As She Told Me... Amina al-Said... She Said: The Revolution Has Scored Four Signal Progressive Leaps for the Egyptian Woman — and She Will Run for Parliament!

By a happy coincidence I met Mrs. Amina al-Said, the bold Egyptian writer and thinker, and my colleague, editor-in-chief of "Hawwa al-Jadida."

I met her at the home of Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, president of the General Arab Women's Union, in Aley, where I had gone to reassure myself about her health and her steady progress toward complete recovery, God willing, so that she may return to her activity in guiding the Arab women's unions for the general good of woman.

In a clear morning atmosphere, the woman of letters Amina al-Said — just back from Damascus, where she had been among Egypt's delegates to the Arab Writers' Conference — launched into telling us what the revolution has achieved for the Egyptian woman. She said:

The revolution has rendered the Egyptian woman four signal services. The first was its equalizing of man and woman on the morrow of the issuance of the agrarian reform law, in which land ownership was limited and the right of ownership reduced to only two hundred feddans. For the first time in Egypt's history, women's shares came out exactly like men's shares, and the two sexes were treated on the same footing in the distribution of land... and this is a great service, without a doubt!

Then came the abolition of the waqf system, lifting the great injustice from woman, who alone had been its victim in times past... A man used to endow his properties or his real estate either for purposes of piety and charity, or to deprive his daughters of their inheritance for the sake of their male brothers... With the abolition of the waqf system, the government cut off the root of injustice, trickery, and artificial charity, and people's properties became the right of the lawful heirs. In this measure is all justice and equity.

The third service the revolution rendered the Egyptian woman is its abolition of the religious courts. Formerly each religion referred to its own particular court, and how often, in those circumstances, did scandalous contradictions in rulings occur...

And Amina al-Said went on to say:

The abolition of the religious courts is, in my opinion, the greatest thing the revolution has achieved. All our cases are now examined before the civil courts, by a jurist licensed by the Faculty of Law, and the Azharite sheikhs have in them no hand, long or short. Here cases are examined from a purely legal viewpoint, and in this viewpoint is a victory for the cause of woman...

The last service the revolution has offered woman, whose fruits we shall soon reap, and for the first time in our lives, is the granting to woman of her full electoral right. I am proud of the warm response that has appeared on woman's part. And do not be surprised, my dear, when I tell you: a large number of Egyptian women will nominate themselves for the coming electoral round — and I among them!

Amina al-Said explained the matter of her candidacy for election, saying with enthusiasm:

I shall not pay a single millieme for publicity on my own behalf. I shall stand for the district of Giza, which teems with educated people who know woman's worth and trust her, so long as she is worthy of trust... I shall contend with any number of men, and stand firm in their faces for my principle, and I shall not withdraw from the battle except for the sake of another woman — for I do not fight a sister of mine; rather,

I yield my right to her... and go home!

As for why I do not stand for the countryside, despite the wide popularity our family enjoys in the circles of the fellahin, it is because this class — the mass of it illiterate and ignorant — is weak in its faith in woman's capabilities. I shall therefore not risk my reputation and expose myself to defeat, when in the district of Giza I have victory all but in my grasp!

Amina al-Said ended her talk saying:

... These are great progressive leaps, as you see, which history will record to the revolution's credit, for generations to come. May our women profit from these opportunities and prove to man their competence and their worthiness of these generous rights — in the hope of returning to demand rights more generous still, and closer to our lives: I mean equality in inheritance!

* * *

Amina al-Said turned toward the window that looks out on the enchanting scenery and said — as if she wished, tactfully, to change the course of the conversation and keep us from going on with a discussion of its last part — she said:

How fortunate you are in your marvelous Lebanon... I adore this land and prefer no other spot on earth to it... I would gladly stay among you longer, but I am compelled to leave you by my forthcoming visit to Bulgaria, at an invitation from its government addressed to three Egyptian women. The two besides myself are Mrs. Saiza Nabarawi and Mrs. Saniyya Inan. The visit will take two weeks, during which I hope to enjoy some rest and recreation.

* * *

... It must be said, finally, that we consider Amina al-Said a strong pillar of the cause of the Arab woman, and an impregnable fortress in which we take shelter to repel the stubborn reactionary attacks. And I say it frankly: if the cause of woman is to find the final settlement that satisfies its pride and raises its morale to the dignified human plane, that settlement will come, most likely, at the hands of Amina al-Said and her likes. For she has the ability, and courage enough, to proclaim the truth aloud, whenever she believes in it...