Ancient Mummies Come to Life

Public Domain, "Rest on the Flight into Egypt", Luc-Olivier Merson, 1880

Egyptians were not Arab. Thousands of years before the advent of Islam, the original Egyptians were African. As we hear cries of revolution in Egypt, I get an eerie sense that it is Egypt’s ancient past which is crying for freedom. For hundreds of years Islam and the Arab culture has dominated Egypt. The Arab culture has dominated the land so much that modern day Egyptians actually look more Arab than Egyptian.

There was a time when Alexandria was the hub of knowledge. There was a time when Egypt welcomed the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, when he was a baby. Christians are not welcomed anymore. Just a few months ago a bomb was sent off that killed over a dozen Coptic Christians in front of their Church. Extremists have always oppressed minority groups in the land of the Pharaohs. During the swine flu epidemic thousands of pigs were slaughtered by Egyptian authorities because they ignorantly believed that the virus was spread by pigs.

I can’t help to think that in addition to rampant unemployment, the youth of Egypt are fed up with the oppressive system which has existed for the past three decades. The youth of Egypt are sick and tired of having an Egypt mired in ignorance and intolerance. May Mubarak get lost and hopefully Egypt becomes the great beacon of scholarship it was known for.