Roughly 25 percent of the world’s population is Muslim, spread across the majority of countries. These numbers are concentrated in the Arab world (where demographics show populations average 95 percent Muslim) and Asia, including all of Turkey, where 60 percent of the world’s Muslim population lives. Just over 200 of the 232 countries and territories that comprise the current geopolitical landscape are home to Muslims. [1]

You could circumscribe the globe by connecting all the countries in which a Muslim person resides. Think of an X-Men like cerebrum lighting dots on the globe, with different colors showing how widespread any faith is.  The second most abundant would represent those of the Islamic faith, first being all of the combined Christian faiths.  The sacred text for those of this faith is the Qur’an – the first edition was printed in Arabic during  the 8^th century CE and represented through a series of symbols the supposed correct pronunciation and recitation established by the prophet Mohammad.

In Cairo, I visited several of the historical mosques – each reflect the use of Arabic as linqua franca of the faith and the historical language of the country as well as even the history of Egypt in their architecture  According to Wordnet , Lingua Franca is properly defined as “a common language used by speakers of different languages” or an inter-language. The prophet spoke Arabic, not because he foresaw the need to have one text which could span the globe, but because Classical Arabic was the language of record of the political force of the time.

The very first mosque established in Cairo  – the Al Azhar mosque – is mash-up of the forces that controlled Egypt’s destiny, both prior to its being built in 970 CE and afterwards.  The original design reflected classical aspects of earlier Roman and Greek architecture and Coptic Christianity– and additions to the structure came from various sultanates and the Ottoman Empire.  Its minarets come from at least three different sultanates, the last added in the 1500 CE.  The Ottomans doubled the size of the area to pray in and gated the mosque on three sides (it is adjacent to the Khan El Khalili suq).

In many of  Cairo’s mosques, including the Ibn Toulun Mosque (completed just years after the Al Azhar) as well as the Mosque of Sultan al-Muayyad – a monumental mosque built from 1415-1422, Arabic is a design theme.  The Qu’ran’s text is incorporated into elaborate decoration, stone work and especially the mihrab, a semicircular space in the wall of a mosque which indicates Qibla – the direction to face when at prayer.

Seeing the sacred text as part of the design and worship, I begin to understand the allure of bringing back a lingua sanctus by Pope Benedict. Arabic,  as the language of the Qur’an,can unite people from Detroit, Khartoum and Jakarta under one faith umbrella.   Catholicism, though only one of the many Christian denominations, could stand on its own as the third largest religion, after Islam and Hinduism.  And, unlike the other two which continue to grow, neither it nor Christianity as a whole,  has a uniting language.  Vatican II may have brought religion to its people by eliminating an archaic barrier, but it also eliminated the common thread that could connect millions.

Items on display at Cairo’s Museum of Islamic Art range from the second Arab Caliphate, the Umayyads, an empire that spanned from France through Tajikistan, dipped into the Maghreb and ruled parts of Egypt in the 7^th and 8^th centuries to the Ottomans.  The collection is one of the largest in the world, with over 102,000 objects – make that 101, 199 objects for display – including rare manuscripts, a coin from c. 675 AD,  ceramics and lots of amazing woodwork.  Most of the art comes from Egypt, but elsewhere in the Arab World is also represented.

However, it is hard to walk away from the amazing collection without mixed feelings, especially in light of the current political situation in Egypt in terms of violence spurred by theological distinctions.  Despite the fact that the museum was co-curated by a leading Western authority – a designer from the Louvre’s Islamic Art department – there is still an agenda behind the narrative arc of the displays.  Religious art under Shia’a rulers is described as propaganda, while Sunni art is art.  Tempting nuggets are thrown out but not fully expanded on to make complete ideas.  Apparently, at some point the major ceramic centers of the caliphates decided to stop using the color red.  This was noted but not explained (kind of like the red sails on boats here in Cairo, I still don’t know what that means.)  Also, as Islam grows, the depiction of people lessens.  This is actually, according to the notes for the exhibit, apparently because of a Persian trend.

One of the relics the museum should have is a shard of pottery, depicting Jesus.  In a sad irony, given that last week, 12 people died in religiously inspired riots between Muslims and Copts, that this is the one shard in the display that was not available.  The Museum reflects no only Egypts past in Pan Arab world, but all too clearly the present conflicts in this society.

In ancient Giza, located on a plateau facing a temporary city filled with what National Geographic describes as “skilled, well fed workers,” the pharaohs built a complex to serve as a timeless shrine to their civilization.   The Pyramids and the Sphinx have lasted as just that, as building began over 4500 years ago, or roughly 2500 BCE. Continue reading “Road To Cairo” →

Check out Foreign Policy’s slideshow on Egypt when it was Club Med in the 1930s towards mid 20th century, and then think of the beaches now, with their burq’inis and such. Out of cultural respect, I don’t have any pictures of current Egyptian women on the beach, just a sign prohibiting burqas in the pool.

On a lighter note – We woke up Friday morning – the first day of a three day weekend! – and all the clocks set to automatically update had moved ahead an hour.  I thought it was 7, yet my iPhone and iPad both said it was 8 am. Had the clocks moved a head or not?  Looking online also showed a split – Timeanddate.com showed one time, worldtimezone.com another.  At some time between 9 am and 10 am, we finally got Al Ahram (read the editorials, I am fascinated by their insight in the Obama administration’s foreign policy) and the word not to set our clocks ahead the previous night.