EGYPTIAN ARCHEOLOGIST ZAHI HAWASS: A FALSE PHARAOH AND SHEIKH OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

CLAIMING ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ANESTRY WHEN YOU ARE NOT IS CULTURAL APPROPRIATION OF COPTIC IDENTITY

In a previous article, The Genealogy of Zahi Hawass: Arab And Not from Ancient Egypt (November 13, 2019), I wrote that Zahi Hawass (b. 1947), an Egyptian archaeologist, who occupied for a considerable time the position of Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, claimed to be of ancient Egypt roots and that he presented himself as the right heir to the Pharaohs. I explained that he actually belonged the Arab tribe of Hawass that had emigrated from Syria to Egypt according to Saad Abu Saif al-Houti in his book, الموسوعة العلمية في أنساب القبائل العربية (2002), and I published a snippet of the relevant section (p. 232).

Hawass, who to say the least is a controversial figure in Egypt, is a showman and is accustomed to say things without any scientific evidence. In November 2019, he said in a lecture at Mansura University that the roots of [modern] Egyptians are Egyptian [meaning Pharaonic] and that they were not Arab or African. “We have unique origin, and we don’t have any connection with the Arabs or Africans,” he said. “The Egyptians are not Arabs but Pharaonic [people] speaking Arabic!” And in the best tradition of the subservient modern Egyptians, he added, “The Pharaonic monuments and engravings prove that the Army has protected Egypt in the last 5,000 years ago, and until today.”[1]

Hawass’ claim was met with an uproar by the Muslim Egyptians who thought he was denying the “Arabdom” of Egypt and the Egyptians. To them, this was also a betrayal of Islam.[2] The spectacle in Egyptian media was more than comic. One of the Egyptian historians and expert in Arab genealogy and heritage – a member of the union that includes the descendants of Prophet Muhammad in Egypt called ‘Ashraf’ –, Ahmad Shuqair, responded to Hawass by saying, “I defy Hawass to prove the lineage of any Egyptian family with the Pharaohs.” And he added that Hawass was ignorant of the science of genealogy and was not conversant in it at all.[3]

But Shuqair’s most interesting comment, which was said by him, according to the paper that published his response, with surprise and derision, “How could [Hawass] say that the Egyptians are Pharaonic when his own personal family has Arabic roots!”[4]  

What does Shuqair say about the close family of Zahi Hawass? It came to Egypt from Algeria with the French Campaign in Egypt (1798-1801). The French recruited auxiliary soldiers from North Africa, and one of the men they recruited to fight with them was Mahmoud Hawass. This Hawass was the ancestor of Zaki and all the family of Hawass in Egypt. He was married to three women, and [after the withdrawal of Egypt] he remained in Egypt and traded in coal, even owning a platform (Platform 2) at the Port of Alexandria which was given his name. This Mahmoud Hawass, as Shuqair says, was responsible for recruiting soldiers for the French. The title of Hawass was given him because the word ‘hawass (حواس)’ means in Arabic ‘a person who calls for razzias (hostile raids)’.

Shuqair reveals to us that the family of Zahi Hawass is actually mentioned in The History of the Egyptian Tribes (تاريخ القبائل المصرية),[5] and that his genealogy goes back to the ancient Arab tribe of Banu Sulaym (بنو سليم‎) through a later branch of it called Hasa (الحاسة), who descended from one Hawass, son of Harb ibn ‘Aqar.

It is important to survey at this juncture the history of the Banu Sulaym tribe in order to see how their descendants, including Zaki Hawass, came to Egypt.

The Banu Sulaym (بنو سليم‎),[6] was a huge tribe that has several sub-tribes descended from it; and itself it forms part of the wider Arab tribal group of Qays (قيس). Before the appearance of Islam, Banu Sulaym lived mainly in the Hejaz, in the Arabian Peninsula. With the appearance of Muhammad in the seventh century, they fought against him first, only to be conquered by him and be made to convert to Islam before his death in 632 AD. They reverted to Paganism after Muhammad’s death, but again only to be forced by Muhammad’s first Caliph, Abu Bakr (632 – 644), to submit to Islam. With the second Caliph, ‘Umar (634 – 644), and the beginning of the invasions of neighbouring countries, they joined in the Islamic wars of conquests and established themselves in Syria, from which many of them moved to the northern part of Mesopotamia (Jazira). Some of them, however, remained in Hijaz, and these later merged with the Yemenite tribe of Banu Harb. Those who went to Syria and Iraq continued to participate in the frequent civil wars of Islam.

They remained in Syria and Mesopotamia until the 10^th century, when, as a consequence of their support, together with the tribe of Banu Hilal, they gave to the Qarmatians (القرامطة) against the Fatimid Dynasty of Egypt, they were exiled en masse by the Fatimid Caliph al-Aziz (975 – 996) to Upper Egypt in order to keep them in check. Banu Hilal were also exiled to Upper Egypt.

They did not stay in Egypt, however, for a long time, for when Egypt was hit by a severe famine during the Caliphate of Al-Mustansir (1036 – 1094) that extended from 1065 to 1072, they left Egypt, with the tribe of Banu Hilal, and migrated to the Maghreb (North Africa to the west of Egypt), and settled particularly in the eastern part of Libya (Cyrenaica, برقة). Many of present-day Libyan Arab tribes in that area trace their roots to Banu Sulaym.

The descendants of Banu Sulaym in Libya are currently known as Sa’ada (قبائل السعادي), and are divided into two main divisions:

1. The Harabi (الحرابي) tribes, who secondarily descended from Harb ibn ‘Aqar (حرب بن عقار), and they consist of the Ubaydat (عبيدات, who descended from Idris, son of Harb ibn ‘Aqar), Bara’asa (براعصة) , Hasa (الحاسة,who descended from Hawass, son of Harb ibn ‘Aqar), Derasa (الدرساء,who descended from Idris, son of Harb ibn ‘Aqar) and Aylat Fayid (أولاد فايد,who descended from Fayid, son of Harb ibn ‘Aqar) tribes.
2. The Jabarina tribes who consist of the ‘Awaqir, Magharba, Majabira, Aryibat and Baraghith tribes.

The Hasa (بني حواس), which is part of the Harabi larger group, has also three divisions who are concentrated in the towns and villages of Jebel Akhdar (الجبل الأخضر) in eastern Libya:

1. Galabidha (قلابطة)
2. Shabariqa (شبارقة)
3. Taj’aib (تجايب)

In the nineteenth century, many of these Arab tribes, including the Hassa and Aylat Fayid migrated back to Egypt, and settled in various parts, including Alexandria, Fayum and Upper Egypt.

It is thus clear that Zahi Hawass was an Arab from the Arab tribe of Hasa in North Africa which itself is a distant branch of Banu Sulaym Arab tribe that originally inhabited Hijaz, in Arabia. Furthermore, his recent family only came to Egypt towards the end of the 18^th century/beginning of the 19^th century. Zahi Hawass has no roots in ancient Egypt, and cannot claim an ancient Egyptian ancestry. The Egyptian historian and expert in Arab genealogy is actually right.

It may be said that we as Copts should welcome any Egyptian who claims roots in ancient Egypt and denies his or her Arab identity. This may be true, and it may be politically useful, but it must be based on historical facts. If not, then it is sheer cultural appropriation. Whether it is Afrocentrism or the Arabs in Egypt who claim to be descendants of the Pharaohs or owners of its their great heritage, it must be resisted, for it’s the worst kind of cultural appropriation – it’s theft of identity from the Copts who are the only direct and purest descendants of the ancient Egyptians.

Why do we write about this? Because Zahi Hawass’ claim of ownership of the heritage of ancient Egypt is often repeated by many Egyptian Arabs, who, in my opinion, know that their claim is false, and are insincere about the identity they claim, but, nonetheless, use it for profit.

Note. The writer wants to assert that the national identity of an individual does not make him a great man or a lesser man. This is not about race but is about cultural appropriation. A good Arab is as good as a good Copt; and a bad Copt is as bad as a bad Arab. This is our Christian position on this matter. This also should not be taken as disrespect of Hawass as an Egyptologist.

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[1] See Al-Masri al-Youm: زاهي حواس: المصريون ليسوا عربًا ولا أفارقة.. وعثرنا على بردية تشرح كيفية بناء الهرم by Ghada Abdel Hafiz (17 November 2019).

[2] See, e.g., Arabi21: أثري مصري ينزع عن المصريين عروبتهم.. كيف رد عليه التاريخ؟ by Muhammad Mu’ghawir (24 November 2019).

[3] See Sada Misr: الشريف احمد شقير يرد على الدكتور زاهى حواس ويتحداه ان يثبت اتصال نسب عائلة مصرية واحدة لنسب الفراعنة (14 November 2019).

[4] Ibid.

[5] I am not sure who is the author of this book, but I guess it is Salah Ta’ib, as he has a book by that title, which was published in 1974. I have not been able to get hold of it.

[6] For more on Banu Sulaym, read: Banu Sulaym in Wikipedia.