What will you do if an Egyptian greets you.

by Yusuf Kocaman 3:23 PM - Saturday, March 26, 2016 0 comments Arabic culture Egypt Egyptians hospitality

 

Since I have talked about the technical things of Egypt it is time to start talking about it's people. Most Egyptians are very nice people, Most of them greet you nicely, and they are generally very nice. They show great hospitality towards foreigners, as they are very social. Almost everybody is a friend to everyone else. These people are generally the best people I have ever seen.               

In Muslim culture: people greet each other by saying (السلام عليكم‎) “As-salamu alaykum”, which means “peace be upon you”. Even people that you might not know might greet you this way. If an Egyptian greets you with this words, You should be ready to respond "Wa-Alaikum-us-Salaam" ("and upon you the Peace"). These sayings are an important part of Muslim Culture. In-fact when we are late to our Arabic class becomes furious, however when we greet him this way, he smiles and says “Wa-Alaikum-us-Salaam”, then continues to get mad at us. Almost every Egyptian will respond to you if you greet them like this.

Egyptians also show much hospitality. If you were to be talking English in the streets they will hear you and try to talk English with you. There is a small store close to our house that sells food and such things, when I go to him, even though I speak Arabic with him he responds in English. The first time I went to the barber, the barber asked me where I was from, when I said I was from America he said “you honor us”. The Egyptian people show great welcoming towards strangers.

Here, everyone is a friend to everyone. When we were going to Giza to ride ATV's (by the way it was really fun. Riding towards to pyramids on the desert was amazing), on the way, our bus driver had to ask directions. He had to stop sometimes and everybody he talked to to ask the way, they talked as if they were close friends for years. In the meanwhile me and my friends were thinking about how our bus driver had too many friends. Almost everyone here is each others friend, and it is really easy to spark a conversation with somebody. One time we were going in the taxi to somewhere, the driver noticed we weren't Egyptian him and our supervisor had a friendly conversation about where we were from. It isn't very hard to make a friend here in Egypt.

Egyptians are very nice people that show great hospitality and kindness. They greet foreigners warmly. They are mostly very close with each other and refer to each other as “brother”. I'm not sure if it's because of the Arabic culture or the Egyptian touristic culture, however, I can say they are one of the the best nations I've met.