Mahfouz, equally proud of his Muslim identity, continued: ‘‘As for Islamic civilisation 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...I will, instead, introduce that civilisation in a moving dramatic situation summarising 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 ancient Greek heritage in philosophy, medicine and mathematics. This is a testimony of the 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 civilisation.’’

He then told the audience in Stockholm: ‘‘It was my fate, ladies and gentlemen, to be born in the lap of these two civilisations, and to absorb their milk, to feed on their literature and art. Then I drank the nectar of your (West’s) rich and fascinating culture. From the inspiration of all this—as well as my own anxieties—words bedewed from me.’’

For the Islamist militants, it was not enough that Mahfouz declared his faith in Islam. What was unacceptable was his equal pride in what preceded Islam in Egypt.

f f f

I cut now to Jawaharlal Nehru’s convocation address at Aligarh Muslim University on January 24, 1948. Remember that India’s first Prime Minister was speaking in the tragic, blood-soaked backdrop of Partition, which was demanded by a party whose leaders stated that ‘‘there is nothing common between Islam and Hinduism, and between Muslim and Hindu civilisations’’. Nehru said: ‘‘India’s strength has been two-fold: her own innate genius which flowered through the ages and her capacity to draw from other sources and thus add to her own. She was far too strong to be submerged by outside streams, and she was too wise to isolate herself from them, and so there is a continuing synthesis in India’s real history and many political changes which have taken place have had little effect on the growth of her variegated and yet essentially unified culture.’’

... contd.