Here is my first Egyptian Tale from Egypt that you don't know
It isnot so historical more it depends on the Tolkin Saying in Lord of the Rings" History becomes a legend ,A legend become a myth", here I am trying to analyze the legend and story may be I will get to something in the end
I had a real bad toothache that made me a couple of days ago crying day and night till I managed to go to the dentist and there he took off the tooth causing all that pain, after taking off my tooth the dentist stood and he was really tired and told me : "MISS you are really Patient , a real Egyptian from the Ayoub The Patient 's country"
He was right ,I was really patient despite the pain ,I didn't make any silly movement people usually make at the dentist's clinic ,I actted according the Egyptian old common saying "To feel a pain for just one hour ,is better than feeling it every hour"
But who is Ayoub the patient ?
Ayoub The patient 's story orginailly came from Our Holy Book 'The Quarn' The holy Book of Islam ,it is a Quranic story like the Biblic Stories .In The Quran , Ayoub the Patient was a prophet and a good wise old man who God wanted to Test his faith and devotion by making him ill with a severe illness with no cure,that illness continued for years and years with no cure except by Ayoub's Patience and his Faith in God's Mercy.After his long Patience on illness , Ayoub was ordered by God to go to a water source and wash his body in it so that his body would be clean for any disease what so ever .This Quranic story was to show the Muslims that God always Tests humans to see how strong their devotion and faith ,and that the only way to pass these tests are by faith and Patience ...This is the Quranic Part .
here comes the Egyptian part of the tale ,there is a legend in the land of the pyramids saying that Ayoub the patient was an old good wise Egyptian man who lived in Egypt somewhere in Ariesh in Sinai (by the Egyptian-Palestinian borders) and that the water source mentioned is the Mediterranean sea
But as you see ,the Quran didn't mention any thing about the nationality of Ayoub or when he lived from near or far yet there is something more intersting
Everyyear hundreds of Simple Egyptian people across the country come to Ariesh in a speific day (I guess according the old ancient Egyptian calender ) to wash their bodies in the mediterranean for the hope of miracle to cure them from their diseases and illness,the story became a legend
And Ayoub became an example for patience in Egyptian Culture heritage and this is obvouis in the famous quota "Ya sabr Ayoub" 'oh Ayoub's Patience' ,it is said when you see a person who is so patient on his trouble ,or when you wait alot for something or someone
this time I will tell you what I think and my thoughts of where this legend came in the Egyptian culture heirtage.I think this legend or tale is based upon two parts or these two parts are major the reason behind Ayoub the Egyptian and they are interrelated to each other ,they are the religion and the socail culture
The religion Part ,Ayoub was a prophet as it was mentioned in the Quranic tale ,and Egypt is known by its host to the prophets like Ibraham ,Moses ,Jesus ,Joseph and other and that is why it is called the Prophet's land( we will have a long talk in this part sooon) ,so May be Ayoub the prophet had lived in Egypt yet it is not mentioned in Quran where he lived or when.He could have lived in Egypt and old ancient Egyptians knew about him and told their descendents and so on ,and in this case ,he probably had lived either in the ancient Egyptian Era at the time of Pharoahs or the roman copitic Egyptian Era at the time of romans and greeks . or may be he didn't come near to Egypt but People either believed he was egyptian for the mentioned above reason or they wanted to believe that he was an Egyptian for the coming below reason.
The Socail part ,May be the Egyptian people wanted a symbol for their famous egyptian patience ,a symbol that personifies the patience in its greatest shape ,so they chose Ayoub whether he lived in their land or not ,they chose him as he was mentioned in the Quran ,and for his great patience and devotion to God ,as the Egyptians are very religious too ,Every people on this earth has a hero ,a symbol for every characteristic it has
A question rises here ,why are the Egyptians so patient ?
The answer lays in history ,as you all know Egypt is the oldest and even some historians say it was the first ever nation that took Agriculture as a profession in the ancient times even before Iraq, and that goes to important factors the Nature as the Nile river and the human factor as the Egyptian .If you read the history of the professions and the location influence on the human ,you know that Agriculture and the rivers valleys increases the stabilization and security for any civil society this is number one ,also if you are familier with the Agriculture process you will know that the Patience has a key role if it hasn't the major role in this process .The farmer simply put the seed in the land ,gives it some water and waits for it to grow to become a crop ,as you see this is Patience ,from here the Egyptians learned to be patient ,they will wait and wait till they get what they want ,also this patience learned them to be peaceful for the same reason they get what they want and they know they will get for sure
yet their patience sometimes is translated in to passive act especailly when it comes to dictatorship system that had been ,and has been always ruling the land of nile since the pharoahs till God knows when The Egyptians don't look it at this way ,they think that they will be patient on the ruler as long as they are not humiliated or their living status is not affected economically in other words they rebel only by the hunger power,they will wait till either the ruler he dies or some miracle comes and take him off the throne of Rule and the history had ,has and will have a good example of what I am saying
yet the Egyptians are not patients as Patience has limits as Thuma said in her beautiful song ,as I said they lose their patience by the hunger power ,they lose their patience if they feel they are so humililated ,they lose their patience if they felt that their religions are being insulted ,as you see they will act as mideterrarian people in the end
Also an important fact ,Egyptians don't have any patience on any invaders and the examples are alot . the weakness points of our Patience are many see it as weakness ,especailly rulers who take for granted and stole the wealth and freedom of the people of the nile valley ,also this patience is sometitmes turned to surrender
The strength point is that you don't know when this patience ends and mostly the timing of the long sleep end is always surprising to the enemis and benefeticators ,the revolution of the egyptian people is just like big sleepy volcano that is errupted suddenly .
I leave you and tell you keep your eyes on Egypt this year 2005 as we will know if the patience turned to surrender or it has limits
Peace
