A pervasive element of daily life in Egypt is the baksheesh or bribe. As a tourist, almost everywhere you go you are hit up for money. Upon entering a cultural site, an amateur tour guide usually sweeps in to offer his services, after which a tip is expected. And simply getting from point A to point B in a taxi involves haggling over prices, and even then you aren't guaranteed that your driver won't try to jerk you around.

According to Egyptians expatriates I've spoken with, this aspect of Egyptian society extends to the workplace as well; in order to get ahead or get things done, one has to know who to pay off when. Mere talent and hard work are no guarantees of earthly rewards, a frustrating situation for those who just want to make an honest living. In America, we have laws but more importantly a culture that inveighs strongly against corrupt behavior, and for the most part punishes it when it is exposed (although we're no Finland!)

I gather that this "baksheesh culture" is an aspect of developing societies around the world. Data from Transparency International suggests that corruption among public officials and low GDP per capita go together. What I wonder is, which is the chicken and which is the egg? Can a country, by embarking on a program of reform like that mentioned here, break out of the grip of poverty? How important a factor is reduced corruption in increased growth? Or does economic competition somehow tend to make corruption less viable?

I noticed that the tourist attractions in Coptic Cairo--which include several Coptic churches, the Coptic Museum, the Ben Ezra Synagogue, and the remains of some Rome fortifications--were being renovated in part with funds from USAID, whereas the reconstruction of mosques and Ottoman houses of Islamic Cairo was assisted by funds from the European Union. Indeed, as I mentioned below, Al Azhar Mosque's muezzin gave America the thumbs down because he said we didn't contribute to the rebuilding of the district after the 1992 earthquake. Granted, the US has given over 25 billions dollars in aid to the Egyptian government, but this seems like a missed opportunity.

UPDATE [9/28/04/ 12:40 PM] by praktike: I should add that Coptic Christians do face persecution in Egypt, as documented here. I had tea, briefly, at the home of an elderly Coptic couple whose arms were tattoed with their date of birth and the Coptic cross. I still haven't figured out if this is some sort of government policy, but it is clear that there is a great deal of discrimation against them. About 1.5 million Egyptian Copts now live in the United States.

We Americans tend to overestimate, I think, the extent to which Islam permeates daily life in the Arab world.

While one can hear the call to prayer ("Allahu ... Akhbar") repeated loudly from most quarters of Cairo at the appropriate times, only true believers appear to actually perform their Islamic duty with regularity. While it was common to see a fewmen praying on carpets outside the smaller, newer mosques in commercial areas (they're kind of like convenience stores for religion), only on Friday did I see any mosques filled anywhere near to capacity.

Nonetheless, a very large percentage of men in Cairo do have a dark, raised spot on their forehead indicating a lifetime devoted to prayer. I think most people must pray privately, or not at all.

Quick note on the above photo [praktike's place], which was not taken by me, although I have a similar one waiting to be uploaded.

It's a view westward towards the Nile, from the Citadel originally fortified in the 12th century by Salah al-Dinh, the legendary Kurdish warrior who defied the evil Crusaders. In the 19th century, the Citadel complex more or less was given its current form by Mohammed Ali, the Ottoman ruler who spawned the royal dynasty that ruled Egypt until King Faruq's abdication in 1952. Here's the full history of the Citadel. Today, tourists can visit three mosques on the site, along with the strange Military and Police Museums and some other stuff.

The two buildings dominating the photo above are the Sultan Hassan Mosque and Madrasa and the al-Rifai Mosque. While they look similar, the former was built in the 13th century (Mamluk period) while the latter was only finished in 1911 in the same style. You can't see this in the photo, but the thick outer wall of the Sultan Hassan Mosque and Madrasa contains two or three beauty marks from when Napoleon's troops rained cannon fire down upon some Egyptian rebels hiding out in the complex. The al-Rifai Mosque is far less impressive architecturally and historically; it is disinguished mostly by the fact that is the final resting place of King Faruq and the last Shah of Iran. So you get two loser Middle East monarchs for the price of one admission ticket!