Sawiris’s proposal to drop ‘Arab’ from Egypt’s name sparks debate

“I am Egyptian first and Arab second… There is no dispute over our Arabism and therefore, there is no need to add it because it is our language and unites us all.”

Egyptian businessperson Naguib Sawiris caused controversy on social media platform X due to his standpoint, which some accepted and others rejected.

Rai Al-Youm polled the opinions of a number of intellectuals about Sawiris’s stance, reporting its findings.

Leading poet Ahmed Abdel Muti Hijazi considers that Egypt without Arab would have been enough, but since the adjective was added, if removed, would appear as a stance against Arabs, Arab culture and Arab civilisation.

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The great poet Abdel Moneim Ramadan expressed his denunciation of such calls at this critical time, especially with events in Gaza: “Is this a way to evade inherited and imposed duties that we must not abandon, especially since Gaza is threatened all the time?”

Ramadan asserts that the call to deny Arabism seems like a prelude to evading the duties that Egypt is carrying out with the Arabs of Palestine and Gaza.

Dr Mamdouh Hamza views Sawiris’s post as a mockery, remarking: “Yes, we should add American or Zionist instead of Arab.”

On the other hand, poet Abbas Mansour agrees with the viewpoint, stressing that most Arab countries do not have the word Arab in their names.

In the same context, Dr Ahmed Salem, professor of Philosophy at Tanta University, deems that Naguib’s words imply a love for Egypt, noting that this glorifies an entire Egyptian nationalism trend, headed by Ahmed Lotfy El-Sayed, Amin El-Kholi and Salama Moussa, who publish Al-Masry magazine. The trend glorifies Egypt, its civilisation and nationalism and believes that Egypt comes before the Arabs and the Islamic presence on its land.

Sawiris’s call drew mixed reactions, with some praising his nobility and others accusing him of sectarian bias revealed in his remarks.

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