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SONALLAH IBRAHIM conservative, for the most part. It became afraid and took a step back.This is how religious conservatism spread.The moment Abdel Nasser died notices appeared in the papers about Anwar Sadat, the new president, calling him “The Believer President”, implying that the former president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was not a believer. Believer of what? Religion of course. The thing is that religion wasn’t the issue; the issue was ownership – land, money, families, inheritance and all of those things. That’s where the wave of religion in politics began, followed by a series of associated effects. For example, the internet and other media appear, and society responds with fear, real fear. Sex is there, laid out in all its detail, easily accessible.This they insist on pointing to as the reason for social “mysteries”, even, for example, as an explanation for why people marry less, for why there is debauchery. People go to Saudi Arabia and to the Gulf to work and there is a resulting association between money and religion, fanatical religion. There’s the phenomenon of new cars with Qur’ans in the rear window.All this feeds into the religious wave. But it is a wave and it will pass when people discover that it doesn’t solve anything, that the group coming to power will not put forward any effective solutions because the truth of the matter is that they belong to the owning class and are allies with the capitalists.They will not solve the problems of social justice. That may take some time. There is another dimension to this that is very important: the Islamists have a presence in the street.When you go out of my building you will find that in the entrance of the building next door there is a small mosque – a prayer hall.The Islamists have always been present in the street and they help people to solve problems.Their mission is very easy; they speak to the simplest part of the mind. The others, the liberals and the leftists, cultured politicians, they speak and speak well, but there is nothing and they have no presence in the street. But the democratic process with Islamist parties present should be productive somehow? For sure. Look, the Nour Party, the party of the Salafists, those who play the most retrograde role in society, they used to be hidden, crouched under a chair. Now we can face them. 42 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
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Sonallah Ibrahim with Camilo Gomez-Rivas The problem, though, is that the democratic process will only be half legitimate. That depends on Midan Tahrir. And that's all. What is your first memory of experiencing beauty? And do you feel there is an Egyptian notion of beauty, which has developed over time? I remember right now, when I was eleven I tried to draw the face of Leila Mourad, the great singer. She had beautiful lips and I sat there and drew boxes and tried to draw her. I had this feeling that she was very, very beautiful so the idea of beauty was associated in my mind with the face of a woman. Naturally, beauty has no citizenship. Beauty is international. And just as I may be smitten with an Egyptian woman, I can be smitten with a woman of any nationality, no problem . . .Yet what’s strange is that when I lived in Germany, and in Moscow for a long period, I spent the whole time yearning to see an Egyptian woman, with specific features, a specific skin colour and a certain attitude. There was this intense nostalgia. What about beauty in writing and narrative?What do you feel is the difference between European writing and Egyptian writing? Of course there is a difference. Let’s say international writing, or Latin American, or in the United States, there’s a big difference. I think that with us, in the Arab world, the problem of taboos plays a large role. It’s strange, for example, that Latin America, a relatively BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 43

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SONALLAH IBRAHIM

conservative, for the most part. It became afraid and took a step back.This is how religious conservatism spread.The moment Abdel Nasser died notices appeared in the papers about Anwar Sadat, the new president, calling him “The Believer President”, implying that the former president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was not a believer. Believer of what? Religion of course.

The thing is that religion wasn’t the issue; the issue was ownership – land, money, families, inheritance and all of those things. That’s where the wave of religion in politics began, followed by a series of associated effects. For example, the internet and other media appear, and society responds with fear, real fear. Sex is there, laid out in all its detail, easily accessible.This they insist on pointing to as the reason for social “mysteries”, even, for example, as an explanation for why people marry less, for why there is debauchery.

People go to Saudi Arabia and to the Gulf to work and there is a resulting association between money and religion, fanatical religion. There’s the phenomenon of new cars with Qur’ans in the rear window.All this feeds into the religious wave. But it is a wave and it will pass when people discover that it doesn’t solve anything, that the group coming to power will not put forward any effective solutions because the truth of the matter is that they belong to the owning class and are allies with the capitalists.They will not solve the problems of social justice. That may take some time.

There is another dimension to this that is very important: the Islamists have a presence in the street.When you go out of my building you will find that in the entrance of the building next door there is a small mosque – a prayer hall.The Islamists have always been present in the street and they help people to solve problems.Their mission is very easy; they speak to the simplest part of the mind. The others, the liberals and the leftists, cultured politicians, they speak and speak well, but there is nothing and they have no presence in the street. But the democratic process with Islamist parties present should be productive somehow? For sure. Look, the Nour Party, the party of the Salafists, those who play the most retrograde role in society, they used to be hidden, crouched under a chair. Now we can face them.

42 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

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