Putting an End to Nonsensical Myths and Superstitions
El-Watan, Egypt, February 18
What’s even more dangerous to the peaceful existence of societies than a global pandemic is a different kind of virus: that of myths and superstitions. Superstitions lead to cognitive paralysis and forces minds to work against their own interests and survival instincts. The latest myth that we are dealing with, which has been circulating virally on social media, relates to the late Egyptian actor Alaa Waley El Din, who passed away in 2003. According to the myth, El Din’s family recently discovered that Alaa’s body did not decompose, despite being buried in the ground for over 19 years. The late artist’s brother said that he tried to transfer the remains of his two brothers, Khaled and Alaa, to alongside their mother, from their place of burial in Nasr City to a different cemetery in Sayeda Aisha, which Alaa had bought before his death. Upon retrieving the body, the story goes, the brother discovered that Alaa’s body remained intact. This surely isn’t the first time that a rumor of this sort spread in Egypt. It was often said that Egyptian star Abdel Halim Hafez’s body did not decompose in the ground. On the 44th anniversary of Hafez’s death in 2021, his brother’s son stated that he discovered that his uncle’s body had not decomposed when he tried to move the remains from their place. In a televised interview, the nephew explained that changing groundwater levels forced his family to relocate the tomb and, during the move, he discovered his uncle Abdel Halim Hafez sleeping in peace, with things like his hair, eyebrows, eyelids, ears, mouth and nose still intact. The truth is that science and logic tell us that anybody buried in the ground, from Alexandria to Aswan, will decompose. Alaa Wali El-Din or Abdel Halim Hafez are certainly no exception to this rule. This is true just like the fact that the boiling point of water is 100 degrees Celsius. That’s just a scientific fact. Whether a body belongs to a dead sheik, a saint, an artist, an athlete or a farmer doesn’t matter. I hope this will bring an end, once and for all, to these ignorant rumors. If not for the sake of the dead, then at least for the sake of those of us still alive, who have to put up with this nonsense. – Khaled Montaser (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)
