Responding to Nisrin's Post,
she said: "I have one question for all the Egyptians out there. If you take away everything Arab. If you take way Arabic and Arab culture from Egypt, what would you have left? The memory of an Ancient Egypt. Your history maybe of Ancient Egypt but your present is a part of the Arab World. "
so if we do remove all Islamic and Arab infulence, what will we be?!
what is left from our culture?!
Now honestly all arab countries share ONLY two things, Language, and Religion.
i think each country has its own unique culture, and it is a product of a lot of cultures mixed together.
Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria have their unique culture, parts of it maybe due to Arab influence, part french, part mediterranean and part african.
same applies to all other countries.
I am not against having a culture that could have an Arab part in it, but i am against being forced to be linked with other countries just coz they happen to also have a bit of an Arab culture too.
Put a kuwaiti or a person from Qatar next to a Leabnese or an Egyptian or a Moroccan, and they will not seem so similar afterall.
Now Nisrin said: "I have yet to meet an Egyptian who has convinced me they are not Arab. If you (you must be an Egyptian) can convince me you are not Arab, I will fly to Egypt tomorrow and cook you and whoever else you want to invite the most lavish Lebanese dinner ever known to man. "
Sadly i do not think i qualify for your lavish dinner. But i Do prove my theory.
My Ancestors came to Egypt with Mohamed Ali probably. This is from both sides - mom and dad.
Those acestors mixed with people here in Egypt. those people can be traced back to the Prophet - also on both sides.
So i as a person have both origins in me, and i presume those ancestors must have mixed with the decendants of the Ancient Egyptians.
Judging by my looks and the looks of my family, some meditteranean blood must be there as well( uhh nisrin by those looks i do not mean my bro's looks , when u come i will show you the rest of the family who look nothing like my bro)
I am therefore Egyptian! a Shaker Salad, peoples all mixed up together!
So it's unfair to say i am Arab, coz that is only a small part, not the whole.
and that in itsself is unique!
Here's another controversial question.
Are Egyptians Semits or are only israelis and Jews Semites?
So if the US passes a law condemning hatred to Semites, then it should be directed to Arabs as well huh?
5 comments:
Arab culture has influenced all "Arab countries." This doesn't mean that these countries are not influenced by their own internal culture. They are.
Arab culture goes beyoned lanuage, religion, and food. (Actually, they don't really have food in common.) Arab people share something in common. It's hard for me to put into words, but I'll give it a try. It's the way they interact with one another. It's the relationships they have with each other.
"Britain, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand have some very similar cultural links...This doesn't mean we are all British - although all these countries inherited culture from the British empire. "
Tom, I'll admit you've got me stumped on this one. I'm going to have to think about this some more. I don't really know much about British, Australian, and New Zealand culture. I'll leave this arguement with a question. What do you call this culture that New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland inherited from the British?
"Why should religion unite people? If we agree to that then we agree that religion could separate people, and that is the wrong ideology."
Luly, Luly, Luly. Religion can both unite and divide. Take any religion, they are all divided in one way or another.
"Those acestors mixed with people here in Egypt. those people can be traced back to the Prophet - also on both sides."
Wouldn't this mean that you have Arabian blood in you? So, you are genaelogically Arab?
"I am not against having a culture that could have an Arab part in it, but i am against being forced to be linked with other countries just coz they happen to also have a bit of an Arab culture too."
The link exists whether or not you want it to. You can't go back and change history. You have something in common with these people. And it just didn't happen. For most of "Arab countries," it happened in the same way through Arabisation.
"I am therefore Egyptian! a Shaker Salad, peoples all mixed up together!
So it's unfair to say i am Arab, coz that is only a small part, not the whole.
and that in itsself is unique!"
I'm not saying you are only Arab. You are Egyptian, Alexandrian, a Shazly, a woman, and whatever else makes You you. It's also unfair to say that you aren't Arab.
Take me for example. I'm mixed up as they come. I denied being Arab for a long time, but this is a story for another day. I'm not only Arab. I'm Lebanese, Syrian, American, Arab-American, Lebanese-American, Syrian-American, I'm Ohioian, Celinian, small-town gal, Midwesterner, etc. Being Arab makes up a part of who I am. It doesn't make up my entire identity.
"Are Egyptians Semits or are only israelis and Jews Semites?
So if the US passes a law condemning hatred to Semites, then it should be directed to Arabs as well huh?"
By calling Jews semites, the word semite/semitic is being used loosely. Semites include: Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians, Phoenicians,etc, as I'm sure you know. It depends whether or not ancestry leads back to the semites.
If the U.S. passes a law condemning hatred to Semites, then it would have to also be directed to Arabs in the court of law. If the word semites was used, every lawyer would argue it that way. I can't see the U.S. passing a law condemning hatred to semites. African Americans, women, homosexuals, muslims, every ethnicity, christians, etc. would want a law like that to be passed. You can't stop people from speaking their minds. There are laws that exist to protect people from violence or harm. It protects people equally.
So who are the Arabs?
Genaelogically or culturally? LOL
see i agree pretty much with your views, but it still proves that egyptians are not arabs. partly arab yes, but we cannot say they are arab only. we are egyptians, our own unique race.
as for religion i fundamentally diagree with you. religion shold not be used as a common denominator or smth that separates ppl.
that is wrong! religion is a relationship between one person and his creator. so why group ppl based on religions.
and its not coz of values since they are similar everywhere. Confuscaism ( did i spell that correctly?) came up with the same values as any of the 3 religions.
I've enjoyed debating with you too :)
It does not prove Egyptians are not Arab. It proves Egyptians are Arab. Even if an Egyptian is 0.00001 percent Arab. That person is still Arab. A person can both be Egyptian and Arab. I don't understand someone having to say they are part Arab. I disagree that Egyptians have their own unique race. If we want to get technical about this, in today's world, the world of internationalism and globalisation, each person has their own unique race/ethnicity. Each country is becoming a "tossed salad."
You may not want religion to unite or separate people, but it does. Look at all religions. Islam has separated people. Look at how many sects its divided into. Christianity even more so. Look at how many wars have been fought between people who come from the same religion. If anything, war divides. It is evident that religion also unites. Why do people congregate at a church, mosque, or temple? Because its something that brings them together. Some people may believe that "religion is a relationship between one person and his creator," but not all people believe this. I think I have proven my point.
Personally, I don't let religion affect my relationship with others. I agree with you that religion should be a person's relationship with his/her creator. Other people may agree, but a lot of them don't practice what they preach.
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