Alaa Al Aswany

Egyptians are in a situation they have never known before: for the first time they are taking part in a presidential election without knowing in advance who the next president will be. The credit for this great step forward in the history of Egypt goes, after God, only to the...

A Presidential Candidate: Good morning, sir.

An Important person: Good to see you. Where have you been? It's been ages since we heard from you.

C: Well, I've been busy with my election campaign. I visit a different province every day and hold rallies until I'm totally exhausted.

IP: Buck...

Suppose you live in an apartment building and in the apartment opposite you, there is a neighbor you don't get along with. You've had numerous problems that have proven to you that this neighbor is selfish and thinks only of his own interest. This neighbor talks about principles but often,...

What would you do if found out that someone you've been dealing with is a liar? When he makes a promise, he doesn't fulfill it and when he says something, it turns out that the truth is the opposite of what he's said. The result is that you would completely...

Suppose you wanted to build a house. You have the money but you can't build it yourself, so you call in a builder to take on the task in your place. And since building a house is a job for specialists and needs to be done according to sound engineering...

A few weeks ago the German public discovered that the president, Christian Wulff, had failed to declare a large private loan from a friend while prime minister of Lower Saxony. When prosecutors asked parliament to lift Wulff's immunity as president to investigate possible favors, Wulff resigned. In another scandal several...

This place is impossible to describe because it's unique and defies imagination. Roughly speaking, it is a vast garden full of large luxuriant trees and flowers of exquisite beauty that sway in a breeze of unrivalled freshness. The garden has a round gate garlanded with flowers and in front of...

If you had a daughter, you would no doubt love her and worry about her, and you won't let anyone harm her. If you had a daughter you wouldn't put up with anyone molesting her physically and you would be prepared to defend her with your life if she was...

Dear General:

Further to our meeting with the consensus presidential candidate where you confirmed our support of him in the presidential elections, and further to your Excellency's orders, I hereby submit a number of suggestions for achieving our goals that I hope you will approve:

First, before we start supporting...

Last summer a friend of mine was driving his elderly mother from the north coast to Cairo and on the way his mother, a diabetic, suddenly felt ill. He looked for a pharmacy and when he found one he went in and found a bearded pharmacist. My friend asked him...

Last Saturday renowned broadcaster Dina Abdel Rahman went to host her daily program on the Tahrir TV network and was surprised to find that the management had lined up another anchor to host an alternative show in her place. Dina Abdel Rahman is one of the most successful broadcasters in...

There is an elderly patient, more than eighty years old, who is residing, without exaggeration, in the most luxurious hospital in Egypt. He alone occupies a whole floor of the hospital and all the rooms have been opened up to create what amounts to a royal suite equipped with every...

Tarek el-Bishri is a distinguished judge and a great historian. From his books we have learned the modern history of Egypt, but he belongs to the Islamist school of thought. Bishri knows, of course, that when a revolution succeeds in overthrowing a system of government the revolution has to draft...