Day 21: Final Lecture - Islamism & Program Reflection

Today we had our final lecture with Dr. Reham Bahi about Islamism.  It complemented our lecture with Dr. Sullivan on the Muslim Brotherhood although there did seem to be different perspectives from both sides.

In terms of Islamism, we learned that organizations meet for one of two causes: Local or Global.  Dr. Bahi went into more details about different types of Islamism groups.  She didn't seem to be to portray the Brotherhood as favorably as Dr. Sullivan and seemed to favor more New Islamic Intellectuals over Traditional Olima.  I was glad that the discussion was open and I was able to share my views on the different Islamic groups as well.  I'm glad that this program helped erase many misconceptions that people had about people practicing Islam and also helped us share information with one another.  I was surprised when I asked Dr. Bahi how many supporters extremist groups had and while she was not able to give me any numbers, a fellow student said that there are very few in numbers according to a report by the U.S. government.

We all shared our experience about our time in Egypt.  There were definitely lots of positives: trying to converse with people was difficult but greetings and basic Arabic did help, the culture and people were really nice, the beautiful sites, ancient and fascinating Masjids, and most importantly having a convenient place to pray.  I'm going to miss Cairo =[

Day 20: El-Azhar Park

El-Azhar Park in El-Darassa is a remarkable park that was once a waste dump 4 years ago.  After climbing a hill we were able to get to the highest point in El-Azhar Park and we were able to identify three distinct areas before us.  One was El-Azhar, the other was Bab Zweila and also the City of the Dead (which surprisingly was very living and has people in the lower income classes living there).  The City of the Dead was quite interesting, the idea of having people living in a city that's main goal was to be houses for the dead was something I have never about.  The view from the peak of the hill was breath-taking (the shots came out great as well).  The park must a romantic hit as well since we saw a bunch of couples walking together, talking, smiling and taking pictures of one another as they would stand on top of ledges to get a nice shot.

After walking around the park we made our way to St. Joseph's Hotel, a beautiful and intricately designed hotel overlooking the whole city, scenic environment and the water fountains outside.  The clear blue sky complemented the atmosphere and chicken tandoori panini with the oreo frapaccinno was amazing with the setting =D.

On the ride to Horus Hotel, I gazed out the window and saw Cairo before me.  To be honest, I'm going to miss all the remarkable landmarks and simple and natural beauty of the Masjids and the Palm Trees.

Day 19: Cafe Noir & Downtown Cairo

Prof. Denis' Map

Having a review class at Cafe Noir was something new and tasty.  I ordered a Muddy Mocha and it was amazing.  I had some yummy chocolate mocha deliciousness.  We went over nationalities and numbers from 11-100.  1-20 are probably the hardest numbers to learn in Arabic the rest are just based on those numbers so it becomes really easy.

Sadat Station

The first time I went downtown was with a friend of mine, Lisa, who had been studying in Cairo for the fall semester.  She told me to tell the taxi driver to drop me at “Medan Tahrir.”  I remember when I stepped inside the Taxi, I told the man, Medan Tahrir, and he looked confused.  He then corrected me and put and emphasis on the h. This was a great way of reinforcing what I had learned in Arabic class.  It’s really important to pronounce the strong h correctly in Arabic since you can end up saying something completely different.  I went to visit downtown, two other times.  For our downtown tour today, we were split into groups to take Taxis. This time I made an extra effort to emphasize the strong H when we went inside the taxi.  

We saw Madbouli’s bookshop, which had books with a variety of topics, and Groppi’s, at once an elite coffeeshop, Lehnert and Landrock, where I bought posters with beautiful Qu’ranic verses and the Yacoubian building, which easily blend in with the rest of the environment, and from the outside, looked nothing more than store.  When we went inside, there was a sign saying “Yacoubian building” We didn’t get to go in, but did take a handful of pictures.

The sign inside the Yacoubian Building

Outside view of the Yacoubian Building

The famous Madbouly Bookstore

A black cat sitting on a black motorcycle

 

Day 18: Arabic Class & Lecture on Arab/Israeli Conflict

In Arabic Class we took our second quiz and then had a lesson about adjectival phrases.  Arabic, like spanish has the adjective follow the noun.  The adjective mirrors the noun in terms of gender, number, and definiteness.

Today I actually tried the lunch at Horus House, and it was pretty decent.  The eggplant meat dish was delicious and went very well with the white rice and the fried chicken with french fries.  The meal was fulfilling even while I was sharing it with a friend of mine.  We had gone to the supermarket earlier and also ate some mini-pitas with it as well.  I also grabbed some instant cup-noodles since a couple of ladies had been suggesting I try them and had enjoyed them very much themselves.  I figured it would make a good snack for here and there.

In the afternoon we met at Leslie's apartment for a Lecture on the Arab/ Israeli Conflict which continued to add on top my knowledge of the middle-eastern issue and how sad and frustrating the situation.  Knowledge is important and it's important for people to understand what really happened in history.  If more and more people were aware of the reasons of conflict then it would be easier for people to relate and understand the severity of the problem.

Day 17: Arabic Class & Lecture on Muslim Brotherhood

Today in Arabic class we learned about interrogative phrases.  For yes or no questions there are actually no interoggative words. For those kind of question, only the tonality determines whether or not the person is asking a yes or no questions.  We became more familiar with the words that are used for who, what, where etc.  An interesting fact about the Egyptian colloquial langauge is that the interogative phrase is placed at the end of the phrase and not at the beginning like in English.  This will have to take more getting used to.

For lunch we had our last darasha with Prof. Nevenka Sullivan and had a talk with Prof. Denis Sullivan. With Prof. Nevenka Sullivan, we reviewed and became more familiar with our interrogative phrases.

For the afternoon session, at Leslie's apartment, the lecture topic of Muslim Brotherhood was one that I found particularly interesting because it erased a lot of misconception about the organization itself and the role of Islam in Egyptian society.  Dr. Sullivan sheded more light on the political history on Egyptian ruling party and it's relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood as well.  --Islamism --> the manipulation of Islam for some gain

Dinner: Pizzahut  & guy asking us where we are from

* I love eating meat!!

Day 16: Free Day & Walking Tour of Islamic Cairo

Splish Splash. Physically walking down Al-Darbal-Ahmar OR El Darb El Ahmar
St, as noted by the sign along our route, was no pleasure. Mud had compounded all over
my pants as if a new cement project had begun that would soon join the muddy
compounds of the street around us. We trotted on hoping to expand our experiences from
when we had first visited Bab Zweila and continued our exploration of Islamic Cairo with
the whole group. The day soon faded away as the call for Magrib prayer was heard. The
darkness made it harder to see the details and to appreciate the true intricacy of each site
we visited but nonetheless did add to our overall walking tour experience. The most
beautiful and serene experience of the night was walking inside the Mosque of
Altinbugha al-Maridani. Even though the carpet was damn from the earlier rain showers,
the environment was blissful. The courtyard with green trees, an octagonal timbre
fountain, complemented by the green glowing lights added to the blissful and serene
atmosphere. Behind the dark and rich wooden mashrabiya screen there were men praying
a jammat. I would have loved to stay longer and go near the qibla area but wanted to give
the people their privacy in prayer. I sadly departed to continue our adventure along our walk.

We walked passed Zawiyat ‘Arif Pasha, where I nearly got run over by a
motorcycle (our yelling screams were responded by a blank stare from the driver). As
the night got older, the narrow streets, cramped sidewalks, and the dark streets slowed
us down and increased the pressure to hasten our walk. Along our paths we saw some
random beautiful Mashrabiyas. There were moments where we would each take turns
looking at the book and our surrounding to figure out where and what exactly was before
us. This happened a couple of times and one time it had caught the attention of a local
resident who from what I understood, he pointed and directed us to the Blue Mosque
and welcomed us to Egypt. As we moved ahead, I didn’t see anything blue but did see
some more archaic structures on our path. Our walk concluded with a bright and glowing
Mosque of Sultan Hassan, a reward of beauty and glamor for our long and confusing
trail in the exceptionally muddy street of El Darb El Ahmar.

Day 15: Coptic Cairo

Cairo, is an amazing city, it was built by the efforts of Muslims, Christians and Jews as well as those during the Pharaonic Era eras.  Aside from Islamic Cairo, we also got a chance to see Coptic Cairo.  There we visited some very amazing churches.  The styles were similar to the mosques that we had seen in Islamic Cairo, except they didn’t have the tall minarets and open courtyards.  All the churches had wooden ceilings, symbolizing protection like that Noah’s Arch provided.  We also saw Moses’ well, where Moses was dropped off in a basket by his mom in hopes that he would be saved, and the Holy Family’s Cave, one of the places where the Virgin Mary and her family fled in order to escape persecution .   Unfortunately, we were not able to visit the church on top of the hill and meet the Zabaleen, most of who are Coptic and are the ones who run the sanitary department of Egypt (garbage pickers).  

The Holy Family's Cave

Moses' Well

Mosque

Day 12: Walk Through Islamic Cairo & Then the Khaan & Pizza Hut

Today we continued our walk of Islamic Cairo but this time with Dr. Tarek Swelim (Ph.D., Islamic Art & Architecture, Harvard University as our guide.  The walk made me appreciate the Islamic Arts even more and I wish I got a chance to in each Mosque for hours so I can really take in the architectural beauty of all the sites.  We started our tour at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.  This was the third mosque built in Egypt.  It is known for it's grandness and structure it is one of the attractions that one must visit when walking in Islamic Cairo. We got a chance to go up on a minaret and see a beautiful view of the Ibn Tulun Mosque itself and the city around it.  We then visited Sultan Hassan mosque, which we were told is give the nickname "Obama's mosque" since it was renovated, and new carpets were added to the prayer areas since Obama was supposed to visit it.  In the mosque, Mr. Sayed, recited the call to prayer and Qu'ranic verses for us.  We were told that he also appeared in the movie, Cairo Time.
 
After this visiting these two mosques, we started our walk in Islamic Cairo, by going down Shari’a al-Muizz (al-Muizz street) at Bab al-Futuh which is at the opposite end of Bab Zuwayla, which we had visited a week ago. We went inside Hakim mosque and saw its beautiful architecture.  It was made in a way so that when walking the arches would align with the windows, a welcoming site to those coming to pray.  We were told that the Hakim mosque was also a pilgrimage site to the Bohra Muslims, who are mostly from Pakistan, though I'm not sure why.  I'll have to do some research on that.

 
As we continued our walk, we passed Al-Aqmar Mosque, the Sabil- Kuttab, a place where free water was once distributed to the local people and also a school for learning the Qu'ran.

We then went inside Barquq, and concluded our walk with the Qalawun complex which is modeled after the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (constructed between 1285 to 1304). The designs were beautiful and the Qu'ranic inscriptions seemed to shimmer in gold.  This had to be one of the most beautiful interior I had seen thus far. 

All the mosques had different designs and their own specialty.  Ibn Tulun wasthe biggest and the Qalawun had the most intricate interior in my opinion.

 

Today we continued our walk of Islamic Cairo but this time with Dr. Tarek Swelim (Ph.D., Islamic Art & Architecture, Harvard University as our guide.  The walk made me appreciate the Islamic Arts even more and I wish I got a chance to in each Mosque for hours so I can really take in the architectural beauty of all the sites.  We started our tour at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.  This was the third mosque built in Egypt.  It is known for it's grandness and structure it is one of the attractions that one must visit when walking in Islamic Cairo. We got a chance to go up on a minaret and see a beautiful view of the Ibn Tulun Mosque itself and the city around it.  We then visited Sultan Hassan mosque, which we were told is give the nickname "Obama's mosque" since it was renovated, and new carpets were added to the prayer areas since Obama was supposed to visit it.  In the mosque, Mr. Sayed, recited the call to prayer and Qu'ranic verses for us.  We were told that he also appeared in the movie, Cairo Time.
 
After this visiting these two mosques, we started our walk in Islamic Cairo, by going down Shari’a al-Muizz (al-Muizz street) at Bab al-Futuh which is at the opposite end of Bab Zuwayla, which we had visited a week ago. We went inside Hakim mosque and saw its beautiful architecture.  It was made in a way so that when walking the arches would align with the windows, a welcoming site to those coming to pray.  We were told that the Hakim mosque was also a pilgrimage site to the Bohra Muslims, who are mostly from Pakistan, though I'm not sure why.  I'll have to do some research on that.

 
As we continued our walk, we passed Al-Aqmar Mosque, the Sabil- Kuttab, a place where free water was once distributed to the local people and also a school for learning the Qu'ran.

We then went inside Barquq, and concluded our walk with the Qalawun complex which is modeled after the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (constructed between 1285 to 1304). The designs were beautiful and the Qu'ranic inscriptions seemed to shimmer in gold.  This had to be one of the most beautiful interior I had seen thus far. 

All the mosques had different designs and their own specialty.  Ibn Tulun wasthe biggest and the Qalawun had the most intricate interior in my opinion.