4.1 MET: En Train to Luxor, Part One

I took an overnight train to Luxor. I boarded the train in late evening at the Ramses station in central Cairo, and the train stopped briefly at Giza Station 30 minutes later. An attractive young Muslim lady got in and seated herself next to me. The First Class cabin I was in had seating like the business class on a plane. I was pretty beat after a long day, so fell asleep quickly after Giza.

The train ride was smooth and pleasant. I didn’t wake up until we were about an hour away from Luxor. My seatmate also woke up, and we began socializing.

Originally from Haram, or Giza, she was an endocrinologist working in Sinai. Still a medical degree candidate, she was traveling to Luxor for a medical conference after stopping by Cairo to see her folks. Her father was a diplomat but had already passed away, and her mom was a physician herself. Since her childhood, she had already traveled to most of the Arab world.

Intrigued by her background, I asked her about her experience as a Muslim studying western medicine. She said that the US and European communities had advanced researches in medicine. Although she disagreed with western family values and foreign policies, one of the Egyptian ways was to adopt good things. Western medicine was a good thing. She had no problem studying it and had been to the US for medical conferences. That reminded me that the American fast food chain stores were ubiquitous in Cairo. The Egyptians may oppose America’s junk policy, but certainly enjoy its junk food.

Feeling emboldened by her frankness and friendliness, I ventured an aggressive question: “Would you go if you were invited to an important conference on endocrinology in Tel Aviv?” Daughter to a diplomat, she said she would go to Belgium where the endocrinological research was most advanced. “Seriously”, she continued, “ I have to think about it if it’s in Israel”. In her opinion, the appearance of reconciliation between Egypt and Israel remained at a diplomatic and business level, and as for the public, there was still palpable tensions. Regular Egyptians still had problems with the state of Israel.

I noticed my seatmate covered her hair as many Muslim women I saw in Egypt, so asked her about this Islamic practice. She informed me that according to the Qu’ran, a woman needed to cover her hair, neck, and arms. If someone dressed up like a beekeeper, it was more a local and sect tradition, but was certainly not required by the Scriptures.

Asking about my itinerary, she commented that although most people visiting Egypt wanted to see the ruins from ancient time, to her, an Egyptian, those legendary structures meant little as they were merely an evidence of pharaohs’ self grandeurs, and they had little to do with an average Egyptian, then or now. She appreciated more about the Islamic teaching about caring the people around you. Preaching or now, she sounded sincere.

Obnoxiously persistent, I asked her about another Islamic practice: praying. When I was visiting the pyramids, I sat on a hill overlooking them and the modern city of Cairo waiting for sunset. Then the call for the sunset praying went on from probably thousands of high volume speakers all across Cairo. To me, it would be inconceivable for doctors to simply stop surgeries or soldiers to drop their weapons. She responded that she just prayed in her seat. She supposed that praying was not just a physical activity. If one could stop and pray, that’d be nice, but if one couldn’t, she thought, it was also fine as long as pray took place in one’s heart. The act of praying was independent from the actual behavior.

Then she smile and said, she just prayed that I would have a safe trip in Egypt.