The Renaissance Spirit

By

Tarek Heggy

I must confess I have dozens of habits (all one way or another related to reading) that I can only justify as being driven by nostalgia. One of these habits is to return again and yet again to four favorite works: Ahmed Shawki's poem about Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed on the occasion of the latter's translation of one of Aristotle's books; the book itself: Politics by Aristotle (the translated version by Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed); the third part of "The Wednesday Talks" by Taha Hussein which contains an article discussing the said three works (Shawki's poem, Aristotle's book, and Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed); and finally, "The Story Of My Life" by Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed, published in 1962 on the occasion of the venerable professor's ninetieth birthday (he was born on January 15th, 1872).

My motives for this are twofold, and they are both related to nostalgia. The first is my infatuation with the works of Aristotle, Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed and Taha Hussein; the second is my fascination with that specific period in history (the Twenties of the last century), when Egypt's leading intellectuals avidly pursued their dream of modernization and enlightenment, with a keenness equaled only by their passion for the Renaissance and for the civilization of ancient Greece. Whenever Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed would translate some of the writings of Aristotle, Taha Hussein would translate yet another of Aristotle's works as well as those of some of the great Greek playwrights. It was also during this period that Abdel Aziz Fahmy translated Justinian's Roman code, which forms the basis for the French legal system, indisputably the greatest in the world.

In spite of my repeated forays into these great works, every single visit to these sumptuous "Museums of the Mind" reveals new treasures to sample. A few days ago, I was re-reading Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed's memoirs, specifically the part where he describes his appointment as Minister of Education (June 1928), and was struck by a statement stunning in its wisdom and its depth, where he writes: "Gustav Le Bon has said that the Romans during their age of decadence were more intelligent than their austere forbears; however, they lacked the essential moral attributes such as patience, willpower, dedication, self-sacrifice and respect for law and order, all of which were behind the greatness of their forefathers."

My own experience in life, and I stress "in life" and not that which I have acquired from books, has led me to the conclusion that what we define as "progress" is achieved only when these moral characteristics prevail in a society (and needless to say, in its leaders). Conversely, backwardness is the outcome of the absence of these moral attributes, even with the presence of a large segment of intelligent, well-educated people. A real move forward, or renaissance, is never achieved by intelligence or knowledge alone, but rather through the moral attributes so aptly described by Gustav Le Bon.

The preoccupation of some of us with fixing "frameworks", "systems", "mechanisms", "policies" and the like is indeed a noble cause, for in our current state of affairs, these are in desperate need of improvement and are in fact rife with the elements of stagnation and failure rather than those of movement and success. But this reformation, as it were, while important, can never be enough to achieve the desired objectives. What we really need is a dedicated task force heading our legislative and executive affairs; a team of tens or even hundreds of people with the essential moral qualities that Gustav Le Bon penned so astutely and Ahmed Loutfy El Sayed stressed upon so insistently: patience, willpower, dedication, self-sacrifice, and respect for law and order, all essential moral attributes that Gustav Le Bon pronounced, "the secret of the greatness of their forefathers".

Aly Ibn Abi Taleb (Peace Be Upon Him) says: "Energy and determination can revive a nation", and the reader can easily link these wise words with those of Gustav Le Bon and see how they both lead to the same conclusion: it is the sound moral fiber of a nation that propels it forward.