Bayoumi Andil
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Bayoumi Andil () (31 July 19428 October 2009)Rosaonline
was an Egyptian
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and writer who authored many books on Egyptian culture and Modern Egyptian language. Andil asserted that the language spoken in modern Egypt is not a dialect of
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, but rather a linguistic evolution of the
Coptic language Coptic () is a dormant language, dormant Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language. It is a group of closely related Egyptian dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Ancient Egyptian language, Egyptian language, and histori ...
and the ancient Egyptian language. His most well-known book, ''The Present State of Culture in Egypt'', posits that Egyptians have resisted attempts to change their national identity, language and national religion. Although the country embraced
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
in the 1st century AD and
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
after the
Arab conquest of Egypt The Arab conquest of Egypt, led by the army of Amr ibn al-As, took place between 639 and 642 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long Roman Egypt, Roman period in Egypt that had begun in 30 BC and, more broa ...
in 641 AD, Andil states that Egyptians Egyptianized both Christianity and Islam. He argues that the "true" Egyptian spirit survived only in the oral culture of illiterate Egyptians, specially rural Egyptians, whose
illiteracy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
protected their national identity from disappearing. He was also an Egyptian nationalist. He stated that traditional Egyptian culture is pluralistic and respectful of women. He espoused
secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...
and scientific thought, and called linguistics a "noble" field of study.


Life

Bayoumi Andil was a rural Egyptian from a village in Monoufia, Egypt. He lived the first thirty years of his life in rural Egypt, which informed his view of the linguistics and language of the country. He later moved to
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
. Bayoumi Andil was known for his sharp, uncompromising character; a friend of his, an Egyptian writer, remarked that such personality trait was due to Andil's rural Egyptian nature.


Egyptian language

Andil wrote many articles and books about modern Egyptian linguistics and the history of language in the country. He proposed that the language spoken in modern Egypt is not a dialect of Arabic but rather the fourth stage of Egyptians' historic language and should not truly be considered a variety of
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: The grammatical, morphological and phonological differences between today's spoken Egyptian and the Arabic language is sufficiently disparate to categorize them into two distinct groups, whereas the similarities between the first category and earlier Egyptian languages, most notably Coptic and ancient Egyptian, are strong enough to consider modern Masri (today's Egyptian language) an evolution of ancient Egyptian. Bayoumi Andil also called on the Egyptians to revive ancient Egyptian, particularly in its Coptic stage, and to study the ancient Egyptian language in all of its stages. Beginning in the 1980s, Andil's work focused on promoting the revival of
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
Egyptian nationalism Egyptian nationalism is based on Egyptians and Egyptian culture. Egyptian nationalism has typically been a civic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Egyptian nationalism first manife ...
, on language and linguistics in Egypt, and on the revival of ancient Egyptian culture. Despite his admiration for
Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was among the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a leading figure of the Arab Renaissance and the modernist movement in the Arab world. His sobriquet ...
, an intellectual of the Egyptian enlightenment movement in the first half of the 20th century, Andil criticized Hussein's publication, ''Mustaqbal al-Thaqafa fi Misr'' or ''(The Future of Culture in Egypt).'' He argued the work did not adequately define Egyptian culture.


Celebration of plurality

Andil argued that the culture of a nation is the sum total of the value systems created by its people over the entire course of the nation's history. He believed that Egyptian culture is the outcome of an agriculture-based civilisation and that Egyptian forefathers were the first to establish the solar calendar, the bases of medicine and geometry. In his books delineating the achievements of the Egyptians, Andil quoted James H. Breasted to support his hypothesis that the ancient Egyptians were the first to create a system of writing, in addition to referring to the arguments of linguistics scholar Simon Potter over the leading role of the Egyptian alphabet. Andil focused on
plurality Plurality may refer to: Law and politics * Plurality decision, in a decision by a multi-member court, an opinion held by more judges than any other but not by an overall majority * Plurality (voting), when a candidate or proposition polls more ...
as an important dimension of Egyptian culture. Egyptian myths were
polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...
and referred to a host of gods, which promoted the values of tolerance among Egyptians. Followers of different gods used to hold festivals to celebrate them. These festivals were universal; the followers of
Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...
celebrated Ra and the other way around while followers of
Amon Amon may refer to: Mythology * Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra * Aamon, a Goetic demon People Mononym * Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah * Amon of Toul ( 375– 423 AD), second recorded Bishop of ...
sanctified
Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
. Today, Cairenes celebrate Mulid al-Sayed al-Badawi of Tanta, while Alexandrians celebrate Mulid Abul-Haggag of Luxor. By the same token, Muslim Egyptians celebrate the Coptic Christian Mulids such as those held to commemorate the Holy Virgin or St Barsoum al-Erian, and the other way around. Such manifestations of plurality promote the value of recognising and accepting the other. There was no room for such value under Akhnaton, who, by calling for the exclusive worship of one god (Aton), became the founder of what would later become the monotheistic culture of
religious intolerance Religious intolerance or religious bigotry is intolerance of another's religious beliefs, practices, faith or lack thereof. Statements which are contrary to one's religious beliefs do not constitute intolerance. Religious intolerance, rather, ...
and prosecution of
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
, a culture that is prevailing strongly among the followers of the
Abrahamic religions The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...
. Yet Akhnaton is commonly revered as the father of
monotheism Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
.


A gentle people

Among the cultural norms stressed in Andil's writing was the respect of women. Unlike the region's other peoples, Egyptians were distinguished by the appreciation of women. The attributes that the Egyptians gave to Sayeda Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohamed, had their source in the attributes of Isis. The same could be said about her brother al-Hussein, the attributes that the Egyptians gave to him had much in common with the attributes of Osiris. Although Egyptian culture changed in many ways over the ages, certain features survived. The first is tolerance, a characteristic of agriculture-based societies, and the second is plurality which led Herodotus to describe ancient Egyptians as the most pious people. Centuries later, Sigmund Freud conceived of Egyptians as a gentle people, while he considered Semites wild and savage. Plurality in turn led to the promotion of equality between men and women. Yet there was a setback in terms of the status of women with the advent of the
Abrahamic religions The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...
that were introduced to Egypt under the Romans and later under the Arabs and the other invading rulers. Andil has a telling story to confirm his view of the inherent gentleness of Egyptians. He heard the story from a Palestinian friend who was living in Gaza during the Israeli invasion in 1956. When Jewish soldiers of Egyptian origin inspected her home, they caused no harm to the family, on the contrary quelling the family's fears. One of the soldiers gently told her grandmother: "Don't be afraid, mother, and don't bother to get up. Stay where you are." Iraqi Jewish soldiers, by contrast, stormed her neighbours' house and wreaked havoc in their home and committed horrible crimes.


Out of the dark tunnel

Egyptian culture affected Quran tajweed (the way of chanting Quranic verses). Sheikh Mohammed Refaat used the oriental Nahawand scale in the tajweed while Sheikh Mustafa Ismail used the Bayaty scale. Andil was a staunch defender of illiterate Egyptians for the role they played in preserving and transmitting Egyptian culture from one generation to the next. Educated people connived with the Anglo-Americans to Arabise Egypt. Reactionary ideas and values were accordingly promoted and this climate bred many terrorists who antagonise those who believe in other religions. Andil concluded that the only way out of this dark tunnel is to revive
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
Egyptian nationalism Egyptian nationalism is based on Egyptians and Egyptian culture. Egyptian nationalism has typically been a civic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Egyptian nationalism first manife ...
. Andil remarked on how several nations managed, thanks to their intellectuals, to preserve the national identity of their homeland. Iranians, for instance, accepted Islam, but never accepted Arabism. They are proud of their pre-Islamic heroes, myths and gods. The same could be said about Finnish people who liberated themselves from the Swedish culture thanks to their intellectuals who spared no effort to revive the national heritage of the country. Indians preserved their culture in the face of the Mongols, while the great Spanish people under Queen Isabella liberated their country from the Arab invaders. In contrast, Andil maintained that the "educated Egyptians" (as he defines them) have an inferiority complex, which prevails in their attitude toward true Egyptian culture; whereas illiterate Egyptians, specially rural Egyptians, preserved the true Egyptian spirit in their oral culture and traditional cultural practices.


See also

*
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed or Aḥmad Luṭfī Sayyid Pasha () (15 January 1872 – 5 March 1963) was a prominent Egyptian nationalist, intellectual, anti-colonial activist and the first president of Cairo University. He was an influential person i ...
* Liberal Egyptian Party


References


External links

* Hader El Thakafa fi Masr (the present State of Culture in Egypt ) in Arabic
On the difference/differences between Modern Egyptian language, dubbed "Amiyya" and the Classical ArabiWatani Newspaperdostor.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andil, Bayoumi 1942 births 2009 deaths Egyptian nationalists Egyptian writers People from Monufia Governorate