Egypt's central bank governor meets with China Development Bank head    Egypt, UAE central banks sign currency swap deal    Researchers build and test a framework for achieving climate resilience across diverse fisheries    Genetically engineering associations between plants and nitrogen-fixing microbes could lessen dependence on synthetic fertilizer    Egypt Post invests in Roaderz platform to enhance e-commerce, delivery services    GAFI to grant 45 more golden licences to boost investment    French police arrests 5 people in Piaget jewelry heist    Hend Sabry series Crossroads to air on Shahid in October    Oil prices 27/09/2023    Al-Sisi rejects claims of militarising teachers    Egypt aims to boost private sector's role in economic activity to 65% in medium term: Finance Minister    Net-zero emissions can be reached by 2050 – IEA report    Egypt inks agreement with British council to boost scientific research    Phantom of the Opera heads to Riyadh in October    Trevor Noah to host his largest comedy show in Dubai    Dubai launches new religious tourism initiative    Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia resume talks on GERD in Addis Ababa    Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia resume talks on GERD in Addis Ababa    Egypt, India declare strategic partnership, discuss regional issues    Egyptian minister calls for more funding to face climate change damages    Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan resume Nile dam talks    Egypt's Environment Minister calls for more funding to address climate change losses, damages    Children dying in Sudan amid healthcare system collapse    Children dying in Sudan amid healthcare system collapse    Massive Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project may transport green hydrogen    Egypt's national table tennis team qualifies for Paris Olympics    El-Hammamy wins women's final at QTerminals Qatar Classic    Ethiopia claims to finish filling GERD despite objections    Prime Minister inspects Grand Egyptian Museum    Prime Minister inspects Grand Egyptian Museum    The box office is not a measure of success: Basma    Egypt's street workout team wins 3 gold medals at world championship    Egypt's street workout team wins 3 gold medals at world championship    NBA Africa, MAVEN Developments announce multiyear collaboration in Egypt    Sisi, Ethiopia's PM discuss Sudan's crisis, Ethiopian dam    Celebrity earnings through Instagram in 2022    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Doctor Zhivago says Egypt improving on religious tolerance
Published in Bikya Masr on 02 - 02 - 2010

CAIRO: Legendary Egyptian actor Omar Sharif believes that Egypt has made huge steps towards religious tolerance in recent years and that his home country is doing “well” because there is “no huge resentment between people of different religion.”
The 77-year-old was speaking before a capacity audience of nearly 700 at St John’s Church in Maadi during its second annual Caravan Festival of the Arts on Monday night, whose theme this year is ‘Harmony – East & West’ – focusing on building bridges between Muslims and Christians through literature, art, music and film.
Sharif was on hand to introduce his role in the controversial interfaith film, ‘Hassan and Morqos’, which was considered to be blasphemous by conservatives and religious fundamentalists when it went on general release in Egypt in 2008.
He praised the Egyptian government for being “civilized” whilst striving to bring harmony between the various religious sects by establishing diplomatic relationships with Israel, and he also congratulated Egyptians for being “friendly with the Jews.”
Despite his advancing years, the three-time Golden Globe winner remains an ardent and active supporter of interfaith dialogue and friendships.
“When I was a child, I went to English school in Cairo, and I swear that we never knew who was Jewish, Muslim or Christian. We didn’t care – even if their names were a little strange sometimes,” said Sharif.
The star of ‘Doctor Zhivago’ and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ also admitted to being something of a fantasist on interfaith matters by stating that, “we should always love each other … yes, it sounds stupid but I have a feeling that people hate each other, and I try now in my old age to fight this (hatred). We should love each other.”
Sharif also admitted to being the target of numerous attacks by the media, religious authorities and even a fatwa from Osama bin Laden during a long career in which he has played Muslim, Christian and Jewish roles.
“I played Saint Peter once (in the Italian production of ‘San Pietro’ in 2005), and when I asked the Vatican why they chose me for the lead even though I’m an Arab, they said it’s because I look like St. Peter,” he related.
“I played him all the way up to his crucifixion, and one of the lines I had to say was “Jesus is the son of God”, which bin Laden considered to be blasphemous – and he told me so on his own blog! Yes, Osama has a blog – it’s not just CNN that has a blog. So I wrote back to him on his blog,” the actor added.
Sharif also came in for some heavy criticism from both the Arab and American Jewish press for the film ‘Funny Girl’ in which he played a New Yorker, alongside Barbra Streisand.
The shooting of the film coincided with the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and an Arab actor romancing a Jewish actress on the big screen was a step too far for some in the press.
And Sharif’s response to his critics: “It was only a musical and nothing more.”
Later, when asked by Time and Life magazines what he made of these vitriolic attacks, Sharif cheekily answered “I never ask a girl her religion or her nationality before I kiss her.”
Sharif closed his 20-minute speech by reiterating his belief that Western-style democracy does not work in the Middle East.
“Arabs are tribal people – so democracy won’t work in Iraq or Iran. We Egyptians are not tribal people, so we are different,” he said.
Sharif was the second of three marquee guests during this five-day Festival of the Arts – the brainchild of Reverend Paul-Gordon Chandler, rector of St John’s since 2003 and a keen activist on interfaith friendships, which he says is far more difficult to achieve than interfaith dialogue.
The Anglo-Afghan and New York Times best-selling author Tahir Shah opened the event last Saturday by giving a speech before a crowd of 150 people at the church on Port Said Street, whilst renowned Iraqi oud master Naseer Shamma will close the festival tomorrow night. In all over 1500 people have already attended the festival by the third day.
Naturally, Rev. Chandler is very pleased with how the event has progressed within just 18 months,
“1400 people attended our event last year when we only had the art exhibition. This year, we’ve added film, music and literature to the program and managed to secure both Tahir Shah and Omar Sharif so we are very pleased.
“We’ve had more visitors during the day, too, including 50 street kids on Monday whose visit was organized by an NGO which uses art as a therapy.
“I was also surprised by how many Egyptian Muslims turned up tonight for ‘Hassan and Morqos’ because many of them never saw the film in cinema. And this is what our event is all about – to create an environment for people of different faiths to get together and perhaps be friends.”
Indeed, the art exhibition features works by 46 artists – half from the Middle East and half from the west, as far away as Norway, Australia and the USA – and many of them have established interfaith friendships through this experience.
The curator of the event, the British artist Roland Prime – a local resident who has lived in Cairo since 2004 – is not only pleased by the number of entries, but also the quality of the art being exhibited – all of which have been commissioned especially for the event.
On display are works by the renowned Egyptian ceramicist Mohamed Mandour, his protégé Sahah Naim, as well as Britt Boutros Ghali – sister-in-law of former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali – and her daughter Katrina Vrebalovich – both representing Norway.
Prime has also produced two pieces of work for the exhibition, and added that this was a real challenge for all the participants concerned because artists do not generally like thematic exhibitions (in this case, the concept of ‘harmony’), and the restriction in size for their final pieces also posed a challenge.
But with over 40 percent of the work already sold by the halfway stage – with 10 percent from all sales going to the Spirit of Giving which supports charities working among both Muslims and Christians within Egypt, the organizers are already looking forward to next year, which they hope to attract more sponsors and visitors from further afield.
“Maadi is very much devoid of anything of cultural significance,” says Prime, “and by making our church the centre of attention for a calendar month which is fairly empty can only be good news not just for the Cairo art scene and the local artists, but also for Maadi as a whole.”
BM


Clic here to read the story from its source.