آه لو رأيت حقول قصب السكر العالي أو زهر الكتان في الوانه الأزرق والبنفسجي، لو رأيت الأطفال يجمعون القطن في جيوب صنعوها من جلابيبهم كجيوب الكنغر، لو رأيت اشجار الصفصاف العتيقة وشعورها مدلاة في القنوات الجارية، والرهبان عائدين إلى صوامعهم في الأديرة، ونداء المؤذن يرتفع عالياً في السماء الضاربة إلى الاحمرار ساعة المغرب، فهذه أرض يتجلى فيها الله بلا انقطاع

The building is rather like a medieval Castle and was established in the Sixth Century and soon afterwards, as the Moslem armies advanced Westwards from the Arabian Peninsula, somebody had the prescience to build a small Mosque in its courtyard to guard against it being burned or demolished. At the time of the Crusades it was the turn of the Monastery to protect the Mosque, and so it has been down the ages, each House of God extending its shelter to the other as opposing armies came and went.

مصر أم الحضارة، تخلق نفسها في الحلم عبر القرون. تحملنا كلنا، أبناءها: الذين يبقون ويعملون من أجلها ويشكون منها، والذين يرحلون ويشتاقون لها ويلومونها بمرارة على مغادرتها

And so the very thing that should make Egypt strong - the richness and diversity of her culture - serves to divide her and make her weak.

And Egypt ? What is Egypt strenght?her resilience ?her ability to absorb poeple and events into the pores of her being? is that true or is it just a consolation ? a shifting of responsibility? and if it is true , how much can she absorb and still remain Egypt ?

I haven't come to you only to take , I haven't come to you empty handed : I bring you poetry as great as yours but in anther tongue , I bring you black eyes and golden skin and curly hair , I bring you Islam and Luxor and Alexandria and Lutes and tambourines and date-palms and silk rugs and sunshine and incense and voluptuous ways

What's twenty years, fifty years in the life of Egypt? As long as some of us hold on and do what we can.

But she was not able to bring him peace of mind. It was as though he was angry that his happy private life should exist within the public circumstances that he hated. Or as though he longed that his personal happiness should extend to encompass all of Egypt.

And Egypt?What is Egypt's strength? Her resilience? Her ability to Her ability to absorb people and events into the pores of her being? Is that true or is it just a consolation? A shifting of responsibility? And if it is true, how much can she absorb and still remain Egypt?