-------- "This is the time for action not only words, use your God given gifts to develop this country, dont be afraid to speak up, and feel PROUD THAT U R EGYPTIAN." -------- Mohaly, Feb 2011

Saturday, November 17, 2012

830) "Bab El Khoroug" .. Is it our Way Out?!

Since the mega split that happened in the 19th of March Referendum, and many Egyptians – if not most of them- are wondering; “What is our WAY OUT?” Where are we heading? .. It has been discussed on TV, Radio, Newspapers, Social Media, everywhere except among those who have the power (SCAF and now Ekhwan). No roadmap was drawn or a path was set that can contain people together and work on the long term (as always mentioned in this blog).

Less than couple of weeks ago I had a board meeting at Nahdet El Mahrousa, and my fellow board member, and AUC colleague Ayman Ismail - a great guy by the way - has insisted that I don’t go home unless I buy a copy of the new Novel for Dr.Ezzeldin Choukri Fishere -a former diplomat and professor of political science at the American University in Cairo-  “Bab El Khoroug ; The Exit Gate or The Way Out”. His persistence made me go buy it and even start reading on the same night … The weird thing is I really couldn’t stop reading till the following night where I spent the whole Friday in reading more than 500 pages till I finished the novel with a floundering mind.


The novel analyzes and predicts the political situation of Egypt from 1990 until 2020 through the eyes of Aly Shoukry, the president’s translator and then secretary for information, as he witnesses the revolution and its aftermath. The novel is written as a letter from the Aly to his son, explaining how he ultimately came to betray his country’s nuclear plans to strike Israel and US presence in the area using secretly acquired arsenal.

It was very daring of Dr.Fishere to publish it in Tahrir Newspaper on periodical daily episodes and committing to his readers without even finishing it specially it is concerned with ongoing actions… Dr.Fishere says, “I have been preoccupied by its plot and main characters for a few months, and I had this urge not only to write it but to get it out to the public. I felt if I didn't do it now, it will be overtaken by events – because it is a novel interwoven with current events.” The beautiful and unconventional thing about the Novel is that although you know the end, you keep a real suspense all over the reading, and you can easily relate to each and every single incidence as if you are an eye witness.

“Bab El Kheroug is not just about the bloody upheavals of a divided Egypt, but also about the life and loves; regrets and lessons learned; joys and struggles of the kind and introverted Aly. The characters in Bab El Kheroug are directly involved in the government or politically active in some way. Empowered, active and hopeful, albeit stuck in a vicious cycle, these characters are the product of Egypt’s revolution; they did not exist before January 25th, 2011.” says Asmaa Abdallah, a journalist.

“The old world is receding, but the new one is not there yet. Bab El Khoroug is a beginning, a door I am trying to open for myself and my readers. Maybe all I want is to be able, in ten years, to tell the world: I told you so!” Dr.Fishere adds. The interesting thing is that some of the predicted incidents have already happened in the last couple of months after publishing the episodes.

We have to work together and establish a new generation that gets over what we are facing now and looks at the future in a different way. This is in my opinion – Mohaly- is our only way out.

Mohaly

Link to an Interview with Dr.Fishere about it .. Click Here
Link to the Novel ... Click Here
Buy it from Dar El Sherouk.

84 comments:

Heba said...

Thank you for the brief
It is a scary novel and getting true day after day !

Anonymous said...

Unlike you, I needed to stop reading every now and then to get myself back to reality. subconciously i linked the reality with the events and kept trying to identify the characters of who is who. that's why i needed to break the spell every now and then.

the writing is simple in a beautiful way. i liked the way he chose to put the novel in. a letter to his son explaining it all. it came out as it should be.focusing sometimes and leaving the focus, often to side jumps. just as if he was really talking to his son. it touched me in a certain way.

the details he gave really scared me, imagining we could be going through this phase now, or we will in couple of months. and waiting for it to happen. it took me time to drag myself out of this trap. We could be heading into worse than what he wrote or facing more disasters than the ones he described, fine, we will face it step by step.

Anonymous said...

the characters are written in a very beautiful way too. it has been quiet some time since i last read an egyptian novel and i somehow forgot how a character would appear. Affaf reminded me of the egyptian character that used to touch me everyday during my driving home. the simple, silently accepting yet very strong character that still fights although they know their lives will never dramatically improve.but they accept it anyway and go on. I always admired this nature and it always captures my heart how people are still able to smile despite facing crises on daily basis. moving from poverty to illliteracy passing by crashing health and lost integrity. how do they do it aslan!

the main character was giving my troubles understanding the way he acts. indifference, weakness, shallowness or what. the character started to really getting alive when he met Nour. the aspect is fine, but i dont tend to link everything to the romantic aspect of love. so many emotions did this character miss and then suddenly it booms when meeting her. I would have shifted this booming to the time of the revolution. you dont live a revolution everyday, and the touch of such an event on human life is normally more than a love story.

Nour reminded me of someone I actually know.not as an actress, but the character in general. a woman with a beautiful dream of her own working to get it realized and after making progress and started to feel the success, others simply destroy it for reasons none cares about. the fact that she didnt fight to get her dream back surprised me, but i also could understand her decision in not fighting back. did she realize that some dreams are not meant to be real and known when to stop before wasting too much effort? i wonder.
but the fact that she didn't fight back simply made her real to me and didnt turn her into a heroeine. she was the character i liked most, with all her faults, insecutities and all what she represents.

Anonymous said...

Ezz eldin Fekry scared me the most. although i should have hated the arrogance of meanness of El Kattan, and i did. but Ezz eldin was the one who really scared me. i cant imagine people turning over time 180 degrees to be completely different than themselves. people change, life turns us sometimes to ugly beings, selfish, weak, mean or whatever. but not everyday life turns someone into a mass killer. i cant imagine the character- turn where he went from being a politician to a mass killer. the groups he got rid off as mentioned the tomato-seller or the salafis, despite being ugly, injustice and criminal, and everything bad, could not be simply killed like that. do we kill thousands for the ugly way they are? what about trials, law and justice?

on the other hand, if they were left to live, what influence would they have on others? how many lives would they take and threaten realizing their ideas and motives?
the thought is scary, i know. sometimes you must kill someone to cut their influence on others.but thousands?

Anonymous said...

how many arrogant, stupid, inhuman, mean, bloody, inprofessional, selfish, greedy leaders and politicians do we have now?
dont they all look alike?
politicinas, officers, members of religious groups? Nothing differes them, and nothing makes one better than the other. not even the religious cover

this was the question that popped in my head the whole time reading the novel.

Anonymous said...

for me, bab el khroug was and still is one's own work. i always believed in self-help and there would come a way.just dig up in myself what i can do, and a door will eventually open somewhere. no matters how small the exit is, it is up to me to work out through it.
none of the exisiting political or religious groups provide an exit. they are all imprisoned in their own narrow mind. the exit will be a group work, a team work, where all and everyone will dig out of nothing and shape.
till i find my place in shaping the exit, i would just continue shaping my own strength to reach a solid ground i can relay on.

Mohaly said...

Maryam, you have got 99% of my feelings regarding its characters right ... the problem is I imagined myself and could relate to EzzElDin Fekry, and kept thinking a lot about if I became in power, would I have done the same? will I kill for the sake of peace, will I feel that I am a killer? It is scary for me coz it makes me have doubts about myself.

Actually the thing I liked very much is that characters were real people whom u can love and hate for different reasons not just angels and daemons like in the movies.

Lubna said...

نا اعتقد أن الرواية تحمل "تحذيرا"...زي ما في الافلام والتمثيليات بيجيبوا حد رجع للماضي غير شيء فلما يرجع للحاضر او المستقبل بيلاقي حاجات تغيرت بناءا على ذلك !
أعتقد أن قراءتنا للرواية وفتح جميع الاحتمالات والابواب المغلقة في اذهاننا سيمكننا بشكل ما من تكوين بصيرة وقد يؤدي لتفادي بعض الاحداث ...وسمعت الدكتور عز الدين يتحدث عن التنوير واعتقد أن هذا احد اهداف الرواية ......انا لو علي اخلي قراءة الرواية فرض على كل انسان لاننا من كتر الأحداث مشتتين ومأخوذين ومش كل الناس عندها القدرة على الغربلة وترتيب الأحداث وتحديد انه اذا مشينا كده هنروح بالاتجاه ده ونوصل للنقطة دي واذا عايزين نتفادى ده لازم نعمل كذا كذا.....بجد رواية تُدرس

Anonymous said...

the character of EzzElDin Fekry has undergone a complicated path, where it was easily for him to loose himself when he lost sight of the shore.
at the beginning he warned everyone that he would do it according to his own rules, which was ok and desired.
as he was going in his plan he didnt leave a margin for other problems and didnt count with what happened. he built his plan theoretically and therefore wouldnt have ever imagined the outcome.
the fatal mistake he did was believing too much in himself and that only HIS way is correct. there, when he was confronted with something that he didnt count on and doesnt know how to deal with, his calculations failed and he was pushed in the best available way, which was killing. and it was justified by those around him, who wanted him to get stuck in the same shit as they did.

the tomato-sellers were dangerous criminals who want to break the law. fine, but there was no real need to immedidately fire. there is always the option of arresting, trial and law. what happened is he slipped into the trap of the fast, easy and permenant way to treat the problem, which was far away from being the correct one.
every criminal is someone's father and soemone's son. being a criminal and dangerous to others doesnt mean that they have no right to a correct and legal trial.that's why people have laws to regulate their lives and relationships.

Anonymous said...

EzzElDin Fekry didn;t listen to those who told him he was wrong. he listend only to the applauseing voices and ignored the warnings.this was his fatal mistake, when one starts to think it is only me who knows and sees the full picture.simply because none does. everyone sees part of the pciture from where he stands, according to his nature and ideals. and there is always another side of every picture that we need someone else to show us.

in his case, his wife and his friends warned him of his doings, but he chose not to listen. ignore, arrogance, too-much self-confidence, bad consultants around, could all lead to here he got.

that's why the shoura-concept is manifastated in Islam, especially for the leader. it is a real saver from disasters. the Prophet (PBUH) never ignored an advise or a warning.
same msitake did el Kattan and Bayoumi when they thought they have all answers. well, none does. arrogance usually creates a tyrant.

Anonymous said...

to your question:
i don't have a justified answer to this question. if you were in power would you act the same.

but i can offer some guidelines that you can test and decide for yourself.

- never ignore the tiny nagging voice inside your heart telling you that you just did a mistake. this voice is your concious, and if you keep ignoring it, it will eventually stop and you will be lost. Allah created it there to keep the balance with our nafs, so don't kill it.

- if you are blessed with soemone who CARES and DARES to point out a mistake you did, listen to them. hear them out, and consider their opinion.for one thing: they really care. if they dont care they wouldnt go through the trouble of mentioning it and stand before your anger.
enemies usually congratulate you with a smile when you sin.
remember how Asmaa, Ezz El Din's wife was miserable watching her husband truning to killer.

- always keep this before your eyes: البر حسن الخلق ولاثم ما حاك في صدرك وكرهت أن يطلع عليه الناس.
it will never fail to tell you what you just did was right or wrong.this is the real scale to weight your actions.

- Istekhara prayer: it is not just a prayer, it is a real saver from unknown disasters. keep it handy before taking any step along your road.

Anonymous said...

No, killing is never the answer to any problem. this is my simple answer to your question.

none deserves to be killed without a chance to defense himself. no matter how criminal they are. Allah said so, and his saying is Haq. everyone, even the darkest criminals deserve a correct trial where law fully applies.

injustice was never the answer and will never be, no matters what.
the tomato sellers and the salafis in the novel dont deserve to be killed, no matters how harmful to society they were. turning the state into a killer of anyone who doesnt fit the rules was exactly what gave them the justification to kill ezz eldn at the end. applying the rules he set. and with no trial and injustified.

Anonymous said...

yes, you would feel as a killer, if you'd go the way Ezz eldin went through.
he felt it, deep down near the end and that's why he avoided his wife and friends' advise to stop and listen. he felt stuck. if he stops now, the mission is still in the middle and ppl are not fully "safe", but he couldn't go on easily either. he felt bad but didnt do anything against thsi feeling. maybe too proud to admit?

killing someone IS a fatal action that none's concious can easily digest, and it takes a hell of power to supress this feeling.

so don't worry, you will feel bad :-)

Anonymous said...

If you are in power, you would not go down the road Ezz Eldin Fekry went.
:-)

Mohaly said...

thank you ... tamenteeny
there were precious tips that I will LISTEN to. Although I dont have political power, but I am in different leading positions that control other people and I dont wanna turn into a tyrant without feeling it..

I liked the part where el dameer is the balance for el nafs.

But dont you agree that all the characters were real and you can like and hate at the same time?

Mohaly said...

Lubna

yes I agree it is to be analyzed and taught. It is liked the interactive games that when you choose a path, you are lead to a certain consequence.. very deep and strategic..may be a new form of story telling.

Anonymous said...

power is power. political or others, doesn't matter. as a parent you have the power to hurt your kids
as a husband your wife lies within your field of power
as a manager it would be your employees, etc.
Power is harmful and you have to know the protection guidelines.
like fire-fighting guidelines keda :-)


I am glad you believe my judgement :-).

it is true, eldameer balances hawa elnafs, and it is one's choice which rules which. Allah created us so :-)

If a person once stands before you, telling you in naked words you were wrong, don't yell at their face but listen and consider. it is the considering that really counts. know then that they really care about you and be grateful for having such a person in your life.

Anonymous said...

the characters were all drawn so real that it upset me and shocked me at times. I could understand the roads these characters went through and the end they reached.

and there were many parts where i folded the down corner of the page becasue i liked the words or how the character just took a turn.

they were vived and booming with actions to the extend i was scared this would be the truth we are living in now and the writer reads into the future. that's why i needed to break the reading couple of times to get out of this trap.

as said earlier, i could relate very much to Nour in all her episodes, but it was Asmaa, who really touched my heart. her pain was too great to be borne by a woman, her fate too dark and her decisions too hard to take and implement.
all in all just too much. while she was mentioned only couple of times throught the novel and only glimpses to her character, i could feel her up to a distrubing level.

Anonymous said...

i didn't know engineers study literaric character analysis :-)

Mohaly said...

Yes Asmaa was the purest character and the one who were torn apart.

For eningeers, It is something like the balance between dameer and nafs.. I see that the more scientific your thinking is, the more artistic your feeling should be in order to create that balance in life.

I adore both science and art, and used to study Adaby book although i was in 3elmy and clever. But if you really cornered me in choosing between science and art, I will choose art.

Anonymous said...

now, that's a surprise :-)
i thought you would choose science. your way is calculated all way long.
i thought you like being in control too. Arts are something totally out of control, and there is nothing you can do about that. you can not create a rule to describe, control or adjust arts. there will always be beautiful deviations from the rules that make you question their accountability.

well, adaby people are clever ones too :-)))). begad, this remark made me smile widely.

i see you really like the dameer-nafs quote. does this make me famous then? these are my won words, not quoting anyone :-)

the human nature is not to be classified into adaby or 3elmy like it was before. it is a mixture of different components and everyone is one-of-a-kind. i think such classifications describe the way your brain functions, maybe, but not how really the soul is. arts-people have brilliant brains, with which they understand the differences of humans and accept them. for example, ya3ni.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Asmaa appears to be a very pure character. although she wasn't described as saint or anything.
what touched me was the silent way she was described with, she wasn't the eye catching character of the novel. the pain she went through becasue of her husband's choices was too great. she was loving and brave enough to stay at hsi side and try to the end, not jumping from the sinking ship. she didnt divorce him to save her image.
and at the end it was she who had to leave to spare everyone the pain again, while none cared to ask her to stay.
i was surprised by the depth of this character and yet the few times she was mentioned.
Was hoping someone would care for her, but they all just let her leave. as if failing to support her again.

Mohaly said...

No surprize wala 7aga, although my life is organized and seems to be robotic but deep inside I am a free spirit who hates all kinds of rules and chains (except those I consciously apply on myself).

Arts for me is the life with all its contradictions, Science for me is a path in life to help me with its prediction.

Tell you something I didnt write it here before ... I have always dreamt of falling in love with an artist (specially the calm non-spot lighted ones like drawing, painting, sculpturing, novelist.. not singers and actors)..

P.S. I meant clever in science, not in science because I am clever.

Mohaly said...

If this novel turns into a movie, It should have a very powerful actress as a "deef sharaf" to play the role of Asmaa to have the right spot on her personality and feelings..

I wanna ask Dr.Fishere when I see him about if Asmaa has "ekhwat banat" ;)

Anonymous said...

forget about ekhwatha el banat. if you think Asmaa is good, ask her to marry you. you will be the winner, sada2ny. :-)

that is not a joke, i am serious. such a character shouldnt be left to go. and it wont cross your road twice.

Anonymous said...

the only one who could really put Asmaa on Screen would have been Faten Hamama or Grace Kelly.
you need someone of their grace. soft beauty, silently touching all lives she moves around. warmly there like the soft sunrise. tender, warm, fulfilling, enlighting.
I cant think of any of the actresses now, lel asaf. these 2 just stood there before me when i imagined it.

the novel is too much to be put on screen. too many scenes and too complicated paths.
i don't know, it is a very heavy challange. the production should be soemthing like El Nasser Salah elDin to keep the artistic level. otherwise it would be waste of time.

Anonymous said...

i know you belong to the free spirits in life, and it is not the life style i meant. robotic comes from the routine everyone of us has to fulfill to live.

what i meant was you like to understand everything around you. you tend to look for a scientific explanation according to rules you have read or set yourself. the problem with arts, let me say literature for instence, is taht the characters there do not belong to such an explainable category. bc simply they represent humans, and humans are unique and never implemnt the same rule twice.

from reading many posts here, i got the impression that you look for an explanation that is written in books and have been tested. but when you are confronted with something irregular you are somehow surprised, preplexed and soemtimes even "haa?"

Anonymous said...

the post i was thinking of is 587. when i first read it i could imagine your face expression of "eh?" and the questions behind.
i know the post is kind of funny and you dont really mean to ask these questions.
but it would be a perfect example to explain what i want to say :-)

Anonymous said...

Arts for me is the life with all its contradictions, Science for me is a path in life to help me with its prediction.


fully agree with this version :-)

Anonymous said...

i have good news for you
your life is full of artists, so see who catches your heart. :-)

every single one of us bears an artist inside. it is our touch on life that is our art. sometimes it is colourful, sometimes it is sophisticated, sometimes playful.

women around you paint and sing all the time, you just dont see it bc it doesnt come in the normal form.
one sings while she heals a sick child. the other paints a smile when dropping a pound into the hand of that old man at the corner. the thrid writes the most beautiful poem while telling her child to finish his lunch. a fourth one draws a rainbow on her husband's face when telling him she loves him, keda out of the blue.

the beautiful soul of art lies in the love, care, beauty ppl put in an action. the outcome is what we then call painting, drawing, poetry, etc.

I am sure you are an artist as well. and bet you would have beautiful performances :-)

Anonymous said...

there is an interesting discussion going on FB at a group called Salafyo Costa سلفيو كوستا
concerning the new article of Dr. Alaa el Aswany, posted by Marc Anton. the group is really good in such discussions, especally that the moderators are a diverse group.

here the link if interested to check it out:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/Salafyo.Costa/473371692701908/?notif_t=group_comment_reply

Mohaly said...

The weird thing is that I am getting less analytical the more I grow older.. I m more and more accepting stuff as is, and more and more understanding grey and its real shades than the fake white and black paradigm ...

The only thing that I dont accept even discussing it is Time and Time management. I am a robot here and will always be.

Mohaly said...

I like the way you described women as artists :)

and yes I agree, Asmaa is not easy to find, and if she is available I wont think twice about marrying her.

good choices for the role, and I think it can be a 3 hrs movie with huge production (like WWII movies) or at least a TV series in chapters turning to episodes.

Anonymous said...

it is not weird, this is what people call growing up. not joking wallahi, but as we grow up we see things differently and we understand things and most theories we believed in during our 20s change into realities during our 30s. it goes gradually or dramatically, depends on your exposure to real life.

i hope that one day i won't find you -like me keda- silently accepting ppl's delay for appointment and instantly carrying a book to read it while waiting :-)
this is one of Egypt's realities :-))))

Anonymous said...

tayeb a stratigic question:

would you marry Asmaa, the woman inn the novel?
with all her background, accepting how fragile she is now, her history with ezz eldin and after all the experiences she went through- that definetely would leave marks on her personality?

how do people see her now? judging such a person and killing her is the easiest way now to deal with her.
but accepting her and even loving her?

just curious, mesh aktar :-)
curiosity killed the cat, aho- before you say it :-)

Anonymous said...

i can't imagine it on screen. too heavy and too rich in events.and too confusing with the many and frequent changes.
and too dangerous :-)

do we have good actors for it? none crosses my mind for any roles.

Mohaly said...

Never ever ... I'd rather die than not keep my management of time ...
I even call off meetings and fire clients for that ..
Nothing comes before respecting my time.

Mohaly said...

yes I would marry her, but after handling her with care first ... these scars can turn out to be a point of strength in our relationship if healed right.

Mohaly said...

There must be some actors who can do it .. doesnt have to be all Egyptians, arabs as well like in Umar Series last Ramadan ..

That actress who did Safy Selim in Ahl Cairo strikes me as Afaf :) Actually some of the cast of Ahl Cairo can fit in here..

Anonymous said...

I was sure of the first answer :-)
tayeb, lets wait and see- after 10 years maybe how would you react.

Anonymous said...

the scars will for sure have an influence. and it takes someone very special to accept Asmaa the way she is.

Anonymous said...

I know the actress, but dotn think she would fit.
you need someone who reflects the soul of a real egyptian, without really acting.
you know what i mean, the silent strength, fighting but accepting, human but robotly acting, surviver but smiling. i dont know someone like that now. she must be honest in representing the character, otherwise she will suffocate in the mass.

Anonymous said...

I loved Omar. would have preferred if it focused on the character only in more depth and focused on his years of khelafa. but anyway.

I liked the actor there, actually. his face is very expressing.

Gamal Soliman would be good for ElKattan, but i dont want to hate him afterwards.

Mohaly said...

If I am single after 10 years, I wont change my opion, but if I am married, I cant predict it then..

Mohaly said...

yes I would have preferred to have more focusing on his year of Khelafa..

for the actors, why dont they come as fresh new faces..

Mohaly said...

or if we choose from those already in political position now or from old regime, whom would u choose to represent the main characters in the novel?

I think Mohamed Morsi will even fail to be the actor doing president Bayomy!

Anonymous said...

marriage is the strong character changer :-)

this is an addition to the decsription of marriage.

Anonymous said...

he is not that bad, 7aram 3alek :-)
i mean morsy.

i dont think he would do something like that. i guess his concious wont allow the stupid fall.

lets hope so anyway

Anonymous said...

during the whole reading time i tried to imagine who could be who of the current or past times, i failed.

even the President's staff didn't appear strongly. the writer just stated what the norms were without focusing on the persons. maybe to avoid this trap or avoid being legally attacked.

or simply this was not the focus of the novel anyway.
the main purpose was to demonstrate the political life in egy between the exisistng partners, regardless of the persons.
even elKattan didnt remind me of anyone specifically. just an arrogant officer. aren't 99% of them arrogant in a stupid and unexplainable way ??

the characters all beared the ugly face of liars/politicians, but with no distinguishing characteristics.

Anonymous said...

he is clearly against Ekhwan, right from the beginning, however part of the exit lied in the uniting of shabab el ekhwan and shabab el thawra.

actually i liked the solution he offered, bc it unites the whole society represented in shabab el ekhwan and shabab elthawra.

Anonymous said...

i might be a dreamer, but i still hate someone saying this group was there and this one wasn't.for 2 reasons:
- none can really say who was there right from the start simply they didnt know eachother by then.
even if ekhwan were there, they wouldnt dare to say it back then bc they were still the "black sheep".

- i hate distinguishing between ppl, no matters what and classiifying who is better than who. we are all human at the end. full of faults and need to work on ourselves. fullstop.

the writer clearly stated that they were not there, as to document the official status of el Gama3a. not agaisnt it, fine they said so and that's it. but dont forget that those who declared this status are the old ones, who saw "black days" from Adly & Mubarak.

the challange now before shabab el ekhwan is to get out of the old 3abaya of elgama3a, yet keep the bound between them, and reach out to other groups and form alltogether the new society.

would elgama3a approve of this change or would they suffocate at their own rules?

Mohaly said...

Ekhwan .... will self-destruct itself.

Anonymous said...

only if they continue the way they do. and maybe it is about time :-)

i can't deny they were good org and they have a point in wanting to rule just like all other groups or political parties.

I only wished they would learn from their mistakes and get back to the good track they once had upon their foundation.
their choice anyway.

Anonymous said...

I wish someone like Dr. Sherif Abdel Aziem would take over the PM.

He would definetly refuse.

Mohaly said...

yes, they were disappointing..

of course he will not accept ... I am afraid that Ezz El Din Fekry will be the remaining solution :(

Anonymous said...

never. a mass killer, never.

killing someone without any justice would never be the solution.
who gave him the right to kill someone's son or father? only his rules. why do his rules apply on others? why not others rule apply on him?
what difference is he from the islamist group who think anyone who doesnt apply their rules is kafer? maho he applied the same?

Ezz elDin Fekry was just a toy in the hands of politicians arround him till he was useless, they killed him.
same old rule.

We need a leader with soul to keep him human and vision to rebuild the country.

Begad, wish Dr. Sherif would take over. you can't imagine how beautiful it is to work with him closely

Mohaly said...

but Dr.Sherif wont accept, and Ezz El Din Fekry will look for it.

Anonymous said...

i know he won't. we went through this discussion years ago.

Ezz Eldin Fekry isnt as strong as you think 3ala fekra. actually he would freak from someone like Dr. Sherif. he will work on killing him, but wont have any path to destroy him.
this is the eternal fight between nafs and dameer :-)

Mohaly said...


سافرت أسماء إلى الولايات المتحدة، وكان ذلك أفضل حل لها وللجميع. فلم تكن تستطيع مواصلة حياتها فى مصر بشكل طبيعى. حتى أنا، أقرب الناس إنسانيا إلى زوجها، لم أستطع حمل نفسى على زيارتها أو حتى الاتصال بها تليفونيا. لن يراها أحد دون التفكير فى جرائم زوجها الذى صار يُعرف بـ«السفاح». كلنا تبرأنا مما حدث، ابتداء من قادة الحرس الحديدى الذين نفذوا عمليات القتل، وانتهاء بالناس الذين قدّموا البلاغات ضد جيرانهم، وألقينا بالمسؤولية كلها على عزالدين، السفاح، الديكتاتور، الدموى. أزلناه من تفكيرنا ودفنّاه فى خلفية الذاكرة كسفّاح أسطورى مر من بيننا، لا علاقة لنا به، نحن ضحايا جنونه. لكن بقاء أسماء بيننا يحول دون إتمام هذا الدفن، فلن ينظر إليها أحد دون التفكير فى أن هذه المرأة كانت تعيش معه، تأكل معه، تنام فى حضنه، تراه وهو يحلق ذقنه فى الصباح، وهو بملابسه الداخلية، بالبيجاما. بقاء أسماء يذكِّرنا بأن هذا السفاح واحد منا، وأننا جميعا كنا معه. ومن ثم رحّب الجميع بقرارها السفر، بمن فيهم أنا. قلت لنفسى إنها تربت وتعلمت هناك، ولا بد أن لها أصدقاء ومعارف، وحتى لو لم يكن لها أحد فأمريكا بلد الغرباء ولن تجد صعوبة فى الاستقرار هناك والعيش بحرية، بل والبدء من جديد إن أرادت. لكنى لم أملك نفسى من الشعور بأننا ندفنها هى الأخرى.

Anonymous said...

that was exactly the part i re-read last night. these few sentences shwo how underdeveloped society we are. socially, i mean.
Asmaa must leave because of the scars she now has. although they were not her fault, although she was a victim of her husband's doings and the negativity of those around him, it was her who had to leave. she must leave to live into a more open-minded and open-hearted society. human,accepting and forgiving society taht would embrace her and heal her wounds.
here we dont accept someone with obvious wounds. la2, they must be hidden.

A coward heartless society. even the "نخبة", the well-educated and open minded have a "but" when it comes to dealing with Asmaa, no matters how much they say they admire her character.

We don't deserve her, she'd better leave to a more human society and leave this "place" behind.

what would you call that? this throwing away of Asmaa?

Mohaly said...

Throwing away of the pain of conciseness.

Anonymous said...

la2, that is throwing away of a human being that was clearly hurt by others just to be releived of dealing with their pain, which is a fault of society from the start.
sorry, this is inhuman.
she deserves better life and society to heal her wounds.
we deserve the "...." we live in.

Mohaly said...

again, throwing away this pain coz the society werent brave enough to confront itself and stand beside the victim not get rid of her in order not to remind them of the inhumanity.

Anonymous said...

well, that's no brilliant solution. the usual covering heads in sand that has been going on for decades, that doesnt get them anywhere other than getting more and more inhuman and irresponsible.

doesn't anyone see it?

but what made me more angry actually is that the first ones to leave her side were those who knew she her pain mostly, know her mostly and yet decided to walk away bardo.
what do you call that?

Mohaly said...

Nadala

Anonymous said...

thank you :-)

still, i feel bad about her.
and it gives me a great feeling of insecurity to see how society treats a fragile, hurt woman.
so moving to USA, Canada, Europe or Australia should be the only choice a woman has to live.

nice to know. and this is called in islamic society :-)

Mohaly said...

Sob7an Allah .. women are so strong and so fragile at the same time.

Anonymous said...

so are men.
it is human nature, that only Allah knows how they are.

nothing to be ashamed of, i call it human. somewhere else, ppl show ra7mah for it. only here it is condemned.
weired, when our religions (either Islam or Christianity) are all about ra7mah :-)

Mohaly said...

yes men too, but not like women ... women is much more sophisticated and need to be felt more than understood .. and although Asmaa was understood but no one felt her .. and she had to go lel2asaf 3ashan teraya7 we testeraya7 and prove that we as Egyptians lack -not excepting myself- Emotional Maturity.

Anonymous said...

some of the parts that i liked were showing faults in the egyptian society, that needs to be corrected.
when i first noticed it, it made me see the novel in a different light. it is not all about political defaults and fights we expereince now,
the novel is aboout bab el khoroug from the bad situation we are in. political and social as well.

we need to find an exit from the bad socila life we have to a more human place. otherwise we will soon be finished.

Anonymous said...

a brave confession :-)
thank you

Anonymous said...

he is not bayoumi. Shoft ba2a.
I am happy with the decisions, even him having too much power. Little scared, but mostly happy about the re-trials.yarab tenfa3.
Efra7 ma3aya ba2a, even if u don't agree with it all.
This is third trial to post :-(

Mohaly said...

The part regarding his divine powers is scary ... this is bayoomy + kattan blended.

Maryam said...

i know it is scary.but he is not arrogant n bloody as kattan. He is a kind man.so my heart tells me and yarab i am not mistaken.
The divine power is not complete, ont forget tht dakhlia n military will do their best to catch a mistake n this will balance shwaya.
Lets hope for the best. I have no evidence other than just my feeling n my trust in Allah.
Do that, you too ya doctor :-)
I really enjoy this book discussion.it's been years since i engaged in a literary analysis

Mohaly said...

same here .. we Rabena Yostor.

Anonymous said...

i dont know why i must post everything twice!
Anyway, if he intended to keep all powers, he wouldnt keep elta2sisiah to issue the dostor thtncust 75% of his powers or tried to keep the parlamaint or the shoura. He would let z court dissolve them, we 7elely ba2a. No dostor, parlamaint, shoura, he is z only one. Sa7?
IsA rabena ma3ana. This man is not evil.
Hope it will post this ime

Mohaly said...

if about him alone, he doesnt seem to be evil, but ekhwan are.. actually I see them the source of many evils Egypt has faced since they started jumping into politics more than 60 years ago.

Anonymous said...

watch packinam elsharkawy with mahmoud saad.
I am not very much scared, bc he didnt suspend or cancel elshoura and bc the dostor cancelled 75% of z presidents authorities. If he was a tyrant, he wouldnt want that

Sohad said...

I am afraid to say that the only way out lies in the hands if ignorant population! We have been circling for 100 of years in a vicious circle between revolution an reformation with no tangible results except economic & cultural deterioration!
The way out fee dema3' el nas and for the people to acknowledge their power and know how to use it.
Te3ebt men el kalam and dunno when we will start an era of true development! I can't see the way out from 2e7'wan ..

Mohaly said...

With all my opposition to Ekhwan, they are not the main reason .. and it is not only 100 years, it is 215 years exactly since this dilemma started in Egypt..

The way out is to stop that dual life we have, and be more in tuned with who we are.. Practice Islam instead of thinking that we are voting for it, and know that no body is better than the rest except for what he does for them.

Sohad said...

I totally agree...and it all starts by correct understanding of Islam !

Anonymous said...

Now that we have a case of actual killing going on everyday, what do you think?
could you kill for the sake of peace?

I know u might kill me for saying this- i am happy that Morsi didnt turn into Ezz El din Fikry. Someone else, who had it in nature, did- as expected.
Somehow my evaluating for him was right.
What do you think ya Doctor :-)

Mohaly said...

It is a butterfly effect, and all what is happening now is because of what happened before by the traitors that call themselves Ekhwan.

Anonymous said...

I don't get you?
Why r the ekhwan responsible for the killing n imprisonments of today?