A greatness reborn

Humanist, Sept-Oct, 2004 by Brian Trent

These are auspicious words, but are they realistic? In short, will the new library directors be anxious to stock copies of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, the volume that spurred former Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to pronounce the fatwa--death-sentence--against the author? Modern fundamentalist cultures in this global region have already caused irreparable harm to some long-standing relics of the past. Before September 11, 2001, the Taliban government of Afghanistan made headlines when it launched a campaign to destroy all the country's ancient Buddhist statues, some of which dated back to the second century. What reason did they have for this destruction? Former Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar explained: "I don't care about anything else but Islam."

What happens when voices such as these--and they will--protest the efforts at enlightenment and crosscultural pollination that Mubarak hopes to see? Will the library burn again?

It has taken 1,600 years for this most remarkable of places to be reborn. The world the Ptolemaics knew has vastly changed; the webs of technology tether all nations on some level, and global information is no longer confined to one locale. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a symbol, then, of real change. "The library is an international center," said Mubarak, "a gift to mankind that will enrich the past, the present, and the future." Skeptics may be reminded that a renaissance did emerge from the church dominated stew of medieval Europe. Whether that happens again is a question only history can answer.

Brian Trent is a professional journalist, essayist and novelist who lives in Waterbury, Connecticut.