Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-01
EGYPT's GREAT UNIVERSITY
The Gamia Ell Azhar of Cairo q
Twelfth Century Oxford.
ton Fyfe. in London Nail.

II. Hamilton Fyfe. in London Mail.
Ell Azhar is a fascinating place to WIS.,
II. 1t is a kind Of twelfth-century OK
ford. When YOU step over the raised
threshold. having put on big overshoes
to enter the holy place. you leave the
present day behind. You see first of all
very large open air court full Of squat
ting figures in turbans and flowing robes.
Some are reading. generally with the
swaying motion OF the body. Some are
talking. Some are grouped around an
aim Cprofessor) making notes of his dis
course. Some are eating. Some are
asleep. The court is hot in the sun
shine. You are dazzled as you look up
to the slender minarets. OF which every
graceful detail is sharp against the
around under the colonnades. where
classes of children are sitting cross-leg-
ged on the ground, their bright eyes
wandering to us strangers, while they
drone mechanically the lesson OF the
day. And you are Rladder still to pass
into another court. covered and cool. and
equally full OF students, among whom
you must pick your apologetic waN
treading gingery between the groups.
There is much that is admirable about
this ancient university, whose records go
back to the century before William the
Conqueror crossed the English channel
Rich and poor Iningle in its courts. Few
faithful Moslems fail to mention it In
their wills, so 1t has ample funds for the
needy. The life is very simple. The
sight of Undergraduates mending their
clothes in public is quite common. Their
usual meal consists of q bowl Of lentil
soup with cake OF maize bread, lit
tie garlic. or a handful OF dates. IT is,
indeed. what Oxford once was-a place
OF scholarship. All the 10000 students
have desire to learn. That is the only
reason OF their being there.
But nat"rsl' y the new spirit is lltte
lied Egyptian is openly dsrisive. but
then he has generally lost his faith in
Islam altogether. Even the faithful are
beginning to see that Arab was right.
Because they are better taught" Why
are the Syrians, he might have asked
equally, so successful in Egypt? Because
in Syria there are 8o-ahead American
schools. There has sprung UP in Egypt,
therefore. a real demand for education.
peanized effendim in Cairo, who severely
criticise the absence of real univer-
sity In the capital. to the donkey boys
at small places on the Nile. who visit
fully ask if the tourist can give them
"Inglees book
This is a. striking change from the at
titude of the Egyptians toward education
when Mehemet Ali some eighty years ago
tried to impose ii upon them This able
ruler only learned to read himself at the
age of forty-five. He resolved that every
one ought to do likewise. He established
schools. Parents declined to send their
children to them. He did all he could
both to force and to persuade them.
Small boys were taken to their classes
in chains. Others were paid to go. But
he could not arouse any enthusiasm. He
died. His schools were abandoned. Con-
tented Ignorance reigned as before. 1t
continued to reign until recent years.
Then it gave way to desire for eduea-
ton as a means OF getting on.
1t is not in the Egyptian character to
desire knowledge for it's own sake. or
course there are exceptions to whom this
does not apply. There are a certain num-
Der OF patriotic Egyptians who honestly
feel that it is due to their cOuntry's po-
sition to improve education. There are
in addition many Moslems who say with
Arab: Let be educated and the
boasted supremacy of the Christians will
disappear. But, speaking generally, one
springs from the belief that it is help
toward making a better living. The
well-to-do Egyptian. loving routine and
fea ring responsibility looks upon work in
government Office at a fixed salary and
with automatic functions as an ideal oc-
cupation The peasant feels that his
sons will earn more money by running
behind tourists donkeys or giving them
inaccurate information about monuments
than they could if they remained peas
ants. Hence arises the desire for teach
ing that will enable boys to pass exam
nations, and especially for instruction
i'm English, which will make them use
full both to the pleasure pilgrim and to
the British official