Space for society

Al-Ahram: A Diwan of contemporary life (645)
Space for society
The long-running Al-Ahram column "Towards the light", written by journalist Mohamed Zaki Abdel-Qader and later his son, tackled the social issues of Egypt starting from 1938. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk selects the subjects that mattered most
The column "Towards the light", which was connected to the name of the great late journalist , is one of the longest living journalistic columns. It appeared for the first time on the front page of Al-Ahram 's Monday 14 February 1938 issue under the title "Stagnant civilisation" and then continued to be published after its transfer to Al-Akhbar newspaper in 1952 when it was published by the Akhbar Al-Youm institution by the brothers Mustafa and Ali Amin. It continued to be published following the decease of its author (1982), although under the name of his son, Zaki Abdel-Qader.
In his memoirs published under the title "Feet on the path," the author of this column told of the circumstances under which he began writing "Towards the light" and how Antoine Al-Jamil, the editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram at that time, had treated him coldly. He had persistently charged him with the writing of a section that summarised the writings of Arab and foreign newspapers "so that Al-Ahram can present to readers various political and partisan currents circulating in the nation at the moment." He undertook this in a manner that pleased Antoine Pasha, who praised him, "and he was a man who rarely praised anyone, seeking to a large degree to express his honest opinion."
Let us allow to narrate the conditions for the birth of "Towards the light" as told in his memoirs. He wrote, "When I began work at Al-Ahram, when Taqla Pasha was the editor-in-chief, I began to write articles and present them to him, and he would publish them in the place of the editorial. I kept to the same plan when Antoine Pasha returned from his holiday, and he also published them in the editorial's place. He indicated to me that he welcomed this participation that had not been intended when I had agreed with Taqla Pasha to work for Al-Ahram... This pleased me, because it allowed me to express my opinion on the affairs affecting my country, even though I did not sign my articles."
The author of "Towards the light" then moved on to explain the reason that led him to stop writing the editorial and begin writing his new column, although while he mentions one reason he ignores -- in my opinion -- another. He wrote that the editorial, "by its nature, did not allow for the expression of all opinions. I paid heed in its writing to the approach of Al-Ahram and its independent, or neutral, inclination."
As for the reason that he overlooked, it was that the editorial, by its nature, did not allow for the name of its author to be revealed on the basis of it expressing the newspaper's opinion more than that of its author. Undoubtedly this did not please Zaki Abdel-Qader, a young man who had not yet reached 30 at that time (he was born in 1907) and who wanted to say to Al-Ahram 's readers, "We're here!"
It appears that this desire of the young journalist did not gain much of a reception from the editor-in-chief, Antoine Al-Jamil. This was expressed in "Feet on the path," in which he wrote that Antoine Pasha hated "signatures" and that he even hated signing his own articles. He wrote, "I was aware of this orientation from the first days I began to publish 'Towards the light' under my name. If I presented an editorial to him it would be quickly published, but if I submitted to him 'Towards the light,' he did not rush to print it as he did with the editorial without a signature... He did not like for any name, no matter whose, to shine in Al-Ahram, and thus he distanced any writers with an opinion and a pen... He preferred journalists whose personalities were absorbed by the newspaper, being no more than parts of the massive machine." This explains why the column was not published daily upon its appearance, and why other columns were in the same situation, not being published daily in contrast to that which later became the case.
This perhaps also explains another matter, the irregularity of "Towards the light" in terms of publishing. Sometimes a day or two would separate its articles, and sometimes a month or more. It appears that it was upon its author to submit what he wrote to Antoine Pasha and not initiate the submission of another column until after the first had been published, and that the editor-in-chief had his own personal considerations with regard to publishing.
As for the characteristics of the newborn column, some were mentioned in its issue published on Wednesday 26 October 1938 under the title, "Why I chose." In it, he responded to a question that some people had directed to him concerning the reason he had selected the column title that he had. He wrote, "The reason is that I feel the homeland is in darkness. I sense that my country is suffering misfortune in its government, administration, parties, leaders, sects, and individuals. In fact, I feel that it is troubled by its ancient glory and is weighed down by its replete history, just as I feel that it is suffering a near famine in morals."
He then summed up, "When I think back to the history of this homeland, its glory is represented in the past and in the future. I am certain that light will shine upon it one day, melting down and purifying it, and removing the darkness. It will then be the new Egypt, the eternal Egypt, Egypt the mother of civilisations."
THE "TOWARDS THE LIGHT" SERIES shows that it was dominated by a treatment of social issues. Its author certainly resorted to this approach because it was relatively safe, increasing the likelihood that the editor-in-chief would agree to its being published. This was in contrast to articles addressing political conditions which might have clashed, if to a limited degree, with the policy followed by Al-Ahram to remain neutral in domestic conflicts.
Some of the issues addressed were of a "moral" nature. In one of these columns, the author told the story of Mr Deeds, a wealthy American who distributed his fortune among the poor. As usual in such circumstances, his relatives accused him of insanity, and raised a legal case to restrict him. The judge reviewing the case ruled that the man was "the most reasonable of all those who have stepped foot on the courtroom floor I preside over." The author of "Towards the light" concluded that individuals must concede a great deal for the survival of the group and its continued safe existence, something that was not taking place at the time when some individuals could not find sufficient clothing, food, or warmth on long winter nights.
Other issues were of a "romantic" nature, an example being a story presented about a girl he met in a boisterous crowd. When she isolated herself from the people, he found out from a friend of hers that she had lost her young fiancée three years earlier, and that her sorrow and grief over him remained as though she had lost him just yesterday. When he addressed her on this, she replied, "I am unable to forget him, for I am dying and burning." The columnist grabbed the opportunity to provide a lesson to Al-Ahram readers that absolute forgetting is "impossible," but that a time comes when pain subsides and turns into memories. While the girl did not offer a response, the author of "Towards the light" expressed his belief that "life is stronger than death."
As though it were difficult for the columnist to describe a woman as loyal without a man also earning this characterisation, he devoted one of his columns to a young man whose sweetheart had died. "He tried to forget but was unable to. He tried to leave his grief behind but found that something unseen tied him to her grave, something above life and death, something like eternity. Sometimes it was as though he was living with her and speaking with her. It was as though the passing of the days strengthened his attachment to her and deepened his grief for her."
allocated a large proportion of the space in his newborn column to family matters. In order to encourage youth to embark on marriage, he demanded that the state decrease taxes for the married. He wrote, "There is no doubting this sacrifice but it is more difficult for the married than it is bachelors. Bachelors capable of marriage should feel that their freedom in this regard is not approved by the law or satisfactory to the state. At the same time, married men who are exhausted by their wives and children, and who provide the homeland with soldiers to defend it and whose children's blood is spent for its sake, these kinds of men must feel that their government honours them to some degree."
On a related issue, he wrote on the "right to marriage" in response to a reader who suggested that the government promulgate a law requiring that civil servants not be promoted unless they are married. He wrote that the modern state was moving towards establishing the right to marriage, just as it had established the right to work, medical treatment and education. "What we are seeing in terms of the orientation of Hitler, Mussolini and Mustafa Kamel in combating bachelorhood and encouraging marriage is the beginning of establishing this right."
And yet mere marriage was not sufficient, in the opinion of the author of "Towards the light," especially as it was accompanied by marital hardship. After outlining some of the forms of this hardship, he wrote about the types of happiness as deemed by the famous psychologist Freud, being emotional love, physical love, and filial love. Happiness was not complete without all of these types, he wrote, and lacking any of them led to hardship and marital crimes.
On this topic, he wrote of a poll an American institute had conducted on the habits of "bad wives." Only 45 husbands responded that there were none, while the others listed their evidence: their wives snoring in their sleep, their habit of chewing on their nails in states of agitation and anger, persistently patting their hair to make sure that it is in order, and occupying their husbands with the most trivial of matters, "for to them, the home is another chore added to the hardship of life." At the end of this column, questioned the nature of Egyptian husbands' responses if the same poll were to be conducted on them.
In this connection, he pulled from the "incidents" page of Al-Ahram a number of strange cases related to marital life. Among them was the story of the wife who had fooled more than one man, for she had three husbands. At the time she was arrested, she was preparing to marry her fourth. Our columnist commented by saying, "The expansive freedom that has allowed women to live alone is capable of gradually weakening the stability in the psyche of women ingrained since the earliest generations, that being belief in the home and a feeling of happiness in submission to men."
Another was the story of the "thug wife," who threatened her husband with death if he thought about divorcing her. This led the man to resort to the police. The author of "Towards the light" accused the wife of sadism, which he said manifests in a wife's tendency to use violence with her husband and which may be physical, meaning that she enjoys hitting him, or emotional, meaning that she enjoys verbally abusing him. The opposite is also true, for a husband can also be sadistic, he wrote, "and martial life becomes hell if both spouses are sadists."
Also in the same context, joined in on issues related to women, particularly those concerning education and political participation. As for the first arena, it was proposed at that time that young women enroll in the college of law. Readers were split into two, the first of which approved of such enrollment and in fact encouraged it, and the second of which held that it was best for young women to devote themselves to their homes, concerning themselves with the affairs of their husbands and children. Our columnist's opinion was that "there is no danger in young women learning law and studying the arts, for they thus arm themselves with a weapon that will benefit them if they become a wife and mother -- but do not succeed in marriage and motherhood -- by being able to earn a living. But for women to learn in order to compete with men and take their work, this is something I do not agree with, for it would increase the evil of unemployment. There is hatred between the sexes, whereas God wanted there to be goodwill and mercy between them."
As for the issue of women being involved in politics, this was brought up in the pages of Al-Ahram by Miss Samia Fahmi, the educator who founded the Girls' College. Many wrote of their opinions on this, including our columnist, who does not seem to have been a supporter of full equality. In his opinion, that would require the participation of women in compulsory service, to "be a soldier in the army, a sailor in the fleet, and a pilot in the air. This call would also require the cancellation of the many compliments men offer to women at public occasions, clubs, gatherings, and courts, for men stand so that women can sit, men make way on paths so that women can pass, men are gentle with women when they speak, men smile in a woman's face when she asks them for anything, and men serve women before they serve their male peers."
apparently well understood the nature of the social map in Egypt when he made himself out to be a defender of the middle class, particularly the small civil servants the government was thinking of imposing taxes on. He noted that it was in the interest of any regime to protect this class "because it is the check in revolts, disturbances, and dangerous opinions. Among it thrive the best customs and morals that protect the group and direct it towards advancement."
The author of "Towards the light" went on to write about the economic importance of this class he was defending. He held that the small salaries its members received were spent to the end in local markets "on the purchase of the needs of food, drink and clothing. These, or most of them, are produced in Egypt, and so all pressure in this regards weakens the public purchasing power, in turn affecting the distribution of goods and harming small merchants and practitioners of crafts."
Perhaps it was this understanding that led him to write more than once about the problem of unemployment. He dedicated one of his columns to a discussion with a reader, Hussein Afif, who had presented a number of opinions for solving this problem that were dominated by a socialist bent. This did not please , who held that acceptance of these rules would overturn the economic principles put in place by the philosophers of a free economy such as Adam Smith and his followers.
After outlining the effect of the spread of mechanised industry on the increase of unemployment, he mentioned that a class of intellectuals had arisen that called for the state assuming responsibility for the welfare of victims of this spread. Yet he also warned against exaggerated aversion to individual activity and the restriction of individual freedom, for all intervention from the government was disliked. This makes it clear that our columnist was a supporter of a free economy.
THE AUTHOR ALSO TOOK INTEREST in the affairs of domestic politics, and his stance was always critical. For example, he criticised the policy of favouritism that was widespread at the time among civil servants as one of the outcomes of the partisan conflict. He held that politicians considered government posts one of the easiest things to grant supporters. "The result has been that this year, 10 people have leaped forward who possess no competency other than excelling in shouting and clapping and who are proficient in flattery and casting lies."
In another column, he harshly reproached a class of people which had made an appearance at that time and who only worked in politics. He held that professionals in this new line of work were one of the reasons for the perpetual state of political congestion dominant in Egyptian society at that time. "It is in their interest and the interest of their pockets to conjure up storms when all is still, and they do so because they live from the storm's dust. It may also be in their interest or the interest of their pockets to pour cold water over ideas, movements or meetings, and they do so. They are excused in doing so in these two cases because they only think of their pockets which come before anything else."
He expressed his opinion on political work when he held that it should be work by which a citizen serves his country, thoughts and beliefs. "It is not a profession. It is an offering to the nation and homeland, and an offering that must be sincere before God and the homeland."
"Towards the light" was contemporary to the elections held by the Muhammad Mahmoud government during the spring of 1938, following the dismissal of the Mustafa El-Nahhas government at the end of the previous year. Despite it being well known that these were the first elections in the history of Egyptian parliamentary life to undergo frank forgery, did not oppose what took place from near or afar, probably in acceptance of Al-Ahram's policy of neutrality between competitors in the political arena. Yet this did not prevent him from opposing a number of harmful practices he noted in those elections and in parliamentary life in general.
Under the title 'Of every colour,' "Towards the light" published in Al-Ahram's Friday 4 March issue of that year addressed the end of the nomination period for membership in the council of representatives. It involved some "evil," as he put it, and this evil had several aspects to it.
One was that so-and-so would approach a newspaper and ask it to publish that he was nominating himself on the principles of such-and-such party "and hardly a day would pass before another paper would publish that so-and-so had sent a telegram denying his affiliation to this party and that he was affiliated to another party that had inspired love in his deepest being. A third would think of nominating himself on particular principles and the newspapers would write on him, but then only hours would pass before he would be forgiven by God from partisanship and affirm his independence of opinion as a guarantee of this faithful service to the country."
Under the headline "The selection mission" in the column published on election day for representatives in Lower Egypt, he alerted voters to the seriousness of the test they were facing. The test of selecting representatives would bring them to key positions, including those who might urge the country to war and cause the loss of thousands. He made a comparison in this connection cited below:
"How can the country, in its laws and statutes, require that only those with a degree can become lawyers, and that only those with teacher certificates can instruct students? How can it stipulate these conditions on the practitioners of these professions, while the greatest mistake they may commit would only affect one individual or a group of people and their money or health, while there are no conditions set for representatives, who determine the future of the entire nation? The fate of tens of millions of citizens relies upon their loyalty and competence."
"I would like to add that the doctor who errs is taken to court, and that the lawyer who errs is sent to his syndicate's board, while the teacher who errs is removed from his post. Yet what is the punishment for a representative who errs? It may be said that he will not be re-elected if he loses the confidence of voters. But in many cases he will be able to cover up his mistakes in a flood of propaganda, excitement, and lies, winning again to continue with his errors!"
Urged on by his conviction that political work should stem from a desire for national service and not for the sake of a career, he dedicated more than one column of "Towards the light" to affirming this conviction.
Under the title "Representatives' recompense", he wrote in the Thursday 24 February 1938 issue of Al-Ahram that representatives received LE40 per month, a large sum by the standards of that time, especially as the parliamentary session lasted only six months and it was thus as though they received LE80 for each month of work. "If we add to that the fact that the council only meets for three sessions per week, meaning for half of the week, that means that representatives only work for three months and earn LE160 per month. If we note that sessions usually consume no more than two hours, or the equivalent of six hours per week, and 24 per month, the allocation per hour of work for a representative is nearly LE9. This is if we overlook the sessions from which they are absent, which adds up to about a quarter of them."
The author of "Towards the light" concluded by demanding one of the following: the cancellation of parliamentary recompense, reducing it drastically, or limiting it to the months of parliamentary sessions. This was certainly not a source of pleasure for the nominees hoping to earn the money after entering parliament.
Under the title "Mussolini's train," he told the story of the Italian leader when King Emanuel invited him to hold the post of prime minister in 1922 and his supporters wanted to hire a private train to take him from Milan to Rome. He refused, saying that a salon in the regular train would be sufficient.
He presented this story in order to criticise the top officials in Egypt "for they all have a private automobile, a personal assistant, and a private soldier. In fact, soldiers stand at the doors to their homes and their offices. They do not move from office to office or from department to department except in a convoy of soldiers and personal assistants. They do not travel to their hometown or on business without these trappings. And none of it is at their own expense. They do not pay a single milleme from their pockets." Until this day, 70 years later, such people are in need of reading this column another time.