Ikhlas Azmi
Professor of English Literature
Dr. Ikhlas Azmi, a Professor of English Literature, talked in the interview about her educational journey. With the support she received from her enlightened family, particularly her father, Ikhlas graduated from the Department of English Language and Literature, at the Faculty of Arts, in 1943, before earning her MA in England in 1949, and her PhD from Ain Shams University, in Egypt in 1960. She taught at al-Saniya School, then at the English Department of the Faculty of Commerce, and served as the Department Head. Ikhlas also worked as a Professor at the Faculty of Arts.
Born in the affluent and quiet district of al-Helmeya al-Gadida, Ikhlas grew up in the family house with her sister and two brothers. She began the interview by describing the deterioration to the neighborhood, explaining that by the late 1950s and early 1960s, the architecture and rate of construction changed a lot, leaving the district with narrow streets, and overcrowded areas. Ikhlas also spoke about her father, who worked as the Director of the Regulatory Authority in Cairo, and the Director of the Customs Authority in Alexandria. She described him as a very enlightened man who loved reading, believed in the importance of women’s education, and who was keen on her education, although none of the girls in his family completed their education. Ikhlas acknowledged her father’s role in fostering her love for reading, both Arabic and English literature. She recalled that during high school, she managed to read books by Mustafa Lutfi Al-Manfaluti, Taha Hussein, al-Jahiz, and other authors because her father signed her up at Dar Al-Kutub, so that she could borrow books. As for her mother, Ikhlas described her as an educated, well-informed, and well-read woman who was also keen on education.
At the age of four, Ikhlas attended a mixed-sex coeducation kindergarten for two years. The principal was British, while the teachers were Egyptians, and the education depended on games, roleplays, and small-scale performances. Ikhlas then attended al-Helmeya School for Girls, before moving to a school in Alexandria, when her father started his work there. She studied for six years to obtain the primary certificate, for which students sat for an oral exam in both the Arabic and English languages before a committee of examiners. When Ikhlas returned with her family to Cairo, she attended al-Saniya Secondary School for Girls. The school operated on a full-day basis, during which students were served lunch daily inside the school. Students studied for four years to obtain the General Culture Certificate, then one year to earn their high-school diploma. Ikhlas recalled that the school had a British principal, who was very strict and assertive with the students. Among Ikhlas’s classmates was Dr. Latifa al-Zayyat, who used to stand on the school benches to protest against the British occupation, without the British principal’s interference. Ikhlas’s father died when she was in high school, and her mother insisted that she pursued her university education, and accomplished what her father had aspired her to achieve.
Despite receiving the highest national score in geography, Ikhlas chose to study at the Department of English Language and Literature, at the Faculty of Arts, in order to follow in the footstep of her role model, Amina al-Saeed, the Egyptian woman pioneer of journalism. Amina had joined the English Department, while Ikhlas was still in high school. In 1939, Ikhlas enrolled in the English Department of the Faculty of Arts, at Fouad I University (now Cairo University). Among her school classmates who also pursued university education after their school graduation were Bothaina Abd al-Hamid, the media personnel Tomader Tawfik, the journalist Safiya al-Mohandes, in addition to Dr. Nour Sharif, who later became the Head of the English Department at Alexandria University.
Ikhlas recounted that, at first, all her professors at the English Department were foreigners, until Egyptian professors, such as Dr. Louis Awad and Dr. Amin Rafael, started teaching there. She was also taught by Egyptian professors from the departments of Geography, History, Philosophy, and the Arabic language, at the Faculty of Arts. During her university years, Ikhlas took part in various activities, including educational trips, as well as the weekly movie screenings at the university’s conference room, for which the ticket was 15 piasters. She recalled how the public library was full of seminal books. She also participated in demonstrations against the British occupation, but all of them were inside the university premises. Ikhlas and a number of female students were exempted from the university fees, and only paid for the textbooks out of their own pocket, which was a decision taken by the university at the time to encourage girls to pursue university education.
Ikhlas earned her bachelor’s degree in 1943, before attending the Higher Institute for Education to qualify as a teacher, and graduated top of her class in 1945, when the Dean was Ms. Asmaa Fahmi. In 1946, Ikhlas and her colleague Dr. Bothaina Abd al-Hamid received a scholarship from the Ministry of Education to study for the master’s degree at the University of Sheffield, in Britain. She travelled by sea, and experienced a cultural shock at how the British people misperceived Egyptians. Ikhlas recalled that the British were astonished at her ability to speak the English language. She earned her master’s degree with a dissertation on George Eliot, then returned to Egypt in 1949.
Upon her return, Ikhlas was appointed as a teacher at al-Saniya School, but tried to seek a post at the university because her school post was limited to teaching the language, and she did not get the chance to teach English literature. She started teaching at Cairo University, at the English Department of the Faculty of Commerce, where she was the only woman, while all the professors were British men. Ikhlas recounted that students from all the faculties at Cairo University came to see this girl teaching at the Faculty of Commerce. In 1951, and after the departure of the British professors, she was commissioned by Dr. Hussein Kamel Selim, the Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, to establish and preside over the new English Department. During her post as the Department Head, Ikhlas founded an arts committee, through which students performed music and plays at the Opera House and on other stages. In 1953, Ikhlas began teaching at the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, which was under construction then, and was accompanied by her colleagues Dr. Dawlat Sadeq and Dr. Mary Fahmi. She also served as the Library Secretary of the Faculty’s library, and consequently traveled on a mission for ten days to visit libraries in Germany and Britain. In 1960, Ikhlas received her PhD from the Faculty of Arts, at Ain Shams University.
Ikhlas shared her vision and opinion about the several political events she witnessed in Egypt, including the 1952 Revolution and the 1967 War, among others. She was a member of one of the several committees formed during that time to monitor the situation at the university, in the aftermath of the Naksa. With a number of university professors, including Dr. Fouad Zakaria, Ikhlas took part in issuing a statement in 1971, protesting the irresolution regarding the Israeli presence in the East Bank, in what was known as the Year of Decision.