By denouncing the inappropriate clothing of Christian women attending the Orthodox Coptic Easter sermon on April 30, popular Coptic priest Daoud Lamei provoked a week-long debate among the region’s largest Christian minority. The parish priest of St. Markos Church in the capital’s upmarket suburb of Heliopolis, who has a sizeable following on social media, is recorded to have said that, “as much as Easter rejoices the heart, we are also saddened by the women and girls who go to church in indecent clothing; I don’t even know why they go.” On May 6, Priest Lamei made a post on the church’s official Facebook, denying responsibility for the widely shared YouTube video recording of his Easter speech. The video recording further contains statements such as “the person who goes to church is supposedly God fearing but someone who enters church in indecent clothing clearly doesn’t fear God” and “any man who lets his wife wear such attire will be questioned before God.” Among Egypt’s predominantly Sunni Muslim population, Coptic Christians are considered to represent about 12% of the total 100 million, according to Arab News. Regular victims of often deadly Muslim…
Review: ‘The Book of Cairo’ – The City Searching For Truth
For me, Cairo was never just a city, a word, or a geographical location, but a story book on its own. It is hard for a writer, thinker, artist or dreamer to look at this very odd-looking, messy and spirited place without drifting off to a dream and hold a yearning desire to transform it into a painting, a novel or a gripping film series. In ‘The Book of Cairo’ published by Comma Press, this dream is reflected in each page and each writer’s story. It features the work of a new generation of Egyptian writers, like Ahmed Naji, Mohamed Salah El Azab, Hend Jaafar, Hassan Abdel-Mawgoud, Nael el-Toukhy, Hatem Hafez and others who grew up mostly in the 70s and 80s – a time period in Egypt’s history that signaled a sudden break from the decade before it. After witnessing two intense transformations in its history – the January 2011 revolution and the July 2013 revolution – the writers in this story reflect a city that is yet searching for ‘The Truth’. Some are searching for it while dozed off, preferring to turn to their dream-like romances, soap opera,…
How Mobile Apps Catch On to Ramadan: Commercialization or Social Potential?
It is not news that the digital era has also affected Ramadan, rendering the holy month of fasting and prayer subject to constant social media innovations, ever-expanding commercialization and various forms of mediation. Media consumption in the Arab world reportedly undergoes a huge spike during Ramadan, a recent report by Spark Foundry, a Saudi Arabian advertising agency revealed to Arab News: “Digital usership peaks from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. while TV consumption peaks from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., with comedy shows, drama series and game shows taking the lead in content.” With Ramadan being a prime season for new TV shows, not least in Egypt, the country with the region’s most widely disseminated mosalsalat, it was only a matter of time for an app seizing on these viewing habits to emerge. Watch iT, a new digital media content platform was launched through a massive promotional campaign on 1 May by the Egyptian Media Network, a timely date conveniently allowing the streaming app to feature and exclusively promote 15 Egyptian Ramadan series in its repertoire while promising to be active all year round. Yet the launch of this app…
Handicrafts Promote the Culture of Entrepreneurship in Egypt
Baskets made out of reeds, date molasses, alabaster and sandstone vessels – handicrafts and small projects constitute an important basis for economic development in Egypt. It is not uncommon to hear of young Egyptians who, instead of waiting for jobs, take a more proactive stance and launch their own business by investing in small, medium and micro enterprises. The important project entity behind the success of these projects is the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SME). It has provided funding for various projects since its establishment in 1992 of 31 regional offices which cover all Egyptian governorates. The SME Development Agency’s regional offices facilitate all the necessary procedures for entrepreneurs to be able complete the required paperwork, receive loans quickly, access the commercial registry as well as obtain tax cards and licenses for carrying out the projects. Seeking to help young people in their respective projects of interest, which vary between agriculture, the industrial field and other means of production, the agency tries to provide them with funding, by collaborating with multiple banks, NGOs and microfinance associations. This simple and smooth initiative generates thousands of jobs for young people,…
First Egyptian Woman to Compete in Global CrossFit Championship
Egyptian athlete Aya Fouad will be competing in the international crossfit championship ‘2019 Reebok CrossFit Games’ as the first Egyptian female crossfit athlete hosted in Wisconsin, USA from 29 July to 4 August. Fouad, who currently holds the title of the fittest woman in Egypt according to CrossFit Open, revealed the news to her followers on Instagram by posting a screenshot of her acceptance that read “Congratulations on your performance in the 2019 Open. You have earned a spot as an individual competitor at the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aya Mohamed Fouad (@aya_mohamed_fouad) on May 3, 2019 at 3:11am PDT In her post, Fouad said “Setting a goal on a paper, takes much time to achieve it. But I did never stop thinking about it. I had to be aggressive, to work hard, to show off all abilities just to reach it out. Now I can say to myself YOU DID IT… YOU had your dream on the path… With all the friends and family who supported me… Encouraged me… Finally my dream came true and I can start…
Egyptian Wins International Thomson Foundation Mobile Journalism Competition
On Wednesday, Thomson Foundation announced that Egyptian Photojournalist Mostafa Darwish won its fifth annual mobile journalism (‘mojo’) competition, beating 154 entries from 55 countries. “I was taking a walk when I learnt that I had won the competition. I started running around and screaming out of happiness,” Darwish told Egyptian Streets. The visual journalist had won several local prizes in Egypt, but this was his first international one. His story, found below in video format, for the independent Egyptian online newspaper, Mada Masr, earned him first place. The piece was shot with an iPhone 5s and edited using the iMovie video application. It was published when the prices for train tickets increased, and revolved around a train ride from Cairo’s main station, Ramses, to the last stop in Giza, Aya. Hosam El Nagar, competition judge and director of innovation and learning at Thomson Foundation, described Darwish’s entry as “a piece of art”. “Scrambling for standing space alongside other crushed commuters, and with little prospect of passions cooling, he attempted to report on the sharp fare increases to inadequate metro system in Cairo, Egypt,” the foundation further described his entry. Darwish regards mobile…
Post-Iftar Sounds: Ramadan Concerts to Catch in Cairo
How do the schedules of Cairo’s vibrant concert venues adapt to the festive month of Ramadan? Do musical events take a backseat for the month or are in fact specially curated Ramadan nights to be found? Definitely more of the latter, we have discovered, offering locals and tourists alike a diverse palate of post-iftar musical delights. Both the Cairo Opera House and Darb 1718, two of the capital’s main performing arts and culture centers recently announced their special Ramadan Programs. But even beyond these two established venues, many smaller spaces are hosting a vibrant set of artists throughout the holy month. Starting with a glimpse at the Opera House’s ‘Ramadan Nights’ (from 12 to 27 May 2019) and Darb 1718’s ‘Music Ramadan Program’ (from 12 May to 6 June), we have here compiled a list of Ramadan concert suggestions. The Cairo Opera House has invited a number of talented female singers from across the Arab world and Egypt to perform their music during this special month. The concerts all begin at 9.30PM, with tickets ranging from 60EGP to 110EGP that are now available at the Opera House’s box office. Lebanese…
How to Experience the Delight of Prayer During Ramadan
As we fast, work, study, or perform any other duties all at the same time, it is often hard to taste the sweetness of prayer during Ramadan and truly acknowledge its importance and weight. Busy schedules can turn the month of spiritual purity and meditation into a month of complete exhaustion and depletion, yet this can change if we get into the depths of prayer, understand its meaning and purpose, and approach it with the right mindset. For me, prayer should represent a circle of emotions. It does not matter at which level of emotion you are at, but what matters is that you are able to rearrange and dive into these emotions completely and entirely until you get into the heart of the circle – almost like you are drowning or losing yourself inside the hole of your heart. To start with, prayer or ‘ibāda, implies humility or submissiveness, as theologian and spiritual writer Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah explains that it is the highest level of love, wherein a person is powerless before their beloved. This is why prayer should be ultimately a feeling of powerlessness, as love is an emotion…
This Decluttering Campaign Sheds Light on Overconsumption in Egypt
A group of five undergraduate students studying Communications and Media Arts at the American University in Cairo (AUC) launched a social media campaign called ‘B-Basata’ to shed light on Egypt’s hoarding culture and overconsumption. The idea dawned upon the quintet, Nour ElBastawisy, Nada Mohamed, Engy Mohamed, Thilleli Ghezzaz and Reem Hassan, when they were assigned to tackle a social problem in Egypt for their graduation project campaign. While discussing the difficulties and expenses that go into marriage, the prevalence of overconsumption in the Egyptian society in all aspects of life was brought up. Egyptians are notorious for overconsumption. Many families store their plastic bags for future use, throw away excess food, hoard clothes that are old or no longer fit, and several other possessions that they do not really need. “Sadly, in Egypt, overconsumption became a culture with the mentality of the more the merrier especially when it comes to food,” El Bastawisy adds. This becomes a problem especially when it is material that harms the environment such as plastic. At the same time, many Egyptian families who was to declutter are often unsure of where and how to dispose…