tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45770360582686954882024-02-08T07:49:15.964-08:00Ahmed Seddik RecommendationsAhmed Seddikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12445803394480975246noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577036058268695488.post-55514842999276512052010-11-30T11:11:00.000-08:002010-11-30T11:11:20.370-08:00Recommended by Naguib Mahfouz Biographer<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am very pleased to recommend Mr. Ahmed Seddik of Ahmed Seddik Tours in his pursuit as an expert guide for ancient and medieval sites in Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only does he have an outstanding knowledge of Egyptology and ancient Egyptian monuments (including ongoing excavations), he is similarly conversant in Islamic history, as shown in several tours of Islamic Cairo that we have conducted together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is also clear in his very numerous, well-researched public lectures in Egypt on a wide range of topics within it--literary, historical and linguistic—many of which I have shared in personally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(An Arabist, my 2008 doctoral dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania, on fiction set in ancient Egypt by the late Nobel laureate in literature, Naguib Mahfouz, made broad, closely supervised use of Egyptological sources, and I have also extensively studied Islamic history, both at the University of Michigan and U-Penn.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His considerable acumen and insight extend far beyond these fields to also embrace Arabic literature, science and mathematics too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His masterful familiarity with the vast and intricate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">oeuvre</i> of Ahmad Shawqi, “the Prince of Poets,” is a great achievement in itself, and could only have been attained with his extremely erudite knowledge of Arabic grammar, syntax and vocabulary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, he is highly trained in English literature, grammar and lexicography, a most rare combination with such a background in Arabic, let alone Egyptology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, Ahmed is a genuine polymath in the truest sense of the word, and has educated himself far beyond what his formal studies at the American University in Cairo have taught him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As to his character, Ahmed--a natural showman, with a distinct (and very Egyptian) love of attention--is also extremely thoughtful and helpful to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our experience together, in which we have shared in delivering lectures (mainly on Mahfouz)--and even co-produced and performed in short plays (e.g., on the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb)—has been an extremely rich and happy one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m quite sure that yours, with this uniquely gifted human being, will be as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sincerely,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Raymond Stock, Ph.D.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Assistant Professor of Arabic and Middle East Studies</span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Drew University</span>Ahmed Seddikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12445803394480975246noreply@blogger.com0