Egyptian Novelist Hails Revolution as a 'Great Human Achievement'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The country's most celebrated writer, Alaa al-Aswany, was inspired by the Tahrir protesters, but fears a counter-revolution

On 28 January a young Egyptian man was urging the novelist Alaa al-Aswany to write a book about the revolution that was gathering momentum in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Just minutes after their brief conversation the protester was shot dead by a government sniper from a nearby roof.

Aswany never learned his interlocutor's name, but that and other killings, along with the sheer bravery of revolutionaries motivated by "an untameable anger and a profound sense of injustice", are seared into the memory of Egypt's most celebrated living writer as he articulates his feelings about the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and what it means.

"The revolution was a great human achievement," Aswany says in a booming voice that amplifies his evident emotion. "It means people are willing to die for freedom and justice. When you participate in a real revolution you become a much better person. You are ready to defend human values."

Now though, like other Egyptian democrats, he fears a counter-revolution led by old regime loyalists fomenting violence and sectarian attacks, precisely in line with the finger-wagging warning by Mubarak of the "chaos" that would follow if he were forced from the presidency.

Uncertainties abound, Aswany admits, smoking furiously between appointments in his dental surgery in Cairo's Garden City district, its leafy streets a haven from one of the noisiest urban spaces on the planet, and whose fading charms and human vibrancy he captured in his best-selling novel The Yacoubian Building [I].

"The revolution succeeded in Egypt but there is someone else taking the decisions," he muses. "The army is seen very positively ... but we have to keep up pressure [on it] to take the decisions of the revolution. It needs a lot of effort ... and then, at some point, they respond." » | Ian Black in Cairo | Friday, May 20, 2011

The US Honours Lebanese Writer Ameen Rihani
The first Arab-American writer to have an English language book published in the US is remembered

Arab Rights Groups Condemn Saudi Death Fatwa on Writers
THE GUARDIAN: Arab human rights activists have condemned a Saudi religious edict calling for the execution of two writers for apostasy - giving a rare glimpse of tensions over Islam inside the conservative kingdom.

The ruling by Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Barrak was described as "intellectual terrorism" carried out by "clerics of darkness" in a statement signed by 100 rights groups and intellectuals from across the region and obtained by Reuters news agency.

Last month Sheikh al-Barrak issued a fatwa against two Saudi writers he denounced as "infidels". Writing in al-Riyadh newspaper, Yousef Aba Al-Khail and Abdullah bin Bejad had questioned the Sunni Muslim view - standard in Saudi Arabia - that adherents of other faiths should be considered unbelievers.

"Anyone who claims this has refuted Islam and should be tried so that he can take it back. If not, he should be killed as an apostate from the religion of Islam," Sheikh al-Barrak said. "It is disgraceful that articles containing this kind of apostasy should be published in ... the land of the two holy shrines [in Mecca and Medina]."

Sheikh al-Barrak is seen by Islamists as Saudi Arabia's leading religious authority independent of the establishment Wahhabi school. His call won support from like-minded clerics who asked God to support him in the face of a "wicked attack" by liberals with "polluted beliefs".

Fatwas by radical Muslim clerics led to the assassination in 1992 of the Egyptian writer Farag Foda and to an attempt in 1994 in Cairo to murder the Egyptian Nobel prizewinner Naguib Mahfouz.

Last month Saudi Arabia's Shura council threw out a proposal for a law promoting respect for other religions and religious symbols, apparently for fear it might lead to the building of churches. That was seen as a defeat for liberals and reformists in the struggle against religious hardliners. Arab Rights Groups Condemn Saudi Death Fatwa on Writers >>> By Ian Black, Middle East editor | April 2, 2008

Mark Alexander