IT must be very annoying for someone who's just been knocked down and almost run over by someone to hear the word ‘Maalish' being uttered by the offending motorist, rather than his expressing his deep sorrow and contrition for his unjustified deed. But this is always the case, especially if the victim happens to be a woman or an elderly person, who lacks the strength to confront the offender and force him pay for what he has done. Strangely, this word maalish, that means ‘never mind' is supposed to be uttered by the person who has been aggressed, not the aggressor, in answer to the latter's expression of sorrow. Nowadays, however, it is used by the offender to condone his wrongdoing and to close the door in face of the victim, who deserves compensation for the damage he or she has suffered. Like most Egyptian phrases, the word maalesh has a cultural and religious background, interwoven with the Egyptian character, reflect people's reconciliatory nature and readiness to forgive others for an unintentional offence. In the Holy Qur'an, one finds room for forgiveness that could be expressed by the victim or his family, even if the offence is as serious as manslaughter. In this case, a slave must be liberated and blood money paid to compensate the deceased's family, unless they remit this of their own freewill. Thus, pardoning someone for his unintentional offence is really part of Egypt's Islamic culture. However, the difficult living conditions of today, along with the pressure most Egyptians suffer in their daily lives, because of living in densely populated cities, have led to the Egyptian character acquiring some aggressive features, which is why most Egyptians easily lose their tempers, especially in the streets. That is why a very minor car accident that might not have left the slightest scratch on the vehicles involved often turns into a big fight between the drivers, so that the one who is in the wrong can cover up for his mistake. If the other, innocent driver happens to be a woman, the driver in the wrong simply says, ‘Maalish'. Of course, the absence of a fast, effective rule of law on the streets partly contributes to this problem, as one should choose between either taking one's rights by force or just accepting the harm that has happened and the word maalish, that in this case means sorry. Thus any foreigner living in or visiting Egypt should either accept the word maalish as an expression of apology or insist on bringing the offender to justice. Surely, our friend Ms Francesca Dalmasso, who sent an email last week complaining of this problem and the inappropriate use of the word maalish by some Egyptians, is not the only person to have suffered this misunderstanding and would simply like Egyptians to say sorry. This week The Gazette Forum received an interesting email from another reader, commenting on the idea of the corner and our attempt to use it for deconstructing cultural misconceptions between peoples from different backgrounds, doubting our ability to do so via this debate or any other means. Dear Manal Abdel Aziz, Let me start by applauding your efforts to deconstruct cultural misconceptions. This said, you have set yourself the most arduous of tasks. I say this not as a critic, but as an American scholar who has spent the better part of a lifetime working with Arab colleagues on research projects that explored various dimensions of the Arab psyche. These explorations included a year as a member of the Al-Ahram Centre for Strategic and Political Studies and about two years as the Director of the Centre for Arab and Middle East Studies at the American University of Beirut. Along the way, I also had the good fortune of co-authoring the Egyptian Bureaucracy with El Sayeed Yassin and Ali Leila. My first worry is that it may not be possible for Americans and Arabs to fully understand each other. As I pose the question in my recently published book, Arab Psyche and American Frustrations, “Is it really possible for a person raised in Wisconsin to understand the Arab psyche?" I hope so, but admittedly, Wisconsin is a long way from Cairo. The Arab scholar Wafiq Raouf has similar concerns and candidly asks, “How can anyone brought up in Arab culture be objective?" The Turkish columnist Moustafa Akyol offers a related perspective in attempting to explain Muslim hostility towards the American government generated by the recent film crisis. Having lived under dictators who control everything, according to Akyol, Muslims naturally think that the American government also controls everything. This being the case, it is only logical for Muslims to believe that the American government was implicated in the film attacking the Prophet Mohammed (‘Time for Muslim Anger Management', Hurriyet Daily News, 15 September, 2012.) In regard to Mr Hayes' concerns about Arabs and violence, I would note that Americans have unlimited modes of political expression. The Arabs don't. For people living under tyranny, violence and submission are their only options. I also find Mr Hayes' inference that Americans aren't violent to be misplaced seeing that one out of every seven dollars spent in the US is violence-related (POLITICO. 28 September, 2012). Best, Monte Palmer Dear Monte Palmer I do really appreciate your comments and your taking the trouble to warn me of the expected failure to reach the goal of this corner, namely to achieve full understanding between peoples of different cultures, not just Americans and Arabs. Of course, I can understand how difficult it is to achieve this. However, we should continue to try, by different means, to achieve world peace and prevent conflicts of civilisations or even a global religious war. As a start, we should prevent people lashing out against each other's cultures and civilisations, and get them to understand that every civilisation hasn't been created in isolation from the other civilisations. So let's not go around pretending that we're superior to everyone else. For example, in response to your book Arab Psyche and American Frustrations, I could write a book entitled American Psyche and Arab Frustrations, expressing the Arabs' despair that the Americans do not understand their cause or at least show some objectivity and sensitivity while dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is not just that dictatorships influence people's minds. In the West, where most countries are democratic, people can be totally misled by the media and the stereotypes the media create about Arabs and Islam. This could explain why most Americans and Europeans were shocked when they saw young Tunisians and Egyptians leading peaceful revolutions against their tyrants. Western leaders expressed their admiration for the Egyptian youth who possessed the will and ability to unseat a corrupt dictator and his regime, without shooting a single bullet. So, we shouldn't give up and must continue to reach out to each other via dialogue and interaction, rather than being satisfied by joining some academic or research centres to get a greater insight into Egyptian culture and the Egyptian psyche. Comments and suggestions of readers are welcome via email: [email protected]
