Read at the Swedish Academy by Mr.
Mohamed Salmawy
(first in Arabic, then in English)
(Translation)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
To begin with I would like to thank the Swedish Academy and its Nobel
committee for taking notice of my long and perseverant endeavours, and
I would like you to accept my talk with tolerance. For it comes in a language
unknown to many of you. But it is the real winner of the prize. It is,
therefore, meant that its melodies should float for the first time into
your oasis of culture and civilization. I forced - free sex Nobel fantasy Naguib Mahfouz - ������ Nobel Mahfouz Naguib ��� �������� ������� Mahfouz Rio ������ - KIA �� Nobel Naguib have great hopes that this will
not be the last time either, and that literary writers of my nation will
have the pleasure to sit with full merit amongst your international writers
who have spread the fragrance of joy and wisdom in this grief-ridden world
of ours.
I was told by a foreign correspondent in Cairo that the moment my name
was mentioned in connection with the prize silence fell, and many wondered
who I was. Permit me, then, to present myself in as objective a manner
as is humanly possible. I am the son of two civilizations that at a certain
age in history have formed a happy marriage. The first of these, seven
thousand years old, is the Pharaonic civilization; the second, one thousand
four hundred years old, is the Islamic one. I am perhaps in no need to
introduce to any of you either of the two, you being the elite, the learned
ones. But there is no harm, in our present situation of acquaintance and
communion, in a mere reminder.
As for Pharaonic civilization I will not talk of the conquests and the
building of empires. This has become a worn out pride the mention of which
modern conscience, thank God, feels uneasy about. Nor will I talk about
how it was guided for the first time to the existence of God and its ushering
in the dawn of human conscience. This is a long history and there is not
one of you who is not acquainted with the prophet-king Akhenaton. I will
not even speak of this civilization's achievements in art and literature,
and its renowned miracles: the Pyramids and the Sphinx and Karnak. For
he who has not had the chance to see these monuments has read about them
and pondered over their forms.
Let me, then, introduce Pharaonic civilization with what seems like a
story since my personal circumstances have ordained that I become a storyteller.
Hear, then, this recorded historical incident: Old papyri relate that
Pharaoh had learned of the existence of a sinful relation between some
women of the harem and men of his court. It was expected that he should
finish them off in accordance with the spirit of his time. But he, instead,
called to his presence the choice men of law and asked them to investigate
what he has come to learn. He told them that he wanted the Truth so that
he could pass his sentence with Justice.
This conduct, in my opinion, is greater than founding an empire or building
the Pyramids. It is more telling of the superiority of that civilization
than any riches or splendour. Gone now is that civilization - a mere story
of the past. One day the great Pyramid will disappear too. But Truth and
Justice will remain for as long as Mankind has a ruminative mind and a
living conscience.
As for Islamic civilization I will not talk about its call for the establishment
of a union between all Mankind under the guardianship of the Creator,
based on freedom, equality and forgiveness. Nor will I talk about the
greatness of its prophet. For among your thinkers there are those who
regard him the greatest man in history. I will not talk of its conquests
which have planted thousands of minarets calling for worship, devoutness
and good throughout great expanses of land from the environs of India
and China to the boundaries of France. Nor will I talk of the fraternity
between religions and races that has been achieved in its embrace in a
spirit of tolerance unknown to Mankind neither before nor since.
I will, instead, introduce that civilization in a moving dramatic situation
summarizing one of its most conspicuous traits: In one victorious battle
against Byzantium it has given back its prisoners of war in return for
a number of books of the ancient Greek heritage in philosophy, medicine
and mathematics. This is a testimony of value for the human spirit in
its demand for knowledge, even though the demander was a believer in God
and the demanded a fruit of a pagan civilization.
It was my fate, ladies and gentlemen, to be born in the lap of these two
civilizations, and to absorb their milk, to feed on their literature and
art. Then I drank the nectar of your rich and fascinating culture. From
the inspiration of all this - as well as my own anxieties - words bedewed
from me. These words had the fortune to merit the appreciation of your
revered Academy which has crowned my endeavour with the great Nobel Prize.
Thanks be to it in my name and in the name of those great departed builders
who have founded the two civilizations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You may be wondering: This man coming from the third world, how did he
find the peace of mind to write stories? You are perfectly right. I come
from a world labouring under the burden of debts whose paying back exposes
it to starvation or very close to it. Some of its people perish in Asia
from floods, others do so in Africa from famine. In South Africa millions
have been undone with rejection and with deprivation of all human rights
in the age of human rights, as though they were not counted among humans.
In the West Bank and Gaza there are people who are lost in spite of the
fact that they are living on their own land; land of their fathers, grandfathers
and great grandfathers. They have risen to demand the first right secured
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by others as their own. They were paid back for their brave and noble
move - men, women, youths and children alike - by the breaking of bones,
killing with bullets, destroying of houses and torture in prisons and
camps. Surrounding them are 150 million Arabs following what is happening
in anger and grief. This threatens the area with a disaster if it is not
saved by the wisdom of those desirous of a just and comprehensive peace.
Yes, how did the man coming from the Third World find the peace of mind
to write stories? Fortunately, art is generous and sympathetic. In the
same way that it dwells with the happy ones it does not desert the wretched.
It offers both alike the convenient means for expressing what swells up
in their bosom.
In this decisive moment in the history of civilization it is inconceivable
and unacceptable that the moans of Mankind should die out in the void.
There is no doubt that Mankind has at last come of age, and our era carries
the expectations of entente between the Super Powers. The human
mind now assumes the task of eliminating all causes of destruction and
annihilation. And just as scientists exert themselves to cleanse the environment
of industrial pollution, intellectuals ought to exert themselves to cleanse
humanity of moral pollution. It is both our right and duty to demand of
the big leaders in the countries of civilization as well as their economists
to affect a real leap that would place them into the focus of the age.
In the olden times every leader worked for the good of his own nation
alone. The others were considered adversaries, or subjects of exploitation.
There was no regard to any value but that of superiority and personal
glory. For the sake of this, many morals, ideals and values were wasted;
many unethical means were justified; many uncounted souls were made to
perish. Lies, deceit, treachery, cruelty reigned as the signs of sagacity
and the proof of greatness. Today, this view needs to be changed from
its very source. Today, the greatness of a civilized leader ought to be
measured by the universality of his vision and his sense of responsibility
towards all humankind. The developed world and the Third World are but
one family. Each human being bears responsibility towards it by the degree
of what he has obtained of knowledge, wisdom, and civilization. I would
not be exceeding the limits of my duty if I told thom in the name of the
Third World: Be not spectators to our miseries. You have to play therein
a noble role befitting your status. From your position of superiority
you are responsible for any misdirection of animal, or plant, to say nothing
of Man, in any of the four corners of the world. We have had enough of
words. Now is the time for action. It is time to end the age of brigands
and usurers. We are in the age of leaders responsible for the whole globe.
Save the enslaved in the African south! Save the famished in Africa! Save
the Palestinians from the bullets and the torture! Nay, save the Israelis
from profaning their great spiritual heritage! Save the ones in debt from
the rigid laws of economy! Draw their attention to the fact that their
responsibility to Mankind should precede their commitment to the laws
of a science that Time has perhaps overtaken.
I beg your pardon, ladies and gentlemen, I feel I may have somewhat troubled
your calm. But what do you expect from one coming from the Third World?
Is not every vessel coloured by what it contains? Besides, where can the
moans of Mankind find a place to resound if not in your oasis of civilization
planted by its great founder for the service of science, literature and
sublime human values? And as he did one day by consecrating his riches
to the service of good, in the hope of obtaining forgiveness, we, children
of the Third World, demand of the able ones, the civilized ones, to follow
his example, to imbibe his conduct, to meditate upon his vision.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In spite of all what goes on around us I am committed to optimism until
the end. I do not say with Kant that Good will be victorious in the other
world. Good is achieving victory every day. It may even be that Evil is
weaker than we imagine. In front of us is an indelible proof: were it
not for the fact that victory is always on the side of Good, hordes of
wandering humans would not have been able in the face of beasts and insects,
natural disasters, fear and egotism, to grow and multiply. They would
not have been able to form nations, to excel in creativeness and invention,
to conquer outer space, and to declare Human Rights. The truth of the
matter is that Evil is a loud and boisterous debaucherer, and that Man
remembers what hurts more than what pleases. Our great poet Abul-'Alaa'
Al-Ma'ari was right when he said:
"A grief at the hour of death
Is more than a hundred-fold
Joy at the hour of birth."
I finally reiterate my thanks and ask your forgiveness.
Translated by Mohammed Salmawy.