EGYPT/FILE: Official state funeral held in Cairo for nobel prize winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz after he died aged 94

An official state funeral for noble prize winning Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was held in Cairo on Thursday (August 31), with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in attendance. The prolific Egyptian novelist, who in 1988 became the only writer in Arabic to win the Nobel Prize for literature, died on Wednesday in Cairo at age 94. Mahfouz, whose writing on taboo topics often rankled nerves in conservative Egypt, had been hospitalized on July 19 after he fell in the street and sustained a deep head wound that required surgery. He died after suffering from a bleeding ulcer. Today Mahfouz was given a state funeral attended by the country's political elite, including President Mubarak and Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, as well as Egypt's best known artists and intellectuals. An army marching band played a funeral dirge as Mahfouz's coffin, draped in the red white and black Egyptian flag, was carried by horse drawn carriage up a central avenue in Cairo's Nasser city suburb. Best known for his "Cairo Trilogy", Mahfouz became a literary force when he moved beyond traditional novels to realistic descriptions of Egypt's 20th century experience with colonialism and autocracy. Mahfouz was declared an infidel by Muslim militants because of his portrayal of God, and he survived a knife attack in 1994 that seriously impaired his ability to use his writing hand. Al-Azhar, the highest Islamic authority in Egypt, banned his 1959 novel "Children of Gabalawi" on the grounds that it violated Islamic rules by including characters who clearly represented God and the prophets. The long time Egyptian Secretary General of the Arab League also spoke of his sadness at Mahfouz's passing, but said that his influence would endure. "I am extremely sad at the loss of Naguib Mahfouz, but our consolation is that he is immortal because of his novels and what he represented to Arab and international literature," said Moussa. Mahfouz, who rose to prominence following his portrayal of Egypt under British occupation and the autocratic rule of President Gamal Abdel Nasser that followed, influenced writers across the Arab world. His support of Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel brought him the wrath of many Arab countries, who banned his novels. But many of his works have been made into Arabic films and his books have been widely sold across the Arab world. The renowned writer publicly opposed Islamic militancy, but before the 1994 assassination bid he had declined police protection. Two men were hanged in 1995 for the attack. Also attending the funeral today was American Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, who said that Mahfouz was one of the few Arab authors known by readers in the America, and who said he had long enjoyed the renowned authors work. "One of the rare Arab authors, maybe the only Arab author, who is known in the United States of America and loved through his works that are known in translation through the American University press," said Ricciardone. "I personally came to know his work when I was here in the 1980s and when I read the first one I got all of the ones I could find in English. I have an entire shelf of them. I had the special privilege of visiting him when I returned to Egypt as ambassador," he added. Earlier in the day there was a public ceremony, at Cairo's Sayyidna Hussein mosque.

ITN Source | August 31, 2006

Tags:. .prize. .fell. .sadness. .sad. .ability