LAUNCHING a debate between The Egyptian Gazette and its respected readers on different cultural and religious issues that sometimes cause misconceptions is only meant to help foreign readers understand the Egyptians' culture and personality and to enhance friendship and fraternity between all peoples of different backgrounds. Thus, it was so rewarding for The Gazette Forum's writer to start receiving comments from some readers over the first episode of the Forum that appeared last Thursday under the title of ‘Intentions and God's will', debating the phrase insha'Allah that Egyptians keep reiterating. Ms Francesca Dalmasso kindly wrote an email with this comment: “As a long-term reader of The Egyptian Gazette and The Mail I always find the columns of Manal Abdel-Aziz interesting and stimulating and welcome The Gazette Forum, which should help readers to avoid or at least comprehend better cultural misunderstandings. “Given that insha'Allah is the first Arabic phrase that most foreign residents hear in Egypt, it was very informative to have the religious context explained and particularly the reference to some Egyptians saying insha'Allah about an action that is not their real intention. I have also noted that many Christians say in sha'Allah although otherwise they tend to say ‘Rabbina' (our Lord). “It was important to stress that whereas with some cultures, my own for example, it is very easy to say, for example, ‘I am sorry but I don't know, can't do this.' etc., it is difficult for many Egyptians to say this and even more so to say ‘no' to any request. This can result in time being wasted not only by the requester but also by the requested. We foreign residents have to learn how to ‘read' the intonation and benefit from our experiences. “Two words I would like Manal Abdel-Aziz to address are the colloquial ma'lish and mashi. “When I first came to Egypt I only encountered mashi as a friendly expression of agreement. However, later and until now I have experienced it sometimes used instead of a simple ‘thank you' or ‘thanks to Allah', which would be preferable, to denote acceptance of money or a gift, which may or may not be for a service rendered. I know that this use of mashi in this context can irritate other Egyptians, one of whom, a generous but not wealthy woman friend, said in my hearing ‘I would prefer you to say nothing at all than say mashi.' “While intonation is important with ma'lish (if only all Egyptians could say it as the late famous actor Emad Hamdy tenderly and appealingly said to a young poor woman in one of the wonderful old black and white films I saw on TV recently) I can still personally find it inappropriate. Such occasions include when I do mind being insulted for no reason in the street, pushed out of the way, nearly run over, actually knocked down etc.! So please Ms Abdel-Aziz, what exactly are people trying to say? We have been taught that the word means ‘never mind' but sometimes I very much do mind! “With best wishes for the continued success of your columns, insha'Allah," I totally agree with you, Ms Dalmasso, of the necessity of revealing the meaning of this word ma'lish, which also has a religious and social background that might not actually mean ‘never mind' rather than ‘pardon me' or ‘sorry', which some people still do not know how to say properly. So let us make it the theme of next week's corner, insha'Allah. *** I also received a nice comment from Mr John Hayes with a new theme for debating in The Gazette Forum in coming editions. “Thank you for your interesting piece about the use of the word inshallah. I have a question which relates directly to Egyptian/Arab culture and it is something that puzzles me. “In the aftermath of the anti-Islam film made recently in the United States the response in many Arab countries was a violent one. Now, my question is not a religious one and I am not concerned here to discuss the rights and the wrongs of making a film about Prophet Mohammad. Nor am I directly interested in discussing the response to the film all over the world which we saw on our television screens. “What puzzles me is the violent way people behaved. If people in London or Paris or New York have a grievance they don't go out into the streets burning flags or scaling embassy walls. They make their opinions known in a peaceful way. Why do Arabs react with such violence? Is it part of their nature? Is it in the blood? I intend no offence by this question, but I genuinely see a difference in behavior between East and West. I wonder if you can shed some light on this or give some ideas to explain it." This special issue, raised by Mr Hayes, requires a long response and debate to deal with a present cause of interest to both Muslims and Non-Muslims pertaining to the conflict between freedom of expression and desecration of religion. It is also related to peoples' emotional nature and short experience of demonstration and freedom of expression after long years of oppression. Thus, I am waiting for more comments and suggestions from our readers pertaining to these two suggestions to discuss them in the coming corners. You can send your comments and suggestions to this email: [email protected]
