Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo : The Canopus Decree Stela “Happy Egyptian New Year 6266, Happy Coptic New Year 1741”

Happy Egyptian New Year 6267, Happy Coptic New Year 1742

Today, 11 September, marks “1 Tut,” the first day of the Ancient Egyptian Year 6267, according to the ancient Egyptian calendar.

It is also the first day of the Coptic Year 1742 AM.

Tut refers to Thoth, in case you do not know "Thoth by Midjourney"

As I do every year, I’ll repeat the reminder that the Ancient Egyptian/Coptic New Year begins on 1 Tut, which usually falls on 11 or 12 September in the Gregorian calendar. This calendar continues to be used in Egypt today to determine the dates of religious feasts—particularly in the Coptic Church—and to mark the agricultural seasons.

On this occasion, I’d like to share a unique and monumental piece at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo: the great limestone stela of the Canopus Decree in honor of Ptolemy III.

The Canopus Decree in honor of Ptolemy III at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo

The Canopus Decree is a trilingual inscription—carved in hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek—and stands as the second-earliest example of such trilingual decrees.

The most famous of these, of course, is the Rosetta Stone (which, needless to say, should return to Rosetta, Egypt).

The decree commemorates a grand assembly of priests held at the city of Canopus, on the outskirts of modern Alexandria, to honor Ptolemy III Euergetes of the Ptolemaic dynasty, along with his wife Queen Berenice and Princess Berenice.

Kodak Agfa Presents in Photos and Video : The Total Eclipse of a blood moon

Last night, the Earth’s Eastern Hemisphere was treated not only to September’s naturally reddish moon but also to the spectacle of a total lunar eclipse.

Stargazers—myself included—across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and parts of Europe witnessed the Moon glowing blood-red as Earth’s shadow fully engulfed it. It’s not every night that we get such a rare and breathtaking opportunity.

The Egyptian National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) had announced earlier that Egypt and the wider Arab region would witness this eclipse on the evening of Sunday, September 7, 2025, coinciding with the full moon of Rabiʿ al-Awwal 1447 AH.

At the eclipse’s peak, Earth’s shadow covered the Moon completely, with the umbra extending to 136.2% of the lunar disk—a sign of how deeply the Moon was immersed in Earth’s shadow.

According to NRIAG, the entire phenomenon lasted about five hours and 27 minutes. The partial phases stretched over three hours and 29 minutes, while the total eclipse—the moment of the striking Blood Moon—remained visible for one hour and 22 minutes.

In Cairo, the eclipse unfolded according to NRIAG

6:28 p.m. – The Moon enters Earth’s penumbra (not visible to the naked eye). I failed to see it for real as it was cloudy.

7:27 p.m. – Partial eclipse begins, with Earth’s shadow appearing on the Moon’s disk.

8:31 p.m. – Start of total eclipse, with the Moon completely in Earth’s shadow.

Kodak Agfa Presents: Some of Egypt’s Islamic artifacts treasure on Mawlid Al-Nabawi 2025

Happy and Blessed Moulid El-Nabi to all Muslims around the globe

Tonight, nearly one and a half billion Muslims around the world are celebrating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), commonly known in Arabic as El-Moulid, Mawlid El-Nabawy, or simply Al-Mawlid.

El-Moulid El-Nabawy is observed on the 12th of Rabi Al-Awwal in the Islamic calendar, which falls on September 4th this year.

This year, I didn’t go to the usual El-Moulid sweets markets in Cairo as the usual Kodak Agfa’s tradition. I couldn’t.

It’s hard for me to film or photograph the celebrations of Mawlid al-Nabawi 2025 in Egypt while genocide is still unfolding in Gaza.

How can we celebrate the Prophet’s birthday when Palestinians—mostly Muslims—are facing famine, as confirmed by the United Nations?

How can I stand among stalls overflowing with sweets and candies when so many Palestinians can’t even find their next meal?

It feels wrong. It feels unethical.

To me, it’s inappropriate, irreligious, and un-Islamic to celebrate in such a consuming, extravagant way. I cannot believe that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would accept Muslims celebrating his birthday with such excess while their brothers and sisters are being slaughtered and starved in an ongoing genocide and famine.

I grew up in an Egyptian family that believed in respect—so much so that if a neighbor lost someone, we lowered the TV volume out of consideration. Today, our neighbors in Gaza are living through genocide and famine. To hold festivities in such times feels nothing but shameful.

The same can be said for Sudan, where people are begging for food aid drops.

That’s why I can’t share new photos or videos of Moulid markets and sweets. Instead I will share some photos related to the Islamic civilization in Egypt.

Watch: Three and a Half Hours with Hussein Al-Shar’a, the Syrian President’s Nasserite Father

Last week, the Syrian podcast “To Be Continued…” hosted a particularly intriguing guest. For the first time, Arabi TV’s affiliated podcast featured Dr. Hussein Al-Shar’a — the father of none other than Syria’s current President, Ahmed Al-Shar’a.

The Shar'as by Sora Open AI 

If you think his son, the former FBI’s most wanted man Abu Mohamed al-Golani, is a controversial figure, then you should meet his father: a veteran oil economist and researcher.

Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo: Hapi of the Nile Flood

Today, Egypt is officially celebrating Wafaa al-Nil or the Nile Loyalty Festival.

If you think this is a newly invented holiday, think again. Wafaa al-Nil is one of the oldest festivals still celebrated in Egypt today, alongside Sham El-Nassim. In fact, it is among the country’s most ancient traditions—dating back over 7,000 years.

Hapi and the River Nile generated by Sora 

The ancient Egyptians linked the festival to the annual inundation of the Nile, which typically began in mid-July and peaked between mid-August and early September. 

The date most often associated with it is August 15, when the floodwaters became clearly visible in Memphis (and later Cairo). The exact timing, however, depended on rainfall in Ethiopia.

Historical evidence traces the festival back as far as the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BCE), with inscriptions and temple reliefs depicting rituals dedicated to Hapi, the god of the Nile’s flood.

On this occasion, I’m sharing a couple of photos of Hapi from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Farewell Sonallah Ibrahim (1937-2025) , Read his famous 2003 award rejection statement

Egypt bid farewell on Wednesday to the celebrated novelist Sonallah Ibrahim, who passed away after a long struggle with illness.

Ibrahim was one of the last surviving figures of the 1960s–1970s literary wave in Egypt and the Arab world. Born in Cairo in 1937 to Ibrahim Mahmoud, a leftist civil servant at the Ministry of Education, he was exposed early to progressive political thought.

Despite his father’s leftist convictions, Ibrahim was given a strikingly religious name. Mahmoud found the name “Sonallah” (“God’s creation” or “Allah’s made”) in the Holy Quran and chose it for his son—unaware that it would one day become truly unique in Egypt’s literary and cultural life.

Sonallah Ibrahim studied law at Cairo University, graduating in 1959—the same year he was arrested during a crackdown on leftists and imprisoned for more than five years under Nasser. Yet, when asked who his favourite president was, he still named Nasser—despite being critical of the Nasserist era and having spent much of it behind bars. I will never fully understand this complex bond between Nasser and Egypt’s leftist intelligentsia, especially writers and poets who endured his prisons.

After his release in 1964, Ibrahim briefly returned to journalism in Cairo before leaving Egypt to pursue work and writing abroad. He first spent time in Paris and then moved to East Berlin, where from 1968 to 1971 he worked as an editor for the Arabic service of the German Press Agency (ADN). Immersed in Europe’s leftist politics and intellectual ferment, he absorbed the radical spirit of the 1960s, which left a lasting mark on his worldview and literary style.

Anas Al-Sharif’s last message from Gaza to the world

This is Anas Al-Sharif’s last message, last well, if you may say.

He prepared in case he was killed by the Israeli army after long months, days and hours of threats.

It was shared on his official social media account shortly after his assassination, along with 6 men, including 4 crew members from journalists, cameramen and their driver, in a direct targeting of their tent at Al-Shifaa Hospital early Monday morning.

The Israeli Occupation Forces did some as they are gearing up for a complete re-occupation of Gaza.

The names of those who were killed in this massacre were: Al-Jazeera reporters Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa as well as their driver Mohammed Noufal. 

This is the whole Al-Jazeera Crew in North Gaza.

Among the other victims photographer, Mohamed El-Khaledi.

Either way, the coverage continues inshallah, as Al-Sharif said.

For 670 days, Anas Al-Sharif became that young voice of Gaza echoing in millions of houses in the Arab world and beyond. I got many emotions to the level that I feel that I can’t write anything now, but the least thing I can I share his last message.

This is its official translation into English:

“This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of the Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that Allah would extend my life so I could return with my family and loved ones to our original town of occupied Asqalan (Al-Majdal).

But Allah’s will came first, and His decree is final. I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification—so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.

I entrust you with Palestine—the jewel in the crown of the Muslim world, the heartbeat of every free person in this world. I entrust you with its people, with its wronged and innocent children who never had the time to dream or live in safety and peace.

Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered across the walls. I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you.

Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland.

I entrust you to take care of my family. I entrust you with my beloved daughter Sham, the light of my eyes, whom I never got the chance to watch grow up as I had dreamed.

I entrust you with my dear son Salah, whom I had wished to support and accompany throughout life until he grew strong enough to carry my burden and continue the mission. I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose blessed prayers brought me to where I am, whose supplications were my fortress and whose light guided my path.

I pray that Allah grants her strength and rewards her on my behalf with the best of rewards. I also entrust you with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah (Bayan), from whom the war separated me from for many long days and months.

Yet she remained faithful to our bond, steadfast as the trunk of an olive tree that does not bend—patient, trusting in Allah, and carrying the responsibility in my absence with all her strength and faith. I urge you to stand by them, to be their support after Allah Almighty.

If I die, I die steadfast upon my principles. I testify before Allah that I am content with His decree, certain of meeting Him, and assured that what is with Allah is better and everlasting.

O Allah, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family.

Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for me with mercy, for I kept my promise and never changed or betrayed it.

Do not forget Gaza… And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.

Anas Jamal Al-Sharif 

06.04.2025”