Al-Azhar’s Hail Mary: Egypt’s last attempt at sanity in the Middle East before regional war

On Sunday, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif issued an urgent appeal to Arab and Muslim nations to end ongoing conflicts, calling for an immediate and comprehensive cessation of hostilities and the formation of a joint mediation committee to help de-escalate tensions across the region.

In its appeal, Al-Azhar urged Arab and Muslim countries to “uphold the spirit of fraternity and the bonds of faith, kinship, and shared language”, while calling on all parties to “give precedence to wisdom; embrace reason and dialogue” to halt the fighting and destruction.

The institution also called for the urgent establishment of a Mediation and De-escalation Committee comprising representatives from across the Arab and Muslim worlds, selected from among “respected, wise, and principled figures sincerely committed to peace, reconciliation, and stability”.

Citing the Quran, Al-Azhar said the appeal was inspired by the verse: “And if two groups of believers fight each other, then make peace between them” (49:9).

The proposed committee would be tasked with taking immediate action to defuse ongoing crises, bridge differences between the parties concerned, and resolve disputes among members of the same faith and Ummah (Islamic community).

According to Al-Azhar, the initiative aims to safeguard the strength and sovereignty of Arab nations, protect their peoples and preserve their resources for future generations.

Al-Azhar affirmed its readiness to support the committee, expressing confidence in the ability of all parties to overcome their differences, put past disputes behind them and prevent further bloodshed.

It urged all sides to “place the common good above all other considerations” and protect innocent lives, while praying for the region to be spared “the horrors and suffering of war and conflict”.

This is not simply a statement calling for unity in a turbulent region. It is an unusual statement issued at an unusual time and received unusually.

The statement came hours after a meeting of Egypt’s National Defence Council, which pledged to provide all necessary and possible support to Saudi Arabia in defending its borders amid escalating attacks against the kingdom, which it described as unacceptable.

Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo: The Two Brothers before they head to Italy

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo (EMC) announced earlier this week that it has restored the famous “Two Brothers” Fayoum portrait, which will take part in an exhibition abroad in Italy.

I’d like to seize this opportunity to share my old photo of the “Two Brothers” from before the restoration, taken at the EMC more than 10 years ago.

The Portrait of the two brothers in 2016 at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo

According to the EMC, the round wooden panel, commonly known as the “Tondo of the Two Brothers,” depicts two brothers whose purple cloaks, fastened with brooches, suggest they may have been warriors. They may have died together. The old gallery label dates the portrait to the 2nd century AD, while the EMC website is more specific: the reign of Hadrian (c. AD 117-138).

My old photo doesn’t show it, but above the shoulder of the darker-skinned young man there is a small figure.

The EMC describes it as Hermes, while other sources read it as Hermanubis, a fusion of Ancient Egyptian Anubis and Ancient Greek Hermes.

Above the shoulder of the other young man is a figure said to be Osiris-Antinous, a fusion of Osiris and Antinous.

The EMC does not name it, although it notes that the figure holds a staff and wears an Egyptian crown. At first glance, I thought it was Mars in his famous naked pose from Pompeii.

Navi Pillay’s Nobel win highlights genocide in Gaza

“The last thing I did was deliver the report on Gaza, naming what is happening there as genocide,” 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay told a group of journalists and a crowd celebrating her win early Friday in Nuremberg, Germany.

The 85-year-old South African former International Criminal Court judge was referring to her work as head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded in a 72-page report released in September 2025 that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

"The last thing I did is the report on Gaza naming what is happening there as genocide. One of the main reactions to that report [was] paying tribute to me for my courage.. why would you need courage to speak the truth?" Navi Pillay upon winning the 2026 Nobel peace prize https://t.co/hYPA94eFLe

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) October 9, 2026

The UN Commission of Inquiry, headed by Pillay, held Israel responsible for committing four of the five acts of genocide defined in the Genocide Convention.

The four acts it identified were killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction, in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

#6Oct73War at 53 : Watch the Showdown , Egypt’s documentary on the war in English

If you are Egyptian or Arab and grew up watching Egyptian TV channels, you will probably recognise some of the scenes in this documentary about the 6 October 1973 War by heart.

The documentary is called “The Showdown” in English and “The Decision” in Arabic. Written and directed by Egyptian documentary filmmaker Nabil Al-Baih, “The Showdown” presents the October 1973 War — also known as the Yom Kippur War — from an Egyptian perspective. It presents the October 1973 War, also known as the Yom Kippur War, from an Egyptian perspective.

The film was released in 1974 and is a fascinating example of how the war was documented and presented to audiences at the time.

Beyond presenting the Egyptian perspective on the war, what makes this documentary particularly interesting is its combination of actual wartime footage and staged or reconstructed scenes.

Some of the most recognisable sequences — including the crossing of the Suez Canal from the west bank to the east bank, soldiers scaling the sand embankment and the raising of the Egyptian flag — were filmed as reconstructions after the war, recorded in the famous reenactments of the war in August 1974.

The documentary also contains genuine footage from the conflict, making it particularly interesting to anyone trying to distinguish between the real battlefield footage and the reenactments.

The real footage is often recognisable by its noticeably grainier appearance, shaky or handheld camera work, and the spontaneous, unpolished reactions of soldiers.

Egypt needs Matsda2sh more than ever now "Updated"

In what can be considered a rare act of civil action in Egypt nowadays, several members of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate declared an open-ended sit-in at the syndicate’s headquarters in Cairo on Saturday, demanding the release of the Matsda2sh journalists from custody.

It is a mild escalation following the participation of dozens of journalists in a symbolic sit-in inside the Journalists Syndicate to call for the release of the six Matsda2sh journalists — Abdallah Qadry, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emaira, Islam Barakat, Mohamed Mahmoud, Mohamed Adel and Omar Helal — whose whereabouts remain unknown after security forces launched an arrest campaign targeting the entire newsroom of the independent fact-checking platform last week.

In what I consider an unprecedented move, Egyptian security forces arrested the entire six-member newsroom of the popular fact-checking news website Matsda2sh over Sunday and Monday.

Updated on 4/10/2026 @10:20 PM: Three journalists appeared in front of the High State Security Prosecution in Cairo on Sunday.

Updated on 9/10/2026: Unfortunately, the prosecution ordered that all the journalists are currently detained pending investigation on charges related to "that the journalists systematically broadcast rumors, highlighted state shortcomings while ignoring achievements, disparaged the performance of public officials, engineered and amplified localised social and economic disputes, and recycled misinformation from Brotherhood-linked outlets." So far, the Journalists syndicate is standing with the detained journalists despite a huge anti-syndicate campaign by Pro-regime media.

Matsda2sh — literally “Do not believe” — is one of Egypt’s pioneering fact-checking news services.

Egypt’s Mobile Line Scandal: Before You Ask for My Face, Explain How You Got My ID Leaked

We are now in the last week of September, and the facial biometric measures have still not been officially rolled out for new and existing mobile phone lines, as announced by Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA).

It is a big step towards digitalisation. It will be an optional step, but I am not taking it any time soon — and I won’t be alone in that hesitation.

Last month, many Egyptians, including yours truly, discovered that we had additional mobile phone lines and mobile money wallets registered under our National IDs without our knowledge through Egypt’s four mobile phone networks.

Yes, you read that correctly.

On 7 August 2026, I discovered through the NTRA’s application, My NTRA, that another mobile phone line — aka a SIM card — was registered to my National ID number on Orange Egypt without my knowledge.

The My NTRA app is available for free on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.

I have been a very long-term Orange Egypt customer, going back to when it was still Mobinil, and I had never received any notification that I had this mobile phone number.

I had never received any bills for it, and it had never appeared in the “My Orange” app.

I did once have an internet line from Orange Egypt a long time ago, but it was suspended for inactivity. It was not the same number.

Orange Egypt handles data lines under the same NTRA rules that apply across all Egyptian operators. Since data lines are prepaid, if a line remains unused for 90 days — with no calls, SMS messages or data activity — the operator suspends its service.

Before that happens, however, the operator is required to warn the customer twice: once 10 days before the cutoff and again 48 hours before.

Once the line is suspended, there is still a 15-day grace period to save it, simply by using or recharging it, provided that the customer’s details match those held by Orange.

Only after that 15-day window passes without any action does Orange cancel the contract and release the number back into its pool, where it can be resold to a new customer. At that point, it is gone for good.

That is exactly what happened to the data lines — aka MiFi lines — from TeData, later WE/Telecom Egypt, that I bought over the years to keep working during power outages.

None of those lines appeared to be linked to my National ID anymore.

The mysterious mobile phone line, however, was there — although I could not even see the full number. Only a few digits were displayed. And please do not ask me why.

I was lucky that I found no other mobile money wallet registered under my National ID apart from the one I actually own, which is linked to my bank account rather than directly to my mobile phone line, unlike services such as Orange Cash.

I was even luckier than many other people who discovered three, six, or even 20 mobile phone lines connected to their National IDs.

Even renowned public figures were affected.

Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo: From Heh to eternity “ Happy Egyptian New Year 6268, Happy Coptic New Year 1742”

Happy Egyptian New Year 6268, Happy Nayrouz, Happy Coptic New Year 1742!

Today is the day ancient Egyptians celebrated the beginning of their new year.

11 September marks "1 Tut," the first day of Ancient Egyptian Year 6268, according to the ancient Egyptian calendar. It is also the first day of Coptic Year 1742 AM.

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.

The ancient Egyptian calendar is still used in Egypt today to mark the agricultural seasons, and despite the millennia and the climatic changes since, it remains the best calendar for describing our climate.

The Coptic calendar determines the dates of religious feasts, particularly in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

The Ancient Egyptian year begins with the month of Tut, named after Thoth (Djehuty), the ancient Egyptian deity of wisdom, writing, calculation, astronomy, and timekeeping.

But this year, it won't be about Tut — because what better day to talk about Heh than the first day of an Egyptian year?

Much less familiar, yet his influence was invoked, directly or indirectly, by the mightiest kings of ancient Egypt from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom: Heh, the ancient Egyptian deity and personification of infinity and eternity.

Heh had a female counterpart, Hauhet.

Together they personified infinity and boundlessness — the endless expanse within which creation could take place.

Heh — also written as Ḥeḥ and sometimes rendered as Hehu — was one of the eight ancient deities of the Ogdoad, the group of deities worshipped at Hermopolis, or Khemenu, near modern-day Mallawi in El-Minya Governorate.