its application is far from easy. To begin with, it needs a large number of qualified people to lay the groundwork for the required radical reforms. Theirs will not be an easy task, for they will face ferocious resistance from those forces within the society whose vested interests are safe and sound only if things remain as they are.  

There is no doubt that the political will to effect these changes in order to provide the only lifeboat that can rescue society from its present predicament is of paramount importance.

Society in Transition--The Role of Education (Part III)

There has been a steady decline in the level of Egyptian school teachers and university professors since they have become state employees. Once a member of an elite corps of scientists and learned men, a professor today is just one of thousands of government employees. The drop in teaching standards parallels the general decline in the level of public services in Egypt, a phenomenon that has grown out of the frightful imbalance between people's growing sense of rights and their diminishing sense of duties. This phenomenon is common in socialist countries. Things cannot be otherwise in an environment where workers are cushioned by a plethora of promises and freed from the constraints of such basic economic laws as that linking salary to production and the law of rewarding excellence and punishing error, and where labor laws encourage slothfulness and idleness while discouraging initiative, creativity, competition and motivation.

I am confident that if we were to liberate teachers and university professors from the fetters of the civil service, we would break the heavy bonds that tie them to the present situation of education in our country and allow them to concentrate on improving the quality of their work rather than their chances for promotion.

There has also been an alarming decline in our cultural life since it came under the thumb of politics. Education and culture are two sides of the same coin: if one declines, the other will follow. To understand what politics have done to culture in Egypt, it is enough to see the works of artists and writers in the 60s, or radio and television programs of the time, when politicization was at its peak.

Last is the indiscriminate expansion of the system. Education in Egypt is like a train: once a child reaches the age of six he or she can hop on board and remain there until the very last stop—the university degree. Not one country, either in the socialist or the capitalist worlds, provides education free of charge to every citizen wishing to benefit from that constitu­tional right. The fact is that no state, whatever its political orientation, can afford to provide free education from primary school through university. The only difference between socialist and capitalist countries in this respect is that while outstanding students enjoy this right in both cases, in the latter students who can afford to pay are allowed to continue studying even when they are not exceptional.

With such an indiscriminate expansion of education as that which took place in Egypt, it becomes impossible to maintain a balance between quality and quantity. Education is, after all, a service like any other, and the largesse of the Egyptian state in extending this service unreservedly to its citizens was, in­evitably, at the expense of quality. The damage could have been minimized with proper planning. However, the state did not prepare for increasing the number of public, technical and commercial schools, nor for the necessary boost in the number of teachers needed, nor for ways to generate productive and useful employment for the flood of future graduates. In fact, the expansion of education, like so many other things in Egypt, was a haphazard process born of a vague slogan about education being “the right of every citizen”. But noble slogans and good intentions never have and never will achieve success at any level.

To make matters worse, several factors combined to make Egyptians come to regard university degrees, and the government jobs that could be secured with them, with excessive respect, even reverence. At the same time, people began looking with disdain at technical and specialized vocational de­grees, which limits the social standing of its bearer. In addition to a shrinking private sector and the fact that most citizens are civil servants, and since all high public positions are held by university graduates, not to obtain a degree puts one in a category of social inferiority.

There was a time when a professor was the symbol of society's respect for itself. Venerated for his wisdom and his mission to society, a professor was someone who dedicated his life to teaching and educating the young. In return, society gave him the appropriate material and moral appreciation to enable him to pursue his mission. When the university and academic life in general was made subservient to political considerations, the professor's chair became just another form of government employ­ment. The vocation of professor lost its essence and mystique. The situation was even worse for school teachers, who were tossed around by the storms of political expediency on the one hand, and those of economic need, on the other, since the state could not afford to pay them salaries that met the increasingly heavy burdens of daily life. Teachers also suffered from the intellectual vacuum that affected their profession, as it did all other aspects of life in Egypt. It was no longer possible to expect a teacher to be a symbol of self-respect and knowledge, and to be a conduit for knowledge. The values and the status of the professor and teacher had been shaken, and with them the very foundations of education in Egypt.

Is there a cure?

Before probing ways and means of reforming education in Egypt, we should be aware that the success of any attempts at reform hinges on the readiness of Egyptians in general and the authorities in particular to admit that the problem of education has reached crisis proportions and that radical reform is a must.

Part IV will examine recommendations for educational reform.

Egyptian Culture--Where Are We Headed?

قضايا الوطن عندنا هى النهوض بمستوي معيشة الأغلبية و خلق فرص عمل حقيقية للشباب و تطوير التعليم (وعصرنته) ومحاولة اللحاق بركب التقدم الإنساني فى كل المجالات بما فى ذلك وضع وحقوق المرأة ، وتأسيس العلاقة بين الشعب والدولة على أساس المواطنة ... أما السواد الأعظم من أعضاء البرلمان الجديد فقضاياهم هى : محاربة الإختلاط بين الجنسين والعودة بالمرأة لوضعيتها فى القرن الثامن الميلادي وتحجيب النساء وغلق البنوك الربوية !!! وقطع يد السارق ورجم الزناة ! وبإختصار ، فإن مصر تم تسليمها لكادر بشري لا علاقة له بالثقافة المصرية وإنما هم أبناء ثقافة البداوة والصحراء وإزدراء الآخر وإحتقار النساء والزواج من فتيات فى المدرسة الإبتدائية !

Society in Transition--The Role of Education (Part II)

Egyptian education is a closed system, detached from contemporary realities and isolated from the common cultural heritage of mankind, without which no educational system can hope to produce individuals capable of enriching their nations. But where and when did this tragedy start, and who is responsible?

To answer this, we must go back to the time when Mohammad ‘Ali made education available to all Egyptians.

‘Ali had always dreamed of making Egypt strong and great among the nations of the world, and he believed that this could not be achieved without an appreciation of modern science and contemporary culture. In that belief, ‘Ali was ahead of another great nation, Japan, which discovered the same key to progress a few years later and which has since been using it boldly and effectively. In 1826 ‘Ali sent the first of a series of delegations to France. It is thanks to those delegations that Egypt became so much more advanced than other Arab and African nations by the end of the 19th century.

These missions returned from Europe carrying the torch of knowledge and gave Egypt its first modern educational system—the system which formed Egypt's greatest minds at the end of the 19th century and in the first three decades of the 20th. Egypt produced more outstanding figures in that time than any other nation comparable in size or stage of development has in such a short period. Such figures as politicians Mustapha Kamel, Mohamed Farid, Sa’ad Zaghlul and Abdel Aziz Fahmy; artists, writers and poets Hafez Ibrahim, Zaki Mubarak, Sayed Darwish, Aziz Abaza, Al Sanhouri, and the renowned singer Um Kulthum and many more were products of the solid educa­tional system and culture sparked by the first Egyptian mission sent to Western Europe by ‘Ali in 1826.

Tracing the roots of the “enlightenment” which enriched our scientific and cultural life then is necessary to help us unearth the roots of the present sterility of our educational system and the level to which it has sunk. The virtual collapse of education in our country has gone hand in hand with a breakdown in the values system by which society is governed. The moral and cultural decline is painfully obvious. The situation calls for drastic action. Like a surgeon who would not hesitate to amputate rotting limbs so that the patient may live, we too must ruthlessly remove these festering wounds from the suffering body of Egypt.

The politicization of education:

What I said about the self-imposed isolation of Egyp­tian post-graduate students studying abroad and their refusal to taste from the host country’s opportunities is all the more true of their counterparts in Egypt. The latter have not even been exposed to other civilizations, nor to the challenge of new ideas that shock Egyptians expatriates in the West and cause them to retreat into themselves in what Arnold Toynbee called a “negative reaction”. In fact, their introversion is a defense mechanism against the challenges posed by the alien culture, and they nurture it with a misplaced belief in their cultural superiority and the sense that they can do without “Western” ideas.

I believe the main reason education fell from its promising heights to the depths of stagnation in which it is now mired is that the education system, both at school and, more particularly, university levels, was subjected to political currents. The subjugation of education of politics did not begin, as some might believe, in the Nasser era, but in 1925, when the old National University was transformed into a state institution and renamed the Egyptian University. The controversy over Taha Hussein’s book on pre-Islamic poetry in the mid-1920s is a striking example of the attempts made by successive governments to subject the university to political orientations. The government of Ismail Sidqi (1930-33) was perhaps the most flagrant at that destructive trend. In the seven years preceding the 1952 Revolution, attempts to politicize the university were further stepped up, culminating in 1953-54 in what came to be known as “the purge”, when the post-revolution regime fired scores of university professors whom it suspected were not in accord with its policies.

Thus it was that although the process of politicizing education was not introduced into Egypt by the 1952 Revolution, it was the years that followed that saw the most blatant and painful examples of politics ruling academic life and trampling it underfoot. Despite the fact that violent repression disappeared by the 1970s, the harm had already been done. The Egyptian University, the pinnacle of the educational edifice, had become an inanimate corpse, trampled into subservience by politics. My purpose here is neither to insult nor to champion any one group against another because the magnitude of the calamity is such that it no longer matters which leader, regime or era is to blame. A small consolation here is that if power had fallen into the hands of the Moslem Brotherhood or the Communists—who, it will be recalled, were a force to be reckoned with in the Egypt of the ‘40s—education would have suffered twice as much as it did at the hands of the new regime in Egypt in 1953-54 and beyond.

Part Three will examine the overall decline in the level of teachers and university professors.

دانات ... بمناسبة إرتداء مصر للجلباب القصير !!!

أدت تراكماتُ سلبيات ستين سنة من حكم غير متسم بالكفاءة والثقافة والرؤية والنزاهة الى ما وصلنا له والذي تجسد في اختيار اعضاء برلمان ثلاثة أرباعهم لا ينتمون فكراً ورؤية لمسيرة التقدم الانساني . والحقيقة ، أن ما حدث هو أمر طبيعي للغاية . فالشعبُ الفقير المهمش المظلوم والمنهوب والذي تلقى اسوأ انواع التعليم لم يكن بوسعه ان يختار بشكل مغاير. من الناحية السياسية ، فإن ما حدث طبيعيُ ومتناغمُ مع الديمقراطية المنشودة . أما من الناحية الثقافية ، فان ما حدث "كارثةُ " .ولكنها كارثةُ لا يجوز ولا ينبغي التعامل معها بأدواتِ غير ادوات وآليات الديمقراطية . أي بجهاد متواصل من جانب انصار الدولة المدنية بهدف رفع مستوى اختيار الشعب المصري بحيث يكون للأكفأ القادر على تحقيق احتياجات المصريين الاساسية وهي: (1) تحسين الظروف الحياتية (2) خلق وظائف عمل حقيقية جديدة تتناسب عددياً مع طلاب العمل في المجتمع (3) تطوير وتحديث التعليم (4) تفعيل مشاركة المصريين في الشأن العام وهي المشاركة التي تم خنقها خلال السنوات الستين الماضية ولم تنطلق الاَّ مع ثورة 25 يناير 2011.

Society in Transition--The Role of Education (Part I)

In an article published in October magazine, titled “Those Who Have Withdrawn from the Age… And Those Who Are Up to Its Challenge”, my friend the author and historian Dr. Abdel Azim Ramadan, touched a nerve as he discussed Egyptian post-graduate students abroad. Ramadan’s article centered on the tendency of this expatriate community of future university professors to escape into the past and on their inability to face the challenges of civilization and culture in the advanced countries where they spend a good number of years. I have met many graduate students in various countries of Europe and North America and can concur that they are indeed, as Ramadan described them “fugitives from our age”. For the most part, they avoid the challenge of adapting to and absorbing these cultures and, instead, opt for the easy path of retreating into themselves.

In the UK, most Egyptian post-graduate students live in Egyptian “cloisters”, quite detached from the golden opportunities available to them at the expense of the Egyptian taxpayer. In all probability, not one of the hundreds of Egyptians who obtained their doctorates from British universities bothered to read basic literary works as those of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Byron, Wordsworth or Dickens. It is also safe to bet that none of them became anywhere near as familiar with the treasures of museums as they did with the layout of department stores. University professors who lived in Britain for years have admitted to me that they never bothered to follow the political, literary or cultural events in that country throughout their stay.

In the US, I met several Egyptians preparing their doctorates in various branches of learning. Most had never really experienced American life, preferring to spend their years there in self-imposed isolation because of their inability to face the challenge of civilization and culture. Before meeting with a number of doctoral graduate students at one of the largest universities in the US, I had hoped to spend a few stimulating hours discussing American political history, cultural life and literature. But that was not to be. Instead, I was subjected to a series of monologues which reflected the speakers’ total detachment and withdrawal from their environment and their retreat into the distant past – and to the most fanatical and extremist trends of that past.

The reason for the cultural introversion of our graduate students abroad is, I believe, the poor educational and cultural baggage they bring with them. Forced to retreat into complete isolation, they seek refuge in exaggerated conservatism and extremism as an easy way out of their dilemma. Indeed, with their poor educational, linguistic and cultural assets, how could they accomplish what generations of their forebears had achieved? The generation of Taha Hussein, Tawfiq al-Hakim, the scientist and artist Hussein Fawzi and the two generations that followed traveled to the West armed with a solid educational and cultural background, and at least one or two foreign languages. They then acquire the best that Western civilization had to offer without losing their faith in the greatness of their religion and the glory of their past. Today’s students come back to Egypt not richer than when they left, having concentrated on the study of one exclusive subject for the most part. As for the host society, its civilization and achievements in the areas of public freedom and democracy, the rich diversity of its literature and culture, its vibrant political life – these are of no interest to our M.A. and Ph.D. candidates, who are completely wrapped up in themselves and their own narrow vision, isolated and brewing ideas that belong to the age of darkness and obscurity.

In Paris once I sat in on a heated discussion among a group of graduate students, all of whom have since joined the faculties of Egyptian universities. The discussion was about painting and sculpture, and all those present pronounced both art forms to be works of the devil! Ironically, we were at that time only a few steps away from the city’s Latin Quarter, a district alive with art, literature and culture, and just a stone’s throw from the Louvre, where hundreds of the world's greatest paintings and sculptures stood in mute reproach to the astounding views put forward by people who had turned their backs on the age.

Education for all:

The above is by way of an introduction to the subject of education in Egypt today and the sorry state it is in. Egyptian education is a closed system, detached from contemporary realities and isolated from the common cultural heritage of mankind, without which no educational system can hope to produce individuals capable of enriching their nations. But where and when did this tragedy start, and who is responsible?

This is Part I in a series on the role of education in society.

Tarek Heggy on the Muslim Brotherhood

As the Islamist trend sweeps Egypt, it is important to examine the impact that may have on the broader region as well as the West.

Prisons of the Arab Mind

I have been studying the Arab mindset for the last four decades from several perspectives. For a start, I myself am a product of this Arabic-speaking region and was able to study the phenomenon from the perspective of an 'insider' as it were, as well as from my vantage point as a researcher who has had twenty books published in Arabic and English (including five devoted exclusively to the Arab mindset and Arab culture). I also had the opportunity to interact with the Arab mindset and culture from a different angle during my years as chairman & CEO of a multinational oil company in the Arab region, when I worked in close proximity with the end product of Arab culture, so to speak – the Arabic-speaking worker in the work environment. The fourth and final perspective from which I interacted with Arab culture and the Arab mindset was when I was called upon to lecture to post-graduate students at a number of universities in various Arab countries on subjects related to modern management sciences and techniques. 

The insight into the contemporary Arab mindset that I was able to develop from all these perspectives, in addition to my consuming interest in and close follow-up of the phenomenon over the last four decades, led me to reach the conclusions laid out in my latest book  The Arab Mind Bound. In the book, I describe the Arab mindset as a prisoner held captive within three prisons or shackled with three chains. The first chain is a regressive, dogmatic interpretation of religion that is totally at odds with the realities of the age, with science and civilization. The second is a culture that is not only totally divorced from science and progress as a result of Arab history and the geopolitics of the Arabian peninsula, but, more importantly, has produced educational institutions and programmes that, rather than foster the values of progress and humanity, actively promote a xenophobic rejection of these values. The third chain holding the Arab mindset back from embracing the spirit of the age is a philosophical dilemma which renders it unable to develop a proper understanding of progress and modernity, and drives it to reject such notions as an invasion of its cultural specificity and civilizational legacy. 

The first chain weighing the Arab mindset down and preventing it from joining the march of human progress which, according to the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, is moving towards the attainment of transcendental idealism, is the regressive, medieval, Bedouin understanding of religion. A large number of modern-day Muslims have never been presented with an interpretation of religion other than the one propagated by the enemies of reason and free thinking, from Ibn Hanbal in the tenth century to the founder of the Wahhabi-Saudi alliance in the Arabian Peninsula in 1744 (Mohamed ibn-Abdul Wahab, the spiritual father of Wahhabism, whose message was merged after his death with the ideas of Abul 'Alaa Al-Mawdoody), to the ideas of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. 

More recently, an Islamic state established three quarters of a century ago (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ) took it upon itself not only to stand as the embodiment of this brand of Islam but to export its understanding and spread its message to every corner of the world. In that version of Islam there is no room for the Other (Christian, Jewish, Buddhist or otherwise); there can be no equality between men and women nor peaceful coexistence with others, no possibility of allowing the human mind to explore new horizons, no scope for creativity or imaginative thinking. So firmly entrenched in the past is this harsh and uncompromising brand of Islam that it does not allow for the proper interpretation of the word jihad as meaning the use of force only in self-defense against outside aggression but continues to use the interpretation adopted by Bedouin tribes in the Middle Ages, which is the imposition of their religious beliefs on the whole of humanity by force of arms. 

Nine centuries ago, the world of Islam was the scene of a battle of ideas between two trends. One trend, which upheld the primacy of reason, began with the Mu'tazalites and was taken to new Aristotelian heights by Ibn Rushd, who lived in Andalusia just over eight centuries ago. The other opposed the use of reason in the interpretation of holy texts, upholding orthodoxy and tradition and spurning deductive reasoning altogether. This latter trend had many prominent adherents, including Ahmed ibn-Hanbal, one of the four Sunni imams, and Abu Hamed Al-Ghazzali, the noted Islamic jurist. Unfortunately for Muslims, the school which favoured unquestioning adherence to tradition over the use of critical faculties prevailed. The defeat of the school of reason was symbolically represented in the burning of Ibn Rushd's works by the authorities, who elevated the stature of Al-Ghazzali to towering heights by bestowing on him the name " Hujat al Islam " (the authority on Islam). Exalting a man who did not believe the human mind capable of grasping the Truth as ordained by God set into motion a process that continues to this day with devastating effects on the Arab mindset, which has become insular, regressive and unreceptive to new ideas. 

The second chain shackling the Arab mindset is a cultural climate which has encouraged the spread of tribal values, including such negative values as individualism (instead of tolerance) and insularity (instead of open-mindedness). As a result, Arab societies were unable to receive and assimilate the values of pluralism, acceptance of the Other, a belief in the universality of knowledge and science, acceptance of the human rights movement and the movement for women's rights – not to mention an institutional rejection of the most important achievement of human civilization, democracy. Educational systems in Arab societies reflect the prevailing cultural climate, which stands as a barrier between the Arab mindset and the march of human progress. One need only look at the educational systems in force in a country like Saudi Arabia to realize that they are creating generations totally ill equipped to deal with the realities of the age. Indeed, it is enough to see the opinion leaders of that society to realize how strong the organic link between the cultural/educational climate and the insular, backward-looking ethos in some Arab societies. 

Finally, the religious, educational, cultural and media institutions in Arabic-speaking societies have created a mindset that considers the call for progress and modernity a call to accept a cultural invasion and the loss of cultural specificity. 

The problem of Arabic-speaking societies as well as of some non-Arab Muslim societies will not be solved by military confrontations, security measures or economic rewards and/or punishments. None of these measures address the core issue, which is essentially one of culture and knowledge. Accordingly, the most effective way of dealing with the problem is by adopting a level-headed approach based on a thorough understanding of the reasons behind the distinctive characteristics displayed by the contemporary Arab mindset.

 

Wahabi views on the relationship between men and women

تقوم الذهنية الوهابية فيما يخص العلاقة بين الرجل والمرأة على ركن أساس هو أن المرأة هى مصدر الشر والإغراء ! وهو تفكير عريق فى القدم ، منذ "ألبست" النصوص "المقدسة" وزر ما حاق بأبي البشر آدم من لعنة وأدي لطرده من جنة النعيم وإلقاءه لعذابات الحياة الدنيا ومكابداتها للمرأة ! والغريب ، أن أبسط تحليل لهذه "النظرة" يقود لنتيجة واحدة ، وهى أن مصدر الشر هو الرجل وليس المرأة ... فهو الكائن الهذيل الى لا يسيط...ر على ذاته ورغباته وشهواته ، بل انه أقرب ما يكون للوحش البهيمي الذى ما ان يشم رائحة الدم ، إلا وتحوله غريزته لوحش لا عقل ولا ضمير ولا إرادة له ! فالمؤكد أن الرجل العصري المتعلم والمثقف والمهذب ، لا علاقة له بهذا "الوحش" الذى يبني عليه متدينون كثيرون نظريتهم التى تتوخي حماية هذا الوحش (الذى لا سيطرة له على ذاته ولا عزم أو إرادة أو ضمير له) ... وذلك بتغطية المرأة (كلية) حتى لا يري منها الرجل ما يثيره ، فينبح ! ومن غرائب هذه الذهنية أن المجتمع الذى سيطر على عقله حكام ورجال دين يؤمنون بهذه النظرية (نظرية الرجل الذئب ! ) وقاموا بوضع آلاف المتاريس بين الرجل - الذئب والمرأة - الفريسة - المغرية ، هذا المجتمع هو (تحت سطح البحيرة الزائف والمزور) أكثر المجتمعات إفرازا لأعلي نسبة من العلاقات - الجنسية - الفوضي (بين رجال ونساء ، وبين رجال ورجال وبين نساء ونساء) !!! وهو ما يدل على أن التهذيب الوحيد لهذا الرجل - الذئب (!!) إنما يكون بالتعليم العصري والتربية السيكولوجية السوية

Three Interlinked Problematics: Identity, Education, Democracy

“An educated citizenry is vital to the survival of democracy”—Thomas Jefferson

1]   Identity:  On August 13, 1947, the Muslim Indian who went to bed resolved to remain in India woke up on August 14, 1947 still an Indian. But Muslim Indians who chose to leave India and join the new entity, Pakistan, slept as Indians and woke up the next morning having dropped the word Indian from their name and replaced it with a new appellation derived from the word ‘Pakistan’.

However, given that a new identity cannot be acquired overnight, the truth is that Muslim Indians who decided not to remain Indian chose to discard the Indian component of their identity and retain only the Muslim – thereby falling victim to an acute identity crisis. For they had decided to define their identity in terms of only one of its constituent elements: the religious.

How did these Indian Muslims who had cast off the Indian component of their identity fare? Pakistan broke up into two separate states when its eastern province seceded and formed the new nation of Bangladesh. It was wracked by half a dozen military coups d’état and was ruled by military juntas for long stretches at a time. As for India, not only did it not witness a single military coup, but is universally acknowledged to be the largest democracy in the world. Moreover, it developed one of the best judicial systems of the age, unlike Pakistan, whose judiciary has all too often been dominated by the military. And, where India enjoys one of the best educational systems in the world, Pakistan’s educational system is in severe decline, not least because of the proliferation of religious madrasas, one of the main breeding grounds of violence and terrorism in the world. While Pakistan, together with Arab and non-Arab partners, has provided violent Islamic organizations with some of their leading cadres, the sizable Muslim community in India, which boasts more members than the entire population of Pakistan, has remained largely aloof from these organizations.

That is because the Muslims of India who chose to retain their Indian citizenship did not fall victim to the identity crisis that has plagued Indian Muslims who renounced their Indian identity on August 14, 1947. This identity crisis is what has determined the course and destiny of Pakistan and its people, who have witnessed the break-up of Pakistan’s territorial integrity with the secession of Bangladesh, the chain of military coups, the rule by military juntas and the abortion of democracy; the declining standards of education and the lack of an independent judiciary, not to mention the burgeoning seeds of violence and the fragility of social peace. Anyone concerned about the deficiencies and breakdowns afflicting many sectors in societies like Egypt cannot afford to ignore Pakistan’s identity crisis. For Egypt and other Arab societies are going through a crisis that is in its essence similar to the one besetting Pakistan in that both base identity on religion not citizenship.

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In 1938, Dr. Taha Hussein published his seminal work entitled The Future of Culture in Egypt. Among the many topics he addressed in the book was the issue of identity. He began by questioning who we are culturally: Are we part of the Arab world, the Islamic world or the Mediterranean basin? We could add yet another dimension to the question: or are we, given our geographical location, part of Africa?

I believe the last six decades have brought about a great deal of confusion in the minds of Egyptians as to just what their identity is. If we were to ask a cross-section of Egyptians today to define their identity, some would say Muslim, others Arab and yet others would reply Egyptian.

The ambiguity surrounding the all-important question of identity in the country derives from political choices at the leadership level. During the Nasser era, emphasis was placed on Egypt’s Arab identity; in the post-Nasser years the emphasis gradually shifted to its Islamic identity. Today, Egypt is in dire need of concerted efforts in the cultural, information and educational fields aimed at dissipating the confusion and ambiguity in the contemporary Egyptian mindset over the critical question of identity.  In my personal opinion, Egypt needs to come to terms with itself, so to speak, on the question of identity. But this cannot be achieved by promoting one aspect of the Egyptian identity over the others.

I believe the most suitable formula for the Egyptian case is a cultural defense of the compound nature of the Egyptian identity, which, like an onion, is made up of several layers. Only such a defense can dissipate the confusion and prevent partisanship and divisiveness. Moreover, it is the only defense that reflects the reality of the situation. There is no doubt that Islamic culture has played a major role in forming the Egyptian identity. But it is by no means the only factor. Arab culture too has played a major role in developing the contemporary Egyptian identity but it would also be wrong to claim that it is the only factor. It does, however, constitute a vital part of our identity. In this connection, it is interesting to recall the late nationalist Coptic leader Makram Ebeid and a current Patriarch of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, great orators both, whose mastery of the Arabic language enabled them to play leading roles in Egyptian public life and for whom Arabic culture is a component element of their identity.

In the final analysis, the compound nature of Egypt’s identity derives from its geographical location. Instilling a sense in the national psyche of the multi-layered composition of Egypt’s identity, with its Arab, Muslim, Coptic and Mediterranean dimensions is the only way to avoid falling into a trap similar to the one in which the Pakistani identity now finds itself.

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I can see no better way of stabilising the erratic needle on the compass of our Egyptian identity than through the medium of education. However, we are faced here with a massive and extremely complicated challenge. It would be all too easy to stuff educational programmes with material aimed at giving precedence to the Arab layer of our identity at the expense of all the others. It would be just as easy to churn out graduates with a sense of identity based on religion. But these are options that carry within them the seeds of social fragmentation as well as of society’s isolation from the modern age. The ideal option, on the other hand, is not easy. It would require the development and introduction of educational material designed to teach young people that they are Egyptians first and foremost and that their Egyptianness is the end product of a shared past and common heritage made up of millennia of ancient Egyptian history, of a Coptic era, of Islamic centuries, of Arab culture and of countless influences linked to Egypt’s status as one of the main countries abutting the Mediterranean sea. Difficult though it may be to put into effect, this option is the only one capable of achieving two primordial objectives at one and the same time: the first is social peace and harmony between the various components of society; the second is the ability to join the march of human progress.

2]   Education: The question of education has been at the forefront of a vigorous national debate over the recent period. The consensus that seems to have been reached is that setting in place a modern and creative educational system is the only solution to the problems we are facing in the political, economic, cultural and social spheres, as well as the only antidote to the spread of an understanding and interpretation of religion running counter to science and the realities of the age. But though all agree that educational reform is the key to Egypt’s salvation, they differ when it comes to how best to go about it. Some are unable to see that discipline, though essential in all educational establishments, indeed, in any institution, cannot in and of itself create a modern and creative educational system capable of rising to the challenges of our age. Others see the solution as lying in the construction of more educational buildings. Actually, the essence of the challenge is related to three issues: the first is educational philosophy, the second is educational material or curricula and the third is the teacher.

By educational philosophy I mean the formulation – at the official level – of an answer to the following question: What are our aims when it comes to education? To answer this question we need to come up with what is known in modern management science as a vision. Our vision in regard to education could be based on the following: putting in place an educational system aimed at forming citizens [and a sense of citizenship] in step with the realities of our time, who believe in science, humanity and progress, who possess the tools of research, dialogue and criticism, who believe that science and technology are capable of creating better living standards, who believe in the universality of knowledge and science and who have struck a successful balance between pride in the past of their society and a determination to link their future to the march of human progress, to science and to civilization. The educational system should also aim at instilling in the minds and consciences of Egypt’s youth the values of progress. The most important of these values is the acceptance of criticism, the practice of self-criticism, pluralism, tolerance in all its forms, acceptance of the Other, a belief in the supremacy of education and progress, in humanity and peaceful co-existence between different cultures, in the sanctity of human rights and in the rights of women as partners in the creation of a better future.

It is vitally important for educational philosophy to recognize the imperative need to move from the current educational system based on learning by rote and memory tests to a modern system based on encouraging free thinking, initiative, dialogue and debate and on fostering the creativity and imaginative thinking of students, even if they end up forming opinions different from those of the teacher.

Educational curricula should on the one hand serve the agreed upon educational philosophy and, on the other, respond to the latest innovations in applied and social sciences.

As to the teacher, who is the cornerstone of any educational system, he or she must be capable of translating the educational philosophy into a workable formula for the students and of making the transition from the current educational system into one based on free thinking, initiative, dialogue, debate, research and critical thinking.

3]   Democracy: Despite the theory propounded by some that each culture has its own form of democracy, the inescapable reality is that the essence of democracy does not change from one geographical location or culture to another. The essence of democracy is based on three essential factors. The first is that the ruler should come to power in response to free popular will. The second is that the ruler should govern in accordance with constitutional rules and be answerable to the people during and beyond his term in office. The third is that the ruler should leave office in a constitutional manner and that his term or terms should not extend in perpetuity.


Undemocratic forces in many societies pay lip service to the formal aspects of democracy by holding elections. But real democracy is not a question of elections as such but the step-by-step process of selection from beginning to end. It is a modern constitution in mature civil societies with solid institutions, parties enjoying equal rights, duties and opportunities, an independent judiciary, systems that guarantee transparency and mass media that rise above finger-pointing scandal mongering and finally, the voting process.


There is an obvious dialectical relationship between the issues of identity and education on the one hand and the issue of democracy on the other. Confusion in the area of identity can have a severe adverse effect on the process of selection that is at the heart of democracy. The same applies in regard to education. A modern educational system based on developing creativity, free thinking and critical faculties is what can transform the democratic process from a formalistic framework into a genuine tool for translating selection into decision.

Tarek Heggy discusses Arab society and education on France 24

Religious Reform: Cornerstone of Reform in the Arab Societies

I. Overview:

Islam has played an important role in the making of history and culture of the Arabic speaking peoples. While the “Muslim mind” has known periods of prosperity (according to the norms of the Middle-Ages) until the twelfth century A.D., it has also known, since that time, a course of decline, stagnation, and isolation, of which one cannot hide the features. Since the interaction of the peoples of this region with the West (from the first day of the French Campaign in Egypt in 1798), the problematic has materialized in two trends: the first trend asserts that the backwardness of our societies is due to the fact that we do not hold the set of religious doctrines as the way of life and work of individuals and societies. The holders of the second trend believe that it is inevitable to follow the mechanisms of the Western civilization in order to accomplish progress in their societies. It may be said (with some generalization) that the political, cultural, intellectual, and educational atmosphere of the Arabic speaking societies is witnessing a conflict between these two tendencies: the tendency of returning to Islamic sources and origins, and the tendency to use the mechanisms and values of the Western civilization which have gone beyond the frontiers of the West in the geographic sense, as they have been adopted by several societies outside the West. 

I suggest that the preachers of the return to the sources and origins have little to offer besides big promises to the masses, while the intellectuals know that Islamic history is a purely human history which has known an era of relative prosperity (the reality and extent of which are often exaggerated), which has then diminished and fallen after adopting a mentality of copying, opposed to reason and innovation, and when it set a low ceiling to the work of the human mind. 

A big dilemma in this debate (which, in my opinion, is futile) is the mistake of looking upon the engines, mechanisms, dynamics and incentives of the Western civilization as being “Western”. I have proven in many of my books that the progress which Europe has witnessed occurred due to human factors and not European or Western factors. The first of these factors is the strict limitation imposed on the authority and power of clergymen, followed by raising the ceiling on freedom of thought, and the encouragement of the critical mind. These are the two factors which have helped the evolution of the values of progress, which are all “purely human”, not Western, Christian, or European. 

One of the most obvious proofs that the values and characteristics of human progress are human and universal is what has taken place on a big scale in the Asian continent, when non-European societies employed the mechanisms and values of progress to accomplish development, and were able to achieve the required progress. This is what the world has witnessed in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, and then in other societies such as the Malaysian society which one may consider as the biggest proof that the values and mechanisms of progress are universal and human. 

Coming back to Arabic speaking societies, analyzing their present political, economic, social, cultural, educational and media phenomena shows that their environments are devoid of the values of progress which are, as previously stated, clearly human and universal. The biggest challenge this approach will have to face will always come from religious institutions, not for a purely religious motive (or even any religious motive as such), but to defend the unlimited authority and power to rule and direct life in their societies. 

The reform of general education and with equal importance, of religious education is the cornerstone of the project of progress and development, which no one in our (Arabic speaking) societies can achieve before the educational reform, and particularly the reform of religious education, inculcates in the minds and consciences the values of progress as values that are first and foremost human and universal.

II. The Values of Progress:

An overview of the advanced societies, with a parallel knowledge of their history and march, shows that the progress of the societies which have advanced in their course towards development and progress is the result of a set of values which have been made fundamental to the society, by making them fundamental to the religious question.  It is on the basis of these values that our Arabic speaking societies need to rebuild their educational institutions, among which  the institutions of religious teaching. 

The first value of progress is reason, criticism, and a wide space for the “critical mind”. This first value of progress will always be the most attacked by theocracy and those theocrats who know the implications of making this value fundamental to the educational institution of any society.

The second value is the one of “plurality” as being one of the most important characteristics of life in general, and of knowledge, science and culture in particular. 

The third value is “otherness”, the essence of which is accepting the other, regardless of the aspect or the race of that other. Otherness is a natural consequence of the implantation of plurality. 

The fourth of these values is the “universality of science and knowledge”. This value has a strong dialectical link with the three values previously mentioned. 

The fifth value is the value of religious and cultural “tolerance”, as the natural consequence of the belief in the diversity of the different aspects of life. 

The sixth value concerns “women and their place in the society”, starting with the idea that women are totally equal to men, have equal rights and duties, and have an equal human value. The link between progress and the status of women is a double dialectical link: on one hand, women represent half of the society in number; immobilizing half of the society can only have negative effects.  On the other hand, women raise the other half of the society; if they are not free people, they will bring up the other half with a mixture of the defects and disadvantages resulting from being brought up at the hands of an inferior person. 

The seventh value is the one of “human rights” according to the concept which was developed during the past two centuries. 

The eighth value is that of “citizenship”, as being the basis of the relationship between citizens, and their relationship with the state. 

The ninth value is the modern concept of the state and “the rule of law” which differs from the concept of the tribe, the village, and the family. 

The tenth value is that of “democracy”, the noblest human invention of the last two centuries.

The eleventh value is the value of “work”, including the modern notions surrounding work, such as team work, competence, the techniques of modern management, and the culture of enterprise as opposed to the culture of individuals. 

The twelfth value is the “interest in the future” more than the excessive interest in the past, which is a characteristic of the Arab culture. 

The thirteenth value is the value of “objectivity” which, even if it is relative, differs from the subjectivity that reigns in certain ancient cultures, the Arab culture being one of the most important. The sociology of the tribe which has widely governed the Arab culture favors subjectivity, and is far from the notion of objectivity. 

The fourteenth value is the “relativity of science, knowledge and human governance”. The course of the human mind during these last three centuries has led it far from the culture of absolute governance, and driven it closer to the culture of relative governance. 

The fifteenth value is that of “participation” and not following. Participation is a value which strongly opposes the importance of following and the scantiness of participating which the Arab cultures have secreted.

 

III. What is to be done?

During the last two centuries, the partisans of science, reason, and modernity slightly advanced in our societies. Then, they fell back to second place, far behind the school of returning to the roots and origins. In my opinion, there are several reasons for this, the major one being that the debate remains at a global (macro) level, without focusing on the radical change of the mentality through learning. Dialogue on a global level is generally based on slogans which are more attractive to the public. The majority of the supporters of the return to origins hold slogans that attract masses, even if they are half educated or half cultured (which is the case of most of them). When the opportunity presented itself in the form of leadership which was capable of undertaking the crossing from the darkness of reality to the light of progress (like in Turkey from 1923 to 1938, and in Tunisia from 1956 to 1987), the work on the educational institutions remained incomplete, along with the size of religious teaching (totally divorced from the mentality of progress and modernity) reaching, in chief countries like Turkey and Egypt, between 15% and 20% of the number of children of the society enrolled in the educational operation. 

I think that despite the rise of the wave of the return to origins and roots, the world situation and the flow of history favor political authorities, authorities of the civil society, a selection of intellectuals, and authorities of education and media who believe in progress.  These will be able, in the shadow of the general conditions, to sow the seed of reform in the land of education in general, and religious teaching in particular.

 

IV.  Reforming religious institutions, not ignoring them:

Having observed the cultural conditions of Arabic speaking societies for almost forty years, I am almost certain that ignoring religion (let alone wound it with pens and tongues of people motivated by anger rather than knowledge) is a fact which will yield no positive fruit. Religion is an essential element of the air which the peoples of our Arabic speaking region breathe. It is better to work on the reformation of religious institutions, religious culture, religious education and education in general, than to wage a Don Quixotic style duel which will only result in losing of the peoples and distancing them. Here lies the danger of some groups of Arab intellectuals who have set as their primary mission the insolent attack on religion, instead of working on the way people understand religion.

Edited by Sharon Bussell