At the Citadel of Salahuddin

The Mother of Civilisation

Many of my childhood friends have started their journey on being our guiding lights in these dark times. I have always looked up to how selfless they were in choosing the path to be an ‘Alim or learned one. After a couple years, I decided to travel to one of the places where these scholars travel to search for the truth.

Established in the 10th century as a madrasa or religious school, Al-Azhar has served as one of the oldest center for knowledge and scholarship in the Islamic world. As a child I was always in awe of the Islamic world. I used to read about the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the Sultans of the Ottoman world and the many scientists and mathematicians carrying the light of knowledge for humanity.

I may be rambling, but this was the context of my travels. I travel with these ideas in mind and my perspectives were influenced by my days reading about such places. Now, back to the modern day.

Expectations versus reality

In the middle of March 2017, I flew for the first time in my life, out of Asia and into one of the most ancient cities still in existence, Cairo. I don’t consider myself a seasoned traveler, but I made the mistake of assuming I’ve seen it all. I’ve been harassed by folks in Ho Chi Minh, ripped-off by street vendors in Bangkok and got ill eating bad food in rural Indonesia.

Hordes of taxi drivers immediately surrounded me as I exited the baggage claim. They were offering their “modest” fees of around USD $60 to get to the city center (It should be less than $12 by Uber or Careem).  I wasn’t that desperate though, and haggled the price down to a more manageable $20 (still very overpriced).

Really enjoying the aesthetic of this city

I spent my first day just enjoying a cup of tea by the street side watching the people go about their day. I spent the first few days doing typical touristy stuff. Had dinner with some folks I met at the hostel (which I should mention are almost empty at this time of the year and I always got an upgrade to a private room).

Panorama from the citadel

Pyramids, Sphinx, Citadels, Mosques, Nile River cruises, the works. I’ll be honest, I was quite stunned to see the massive scale of the pyramids; something I only saw in pictures. However, that left quickly when, unfairly and ignorantly so, I just felt that they were just a pile of rocks (oops 🤭).

Pyramids

At this point I was getting sick of Cairo because 70% of my experience so far has been constantly battling off locals trying to take my money. I did get some good Arabic practice interacting with shopkeepers and taxi drivers, but the Egyptian dialect here makes whatever poor grasp of Modern Standard Arabic I had quite unworkable.

Coincidentally, the Mufti of Singapore was visiting students during my visit too

Things turned around when I finally went ahead and met my childhood friends. I stayed at their place in the middle of Hayyu Sabii’, or the seventh district. They showed me around and talked a lot about everything. Their daily lives, things to know about living in Egypt and basic colloquial vocabulary. Perhaps it was simply their company that I needed, friends I grew up with mending the homesickness that was lurking as the foreign environment pushed me away.

By the seaside in Alexandria

I found it rather unfortunate, that in a university that teaches students from all over the world, there are still cliques and segregation. Everyone sticks to who they know, and there’s very little, if any, mixing and getting to know one another going around between the different ethnic groups. As an outsider, I could only observe. A friend told me that the cultures simply clashed, and nothing good would come of mixing around. The vibe I got was that of hostility. Perhaps my judgement may be completely off, in any case, I’ve only described my experience.

Sign says Al-Qahirah

Last night in Egypt before leaving