حِوَارٌ مَعَ الْمُؤَرِّخِ وَخَبِيرِ الْآثَارِ وَالتُّرَاثِ الْأُسْتَاذِ الدُّكْتُورِ مُحَمَّدِ حَمْزَةَ إِسْمَاعِيلَ الْحَدَّادِ
Egyptology from Ancient to Modern Times
A Conversation with Professor Mohamed Hamza Ismail Al Haddad
The Dr. Ali Zohery Podcast Weekly
الْمَجَلَّةُ الرَّقْمِيَّةُ وَأَرْشِيفُ بُودْكَاسْتِ الدُّكْتُورِ عَلِيٍّ الزُّهَيْرِيِّ
الْعَدَدُ الثَّانِي
عِلْمُ الْمِصْرِيَّاتِ مِنَ الْعُصُورِ الْقَدِيمَةِ إِلَى الْحَدِيثَةِ
حِوَارٌ مَعَ الْمُؤَرِّخِ وَخَبِيرِ الْآثَارِ وَالتُّرَاثِ الْأُسْتَاذِ الدُّكْتُورِ مُحَمَّدِ حَمْزَةَ إِسْمَاعِيلَ الْحَدَّادِ
Egyptology from Ancient to Modern Times
A Conversation with Professor Mohamed Hamza Ismail Al Haddad
Watch the complete episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fxYbG-x0pD4
إِعْدَادُ هَيْئَةِ تَحْرِيرِ بُودْكَاسْتِ الدُّكْتُورِ عَلِيٍّ الزُّهَيْرِيِّ
مُلَخَّصُ الْحَلْقَةِ
يَسْتَضِيفُ الدُّكْتُورُ عَلِيٌّ الزُّهَيْرِيُّ فِي الْعَدَدِ الثَّانِي مِنَ الْمَجَلَّةِ الرَّقْمِيَّةِ وَأَرْشِيفِ بُودْكَاسْتِ الدُّكْتُورِ عَلِيٍّ الزُّهَيْرِيِّ الْأُسْتَاذَ الدُّكْتُورَ مُحَمَّدَ حَمْزَةَ إِسْمَاعِيلَ الْحَدَّادَ، أُسْتَاذَ الْآثَارِ وَالْحَضَارَةِ الْإِسْلَامِيَّةِ وَالْعَمِيدَ الْأَسْبَقَ لِكُلِّيَّةِ الْآثَارِ بِجَامِعَةِ الْقَاهِرَةِ. وَيَقُودُ الْحِوَارُ الْمُشَاهِدَ فِي رِحْلَةٍ عَبْرَ تَارِيخِ مِصْرَ الْمُتَرَاكِمِ، مِنْ آثَارِهَا الْقَدِيمَةِ إِلَى تُرَاثِهَا الْقِبْطِيِّ وَالْإِسْلَامِيِّ وَالْحَدِيثِ.
لَا تَقِفُ الْحَلْقَةُ عِنْدَ وَصْفِ الْمَبَانِي وَالْمُقْتَنَيَاتِ، بَلْ تَسْأَلُ عَنْ مَعْنَى الْحَضَارَةِ، وَعَنْ عِلَاقَةِ الْأَثَرِ بِالْهُوِيَّةِ، وَعَنْ مَسْؤُولِيَّةِ الْجَامِعَاتِ وَالْمُؤَسَّسَاتِ وَالْمُجْتَمَعِ فِي حِفْظِ التُّرَاثِ. وَتُبَيِّنُ أَنَّ دِرَاسَةَ مِصْرَ تَحْتَاجُ إِلَى نَظْرَةٍ شَامِلَةٍ تَرَى التَّوَاصُلَ بَيْنَ الْعُصُورِ، وَلَا تَعْزِلُ مَرْحَلَةً عَمَّا سَبَقَهَا أَوْ لَحِقَهَا.
الضَّيْفُ وَمَسِيرَتُهُ الْعِلْمِيَّةُ
يَنْتَمِي الدُّكْتُورُ مُحَمَّدُ حَمْزَةَ الْحَدَّادُ إِلَى مَدْرَسَةٍ عِلْمِيَّةٍ تَجْمَعُ بَيْنَ الدِّرَاسَةِ الْأَكَادِيمِيَّةِ وَالْخِبْرَةِ الْمَيْدَانِيَّةِ وَالْعَمَلِ الْمُؤَسَّسِيِّ. فَقَدْ شَغَلَ مَوَاقِعَ عِلْمِيَّةً وَإِدَارِيَّةً فِي كُلِّيَّةِ الْآثَارِ بِجَامِعَةِ الْقَاهِرَةِ، وَشَارَكَ فِي الْبَحْثِ وَالتَّدْرِيسِ وَمُنَاقَشَةِ قَضَايَا الْحِفَاظِ عَلَى التُّرَاثِ. وَتُظْهِرُ الْحَلْقَةُ كَيْفَ يَتَكَوَّنُ الْعَالِمُ مِنْ قِرَاءَةٍ مُنَظَّمَةٍ، وَمُعَايَنَةٍ لِلْأَثَرِ، وَتَوَاصُلٍ مَعَ الْمُتَخَصِّصِينَ فِي مَجَالَاتٍ مُخْتَلِفَةٍ.
وَيَحْضُرُ فِي الْحِوَارِ أَثَرُ الْمُعَلِّمِ وَالْجَامِعَةِ وَالْمَكْتَبَةِ وَالْمَوْقِعِ الْأَثَرِيِّ فِي صُنْعِ الْبَاحِثِ. فَالْمَعْرِفَةُ الْأَثَرِيَّةُ لَا تُبْنَى عَلَى الِانْبِهَارِ وَحْدَهُ، بَلْ عَلَى التَّوْثِيقِ وَالْمُقَارَنَةِ وَفَهْمِ السِّيَاقِ التَّارِيخِيِّ وَالْمِعْمَارِيِّ. وَمِنْ هُنَا تَظْهَرُ قِيمَةُ الْمَسِيرَةِ الَّتِي تَجْمَعُ بَيْنَ التَّخَصُّصِ الدَّقِيقِ وَالرُّؤْيَةِ الْحَضَارِيَّةِ الْوَاسِعَةِ.
مِصْرُ حَضَارَةٌ مُتَّصِلَةٌ لَا جُزُرٌ مُنْفَصِلَةٌ
مِنْ أَهَمِّ أَفْكَارِ الْحَلْقَةِ أَنَّ تَارِيخَ مِصْرَ لَا يَنْبَغِي أَنْ يُقْرَأَ عَلَى أَنَّهُ مَجْمُوعَةٌ مِنَ الْجُزُرِ الْمُنْفَصِلَةِ. فَالْمِصْرِيُّ الَّذِي بَنَى وَأَبْدَعَ فِي الْعَصْرِ الْقَدِيمِ هُوَ امْتِدَادٌ لِمُجْتَمَعٍ وَاصَلَ الْحَيَاةَ وَالْإِنْتَاجَ فِي الْعُصُورِ الْيُونَانِيَّةِ وَالرُّومَانِيَّةِ وَالْقِبْطِيَّةِ وَالْإِسْلَامِيَّةِ وَالْحَدِيثَةِ. وَقَدْ تَغَيَّرَتِ اللُّغَاتُ وَالْأَدْيَانُ وَأَشْكَالُ السُّلْطَةِ، وَلَكِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ وَالْمَكَانَ وَالذَّاكِرَةَ ظَلَّتْ تَنْسُجُ خَيْطًا مُتَّصِلًا.
هَذِهِ النَّظْرَةُ لَا تُذِيبُ خُصُوصِيَّةَ كُلِّ عَصْرٍ، بَلْ تَضَعُهَا دَاخِلَ صُورَةٍ أَكْبَرَ. فَالْعِمَارَةُ الْإِسْلَامِيَّةُ فِي مِصْرَ، عَلَى سَبِيلِ الْمِثَالِ، لَهَا نُظُمُهَا وَمُفْرَدَاتُهَا وَوَظَائِفُهَا، وَلَكِنَّهَا نَشَأَتْ فِي بِيئَةٍ مِصْرِيَّةٍ لَهَا مَوَارِدُهَا وَحِرَفُهَا وَذَوْقُهَا وَتَجْرِبَتُهَا الْمُتَرَاكِمَةُ. وَفَهْمُ هَذَا التَّدَاخُلِ يُحَرِّرُ دِرَاسَةَ التَّارِيخِ مِنَ التَّبْسِيطِ، وَيَجْعَلُ التُّرَاثَ جُزْءًا مِنْ سِيرَةِ مُجْتَمَعٍ حَيٍّ.
مَاذَا نَعْنِي بِعِلْمِ الْمِصْرِيَّاتِ
يَطْرَحُ عُنْوَانُ الْحَلْقَةِ سُؤَالًا مُهِمًّا حَوْلَ حُدُودِ عِلْمِ الْمِصْرِيَّاتِ. فِي الِاسْتِخْدَامِ الْأَكَادِيمِيِّ الشَّائِعِ، يَرْتَبِطُ الْمُصْطَلَحُ فِي الْغَالِبِ بِدِرَاسَةِ مِصْرَ الْقَدِيمَةِ وَلُغَاتِهَا وَآثَارِهَا. غَيْرَ أَنَّ فَهْمَ مِصْرَ كَوَطَنٍ وَحَضَارَةٍ يَفْرِضُ حِوَارًا بَيْنَ تَخَصُّصَاتِ الْآثَارِ الْمِصْرِيَّةِ وَالْيُونَانِيَّةِ وَالرُّومَانِيَّةِ وَالْقِبْطِيَّةِ وَالْإِسْلَامِيَّةِ، إِلَى جَانِبِ التَّارِيخِ وَالْعِمَارَةِ وَالْفُنُونِ وَالْأَنْثُرُوبُولُوجِيَا.
وَالْمَقْصُودُ لَيْسَ إِلْغَاءَ الْحُدُودِ الْعِلْمِيَّةِ بَيْنَ التَّخَصُّصَاتِ، بَلْ بِنَاءُ جُسُورٍ بَيْنَهَا. فَقَدْ تَكْشِفُ دِرَاسَةُ مَدِينَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ عَنْ طَبَقَاتٍ مُتَعَاقِبَةٍ مِنَ الِاسْتِخْدَامِ وَالْعِمَارَةِ وَالذَّاكِرَةِ. وَحِينَ يَتَعَاوَنُ الْمُتَخَصِّصُونَ، يُصْبِحُ بِالْإِمْكَانِ تَقْدِيمُ تَفْسِيرٍ أَدَقَّ لِلْمَوْقِعِ، وَوَضْعُ خُطَّةٍ أَفْضَلَ لِحِفْظِهِ وَتَقْدِيمِهِ لِلْجُمْهُورِ.
الْقَاهِرَةُ الْإِسْلَامِيَّةُ كِتَابٌ مَفْتُوحٌ
تَحْتَلُّ الْقَاهِرَةُ مَكَانًا مَرْكَزِيًّا فِي الْحِوَارِ؛ فَهِيَ مَدِينَةٌ تَحْمِلُ فِي شَوَارِعِهَا وَمَسَاجِدِهَا وَمَدَارِسِهَا وَأَسْوَاقِهَا وَبُيُوتِهَا شَهَادَاتٍ عَلَى قُرُونٍ مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ. وَالْمَبْنَى الْأَثَرِيُّ فِيهَا لَيْسَ وَاجِهَةً جَمِيلَةً فَقَطْ؛ إِنَّهُ وَثِيقَةٌ تَكْشِفُ عَنِ الْعَقِيدَةِ وَالْوَظِيفَةِ وَالْفَنِّ وَالِاقْتِصَادِ وَعَلَاقَاتِ السُّلْطَةِ وَالْمُجْتَمَعِ فِي زَمَنِهِ.
وَتَدْعُو الْحَلْقَةُ إِلَى قِرَاءَةِ الْمَدِينَةِ مِنَ الدَّاخِلِ: كَيْفَ كَانَ النَّاسُ يَتَحَرَّكُونَ فِي شَوَارِعِهَا؟ وَكَيْفَ خَدَمَتِ الْمَدْرَسَةُ وَالسَّبِيلُ وَالْوِكَالَةُ وَالْحَمَّامُ وَالْمَسْجِدُ حَيَاةَ الْمُجْتَمَعِ؟ وَكَيْفَ تَفَاعَلَتِ الْعِمَارَةُ مَعَ الْمُنَاخِ وَالْمَوَادِّ الْمَحَلِّيَّةِ؟ إِنَّ هَذِهِ الْأَسْئِلَةَ تَنْقُلُ الزَّائِرَ مِنَ الْمُشَاهَدَةِ السَّرِيعَةِ إِلَى الْفَهْمِ، وَتُحَوِّلُ الْجَوْلَةَ السِّيَاحِيَّةَ إِلَى تَجْرِبَةٍ تَعْلِيمِيَّةٍ.
الْعِمَارَةُ وَالْهُوِيَّةُ
تَحْفَظُ الْعِمَارَةُ مَا قَدْ لَا تَحْفَظُهُ النُّصُوصُ وَحْدَهَا. فِي تَخْطِيطِ الْمَبْنَى وَمَدْخَلِهِ وَفِنَائِهِ وَزَخَارِفِهِ وَكِتَابَاتِهِ نَقْرَأُ طَرِيقَةَ الْمُجْتَمَعِ فِي التَّعْبِيرِ عَنْ قِيَمِهِ وَاحْتِيَاجَاتِهِ. وَعِنْدَمَا تُفْقَدُ هَذِهِ الْمَبَانِي أَوْ تُشَوَّهُ، لَا نَفْقِدُ حَجَرًا فَقَطْ؛ بَلْ نَفْقِدُ جُزْءًا مِنَ الذَّاكِرَةِ الَّتِي تُسَاعِدُ الْأَجْيَالَ عَلَى فَهْمِ نَفْسِهَا.
وَلِذَلِكَ يَرْتَبِطُ الْحِفَاظُ عَلَى الْعِمَارَةِ بِالْهُوِيَّةِ مِنْ غَيْرِ أَنْ يَتَحَوَّلَ إِلَى انْغِلَاقٍ عَلَى الْمَاضِي. فَالْمَدِينَةُ لَا تَتَوَقَّفُ عَنِ النُّمُوِّ، وَالسُّكَّانُ يَحْتَاجُونَ إِلَى السَّكَنِ وَالْعَمَلِ وَالْمَوَاصَلَاتِ وَالْخَدَمَاتِ. وَالتَّحَدِّي الْحَقِيقِيُّ هُوَ إِدَارَةُ التَّغْيِيرِ بِوَعْيٍ، بِحَيْثُ تَسْتَمِرُّ الْحَيَاةُ مِنْ دُونِ مَحْوِ الشَّخْصِيَّةِ التَّارِيخِيَّةِ لِلْمَكَانِ.
تَحَدِّيَاتُ الْحِفَاظِ عَلَى التُّرَاثِ
يُوَاجِهُ التُّرَاثُ الْمِعْمَارِيُّ تَحَدِّيَاتٍ مُتَعَدِّدَةً، مِنْهَا الزَّمَنُ وَالرُّطُوبَةُ وَالتَّلَوُّثُ وَالِاهْتِزَازَاتُ وَالضَّغْطُ الْعُمْرَانِيُّ وَسُوءُ الِاسْتِخْدَامِ. وَقَدْ يَكُونُ التَّرْمِيمُ غَيْرُ الْمَدْرُوسِ خَطَرًا آخَرَ إِذَا مَحَا دَلَائِلَ الْمَبْنَى أَوِ اسْتَبْدَلَ مَوَادَّهُ الْأَصْلِيَّةَ بِمَا لَا يَنْسَجِمُ مَعَهَا. لِذَلِكَ يَبْدَأُ الْحِفَاظُ الصَّحِيحُ بِالتَّوْثِيقِ، وَفَهْمِ تَارِيخِ الْمَبْنَى، وَتَشْخِيصِ سَبَبِ التَّلَفِ قَبْلَ اخْتِيَارِ الْعِلَاجِ.
وَالْحِفَاظُ لَيْسَ مَهَمَّةَ الْأَثَرِيِّ أَوِ الْمُرَمِّمِ وَحْدَهُ. إِنَّهُ يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى تَعَاوُنِ الْمُهَنْدِسِ وَالْمُعَمَارِيِّ وَالْمُؤَرِّخِ وَالْكِيمِيَائِيِّ وَخَبِيرِ الْبِيئَةِ وَالْإِدَارِيِّ، إِلَى جَانِبِ السُّكَّانِ الَّذِينَ يَعِيشُونَ حَوْلَ الْأَثَرِ. وَمِنْ دُونِ مُشَارَكَةِ الْمُجْتَمَعِ، قَدْ يَبْقَى الْمَشْرُوعُ جَمِيلًا عَلَى الْوَرَقِ وَلَكِنَّهُ لَا يَسْتَمِرُّ فِي الْوَاقِعِ.
الْجَامِعَةُ وَالْمُؤَسَّسَاتُ وَبِنَاءُ الْخِبْرَةِ
تُبْرِزُ الْحَلْقَةُ دَوْرَ كُلِّيَّاتِ الْآثَارِ فِي إِعْدَادِ جِيلٍ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَ الْمَعْرِفَةِ النَّظَرِيَّةِ وَالْمَهَارَةِ الْعَمَلِيَّةِ. فَالطَّالِبُ يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى اللُّغَاتِ وَقِرَاءَةِ الْمَصَادِرِ وَالرَّسْمِ وَالتَّصْوِيرِ وَالتَّوْثِيقِ الرَّقْمِيِّ، كَمَا يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى التَّدْرِيبِ فِي الْمَوَاقِعِ وَالْمَتَاحِفِ وَمَعَامِلِ التَّرْمِيمِ. وَحِينَ تَنْفَصِلُ الدِّرَاسَةُ عَنِ الْمَيْدَانِ، يَفْقِدُ التَّخَصُّصُ جُزْءًا كَبِيرًا مِنْ قُدْرَتِهِ عَلَى الْخِدْمَةِ وَالْحِمَايَةِ.
كَمَا أَنَّ التَّعَاوُنَ بَيْنَ الْجَامِعَةِ وَالْجِهَاتِ الْمَسْؤُولَةِ عَنِ الْآثَارِ وَالْمَتَاحِفِ وَالْمُنَظَّمَاتِ الْإِقْلِيمِيَّةِ وَالدَّوْلِيَّةِ يُوَسِّعُ دَائِرَةَ الْخِبْرَةِ. وَالْهَدَفُ لَيْسَ نَقْلَ نَمُوذَجٍ جَاهِزٍ مِنْ مَكَانٍ إِلَى آخَرَ، بَلِ الِاسْتِفَادَةُ مِنَ الْمَعَايِيرِ وَالتَّجَارِبِ مَعَ احْتِرَامِ خُصُوصِيَّةِ الْمَوْقِعِ وَالْمُجْتَمَعِ الْمَحَلِّيِّ.
التُّرَاثُ وَالسِّيَاحَةُ الْمُسْتَدَامَةُ
يُمْكِنُ لِلسِّيَاحَةِ أَنْ تَكُونَ قُوَّةً لِحِمَايَةِ التُّرَاثِ عِنْدَمَا تُوَفِّرُ مَوَارِدَ لِلصِّيَانَةِ وَفُرَصًا لِلْعَمَلِ وَحَافِزًا لِلْمُجْتَمَعِ لِلْمُحَافَظَةِ عَلَى مَوَاقِعِهِ. وَلَكِنَّهَا قَدْ تَتَحَوَّلُ إِلَى ضَغْطٍ إِذَا زَادَتِ الْأَعْدَادُ مِنْ دُونِ إِدَارَةٍ، أَوْ إِذَا تَحَوَّلَ الْمَكَانُ إِلَى مَشْهَدٍ مُنْفَصِلٍ عَنْ سُكَّانِهِ وَوَظَائِفِهِ الْأَصْلِيَّةِ.
وَالسِّيَاحَةُ الْمُسْتَدَامَةُ تَبْدَأُ بِقِصَّةٍ صَحِيحَةٍ تُقَدَّمُ لِلزَّائِرِ، وَمَسَارٍ يَحْمِي الْمَبْنَى، وَخَدَمَاتٍ تَحْتَرِمُ الْمَكَانَ، وَنَصِيبٍ عَادِلٍ لِلْمُجْتَمَعِ الْمَحَلِّيِّ مِنَ الْفَوَائِدِ. وَهُنَا يَلْتَقِي عَمَلُ الْبَاحِثِ وَالْمُرْشِدِ السِّيَاحِيِّ وَالْمُخَطِّطِ؛ لِأَنَّ كُلَّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمْ يُسْهِمُ فِي الطَّرِيقَةِ الَّتِي يَفْهَمُ بِهَا الزَّائِرُ الْمَكَانَ وَيَتَعَامَلُ مَعَهُ.
رِسَالَةٌ إِلَى الشَّبَابِ
تُقَدِّمُ مَسِيرَةُ الدُّكْتُورِ مُحَمَّدِ حَمْزَةَ دَرْسًا لِلطُّلَّابِ وَالْبَاحِثِينَ: التَّخَصُّصُ يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى صَبْرٍ وَتَرَاكُمٍ، وَالْخِبْرَةُ لَا تُخْتَصَرُ فِي شَهَادَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ. وَعَلَى الْبَاحِثِ أَنْ يَعْرِفَ أَدَوَاتِهِ، وَأَنْ يَرْجِعَ إِلَى الْمَصَادِرِ، وَأَنْ يَكُونَ مُسْتَعِدًّا لِتَصْحِيحِ رَأْيِهِ عِنْدَمَا يَظْهَرُ دَلِيلٌ أَقْوَى.
وَفِي زَمَنِ الصُّوَرِ السَّرِيعَةِ وَالْمَعْلُومَاتِ الْمُخْتَصَرَةِ، تَبْقَى الْقِرَاءَةُ الْعَمِيقَةُ وَالزِّيَارَةُ الْمَيْدَانِيَّةُ وَالْحِوَارُ مَعَ الْخُبَرَاءِ أَدَوَاتٍ لَا غِنَى عَنْهَا. وَحِينَ يَتَعَلَّمُ الشَّابُّ أَنْ يَرَى فِي الْأَثَرِ وَثِيقَةً وَمَسْؤُولِيَّةً، لَا مُجَرَّدَ خَلْفِيَّةٍ لِصُورَةٍ، يَصْبِحُ شَرِيكًا فِي حِمَايَةِ التُّرَاثِ.
خُلَاصَةُ الْعَدَدِ الثَّانِي
تَخْرُجُ الْحَلْقَةُ بِرِسَالَةٍ وَاضِحَةٍ: التُّرَاثُ لَيْسَ شَيْئًا نَحْفَظُهُ لِنَنْظُرَ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ بَعِيدٍ، بَلْ مَعْرِفَةٌ تَدْخُلُ فِي التَّعْلِيمِ وَالْهُوِيَّةِ وَالِاقْتِصَادِ وَجَوْدَةِ الْحَيَاةِ. وَحِمَايَتُهُ تَبْدَأُ بِفَهْمِهِ، ثُمَّ تَوْثِيقِهِ، ثُمَّ إِدَارَتِهِ بِمُشَارَكَةِ الْمُتَخَصِّينَ وَالسُّكَّانِ.
وَعِنْدَمَا نَقْرَأُ مِصْرَ مِنْ عُصُورِهَا الْقَدِيمَةِ إِلَى الْحَدِيثَةِ، نُدْرِكُ أَنَّ قُوَّتَهَا لَا تَكْمُنُ فِي عَصْرٍ وَاحِدٍ، بَلْ فِي قُدْرَتِهَا عَلَى الِاسْتِمْرَارِ وَإِعَادَةِ تَشْكِيلِ ذَاتِهَا. وَهَذَا هُوَ الْمَعْنَى الَّذِي يَجْعَلُ الْحِوَارَ مَعَ عَالِمٍ مُتَخَصِّصٍ فِي الْآثَارِ وَالْحَضَارَةِ الْإِسْلَامِيَّةِ جُزْءًا أَصِيلًا مِنْ حِوَارٍ أَوْسَعَ عَنْ مِصْرَ وَحَضَارَتِهَا.
مُشَاهَدَةُ الْحَلْقَةِ
لِمُشَاهَدَةِ الْحِوَارِ الْكَامِلِ عَلَى يُوتُيُوب: https://youtu.be/fxYbG-x0pD4
هَذَا الْمَقَالُ صِيَاغَةٌ تَحْرِيرِيَّةٌ لِلْمَوْضُوعَاتِ وَالْأَفْكَارِ الرَّئِيسَةِ الَّتِي تَطْرَحُهَا الْحَلْقَةُ، وَلَيْسَ تَفْرِيغًا حَرْفِيًّا لِلْحِوَارِ.
English Edition
Egyptology from Ancient to Modern Times
A Conversation with Professor Mohamed Hamza Ismail Al Haddad
Episode Overview
In the second issue of The Digital Magazine and Archive of The Dr. Ali Zohery Podcast, Dr. Ali Zohery welcomes Professor Mohamed Hamza Ismail Al Haddad, Professor of Islamic Archaeology and Civilization and former Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology at Cairo University. The conversation explores Egypt as a civilization whose historical layers extend from antiquity through the Coptic, Islamic, and modern periods.
The episode goes beyond monuments as beautiful objects. It examines the meaning of civilization, the relationship between heritage and identity, and the responsibility shared by universities, cultural institutions, professionals, and communities. Its central message is that Egypt is best understood through both careful specialization and a broad awareness of continuity across time.
The Guest and His Scholarly Journey
Professor Mohamed Hamza Al Haddad represents a scholarly tradition that connects academic research, field experience, teaching, and institutional leadership. His work in Islamic archaeology and architecture approaches the monument as evidence: a source that must be documented, compared, dated, interpreted, and placed within its religious, social, artistic, and economic context.
The discussion also highlights how scholars are formed. Libraries, teachers, university training, archaeological sites, museums, and collaboration with other specialists all contribute to professional judgment. Knowledge of heritage cannot rest on admiration alone. It requires method, close observation, disciplined use of sources, and a willingness to revise conclusions when stronger evidence appears.
Egypt as a Continuous Civilization
One of the episode’s most important ideas is that Egyptian history should not be treated as a series of isolated islands. Egypt changed through the ancient, Greek, Roman, Coptic, Islamic, and modern periods, yet its people, landscape, cities, crafts, and collective memory created many lines of continuity. Recognizing that continuity does not erase the distinctive character of any period. It allows each period to be studied within a larger national and human story.
Islamic architecture in Egypt offers a clear example. Its religious functions, architectural vocabulary, and artistic traditions belong to the wider history of Islamic civilization, but the buildings were also shaped by Egyptian materials, climate, craftsmen, urban patterns, and accumulated local experience. Studying both connections produces a richer understanding than placing the monument inside a single narrow category.
What Egyptology Means
In conventional academic use, Egyptology usually refers to the study of ancient Egypt, including its languages, texts, material culture, religion, art, and archaeology. The episode’s broad historical perspective, however, raises a productive question: how can specialists in ancient Egyptian, Greco Roman, Coptic, Islamic, and modern heritage work together to explain Egypt’s long civilizational experience?
The answer is not to eliminate disciplinary boundaries. Specialized knowledge remains essential. The goal is to build bridges among disciplines, especially when one city or site contains several layers of occupation, reuse, memory, and meaning. Cooperation helps researchers interpret those layers more accurately and helps heritage managers develop conservation plans that respect the full history of a place.
Islamic Cairo as an Open Book
Cairo occupies a central place in the conversation. Its mosques, madrasas, houses, markets, fountains, caravanserais, streets, and defensive structures preserve evidence of many centuries of life. A historic building is not merely an attractive facade. Its plan, materials, inscriptions, decoration, and location reveal information about worship, education, charity, trade, government, family life, and the organization of the city.
Reading the city from within changes the visitor’s experience. How did people move through its streets? How did a mosque, school, public fountain, market building, or bath serve the surrounding community? How did builders respond to climate and available materials? Questions like these transform sightseeing into learning and help the public understand why the protection of historic neighborhoods matters.
Architecture Identity and Living Memory
Architecture preserves forms of evidence that written sources cannot preserve by themselves. The entrance, courtyard, windows, circulation, inscriptions, and decorative choices of a building record social values and practical needs. When a historic structure is lost or severely altered, society loses more than stone and ornament. It loses a part of the memory through which later generations understand their city and themselves.
Protecting identity does not mean freezing a city in the past. Residents need housing, transportation, employment, safety, and public services. The real challenge is to manage change intelligently so that development can continue without erasing the historic character of the place. Conservation is therefore a form of responsible planning, not an obstacle to modern life.
The Challenges of Heritage Conservation
Historic architecture faces damage from time, moisture, pollution, vibration, traffic, urban pressure, neglect, and incompatible uses. Inappropriate restoration can create another form of loss when it removes historical evidence or replaces original materials without understanding how the structure was built. Sound conservation begins with documentation, research into the building’s history, and a careful diagnosis of deterioration before treatment begins.
No single profession can complete this work alone. Archaeologists, conservators, architects, engineers, historians, chemists, environmental specialists, administrators, and local residents must contribute their knowledge. Community participation is particularly important because a technically impressive project will not remain successful if the people who live around a monument are excluded from its future.
Universities Institutions and Professional Training
Faculties of archaeology have a major responsibility to prepare students for both research and practical service. Students need languages, source criticism, architectural drawing, photography, digital documentation, museum knowledge, and supervised field training. When classroom study is separated from sites, collections, and conservation laboratories, graduates lose part of the experience required to protect heritage effectively.
Cooperation among universities, antiquities authorities, museums, research centers, and regional and international organizations broadens access to expertise. Such cooperation should not impose one formula on every place. It should apply sound standards while respecting the materials, history, needs, and communities of each site.
Heritage and Sustainable Tourism
Tourism can support heritage when it creates resources for maintenance, employment for local residents, and public reasons to value historic places. It can also become a source of pressure when visitor numbers are unmanaged or when a living neighborhood is reduced to a stage set separated from its residents and original functions.
Sustainable cultural tourism begins with an accurate story, a visitor route that protects vulnerable fabric, services that respect the setting, and a fair local share of the benefits. Researchers, guides, planners, and community members all influence how visitors understand and treat a place. Interpretation is therefore part of conservation: people are more likely to protect what they have learned to understand.
A Message for Students and Young Researchers
Professor Al Haddad’s career offers a practical lesson for younger generations. Expertise grows through patience and accumulation; it cannot be reduced to one degree or one publication. Researchers must know their tools, return to primary evidence, read beyond their immediate specialty, and remain ready to correct an interpretation when new evidence requires it.
In an age of rapid images and shortened information, deep reading, field observation, and conversation with experienced specialists remain indispensable. A young person who sees a monument as evidence and responsibility, rather than merely as a background for a photograph, becomes a partner in protecting heritage.
Conclusion
The episode leaves the audience with a clear conclusion: heritage is not an object preserved only for distant admiration. It is knowledge that influences education, identity, economic opportunity, urban quality, and cultural dialogue. Protecting it begins with understanding, continues through documentation and conservation, and succeeds through long term management shared by professionals and communities.
Reading Egypt from ancient to modern times reveals that the country’s strength does not belong to one period alone. It lies in the capacity of Egyptian society to continue, adapt, create, and add new layers to an exceptionally rich human record. This is why a conversation with a scholar of Islamic archaeology and civilization belongs at the heart of a wider discussion about Egypt and its enduring civilizational identity.
Watch the Episode
Watch the complete conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fxYbG-x0pD4
About the Guest
Professor Mohamed Hamza Ismail Al Haddad is a scholar of Islamic archaeology, architecture, and civilization and a former Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology at Cairo University. His work contributes to education and the protection of cultural heritage. The Dr. Ali Zohery Podcast is hosted from Washington DC by Dr. Ali Zohery, founder and owner of Zohery Tours International. Visit www.zohery.com.