São Paulo – As of July, the chair of the Arabic language master in Brazil will be vacant. After 53 years living in São Paulo, Helmi Nasr, one of the country’s highest authorities in Arab culture and Arabic language, is returning to his homeland, Egypt. “I feel lonely,” says professor Nasr, at age 93, sitting in a comfy chair in his Higienópolis district apartment, the same one that he welcomed this ANBA reporter in, about ten years ago, to discuss his translation of Koran, the holy book of Muslims, from Arabic into Portuguese.
He was married to the Brazilian-born Lebanese descendent Nida Gattaz, who passed away seven years ago, and will go back to Egypt to join his family. In the Arab country, Nasr has a son, a brother, granddaughters and nephews. “My family is big,” says the professor, adding that at his age, he needs care. The master wants to rest. He will live in Cairo. “I have accomplished my mission. I am going to end my life in peace,” he says, claiming he is tranquil and happy. “I am leaving Brazil at peace, I am going back to Cairo at peace,” he says.
Nasr implemented the teaching of Arabic at the University of São Paulo (USP) as soon as he arrived in Brazil, in the 1960s. The Egyptian government sent him to spend a year working on that, even though he did not speak Portuguese. The Egyptians considered that the French language, which Nasr mastered, resembled Portuguese. By the time the professor retired from USP, ten years ago, Arabic was the topic of undergraduate, master’s and doctorate studies. He had taught some of the professionals that have risen to prominence in Arab culture, literature, history, and language in Brazil, the likes of whom include Safa Jubran, Paulo Farah, Arlene Clemesha and Mamede Jarouche.
But the Egyptian did not remain within the confines of university classrooms; he envisioned a greater mission for himself, of keeping Arab culture alive among the Arab immigrants and descendants living in Brazil. Along the way, Nasr translated the Koran into Portuguese, published an Arabic-Portuguese dictionary, translated sociologist Paulo Freyre’s book Novo Mundo nos Trópicos (New World in the Tropics) into Arabic, and acted as a spokesman for Arab culture throughout Brazil, delivering seminars, giving interviews and partaking in debates about his studies and experiences as an Arab and a Muslim.
Nasr worries about there being people in the Arab colony to carry the culture and language forward and pass them on, and celebrates the fact that descendants are not restricted to retail, as they were upon arrival in the country, but have branched out into all areas, from medicine to teaching. Feeling encumbered with a different role than the man of trade’s, and being a man of intellectuality, he joined the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in the 1970s, and remained a loyal board member until his departure for Egypt.
The professor was invited to the Arab Chamber when the Hospital Sírio Libanês (the Syrian Lebanese Hospital) was about to be built, and the Arab community was looking for the construction. Despite being a man of language and believing himself unfit for the job, Nasr joined a committed tasked with finding money for the endeavor. He ended up collecting US$ 200,000 from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and another US$ 200,000 for the building of Hospital do Coração (Heart Hospital), another project of the colony.
Currently the Arab Chamber International Relations vice president, Nasr expresses concern about leaving the board with no fluent Arabic speakers, but speaks fondly of the friends he made, and says he is proud of the work the organization does for trade. “I have lived a wonderful life of friendships at the Chamber,” he asserts.
As a director, he was one of the prime movers of the process that culminated with the Chamber’s recognition by the General Union of Arab Chambers of Trade, Industry and Agriculture and by the Arab League, in 1992.
Nonetheless, Nasr believes Brazil’s ties with Arab countries could use more government incentive. “Because everything that is happening is happening naturally,” he claims, noting that with incentive, the impact would be stronger.
A Muslim, Nasr never wavered in his beliefs, and religion is one of the pillars of his life. Until this day, attending the Mesquita Brasil mosque, on São Paulo’s Avenida do Estado every Friday is mandatory. Since his early years in the city, when Muslim temples were rare in Brazil, he has frequented the same mosque. “Now there are dozens,” he says. Nasr also never fails to pray five times a day, in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset and in the night. “It’s like a meal,” he says. He describes praying as the biggest symbol of his religiosity.
Another synonym of Islamic faith, for him, is in treating people. “A Muslim must be humane, treat others with care, help the poor, give part of his wealth to the poor,” he says. Proof of this is the fact that of all his academic accolades, the one that makes him happiest is having translated the Koran. And out of all the books in his library, which take the best part of his time nowadays, the ones he reads the most are religious books.
Nasr returns to Egypt feeling like a Brazilian. And also an Egyptian. “But more Brazilian than Arab,” he says, with a cheeky, sincere smile. Then he goes on to say that despite conversing in Portuguese for over 50 years, he still thinks in Arabic. The best thing about Brazil, he says, is “the people.” “Very pleasant, very kind, really humane,” says the professor. Nasr’s neighborhood is home to a strong Jewish community and he has no problems relating. They are friends and they are neighbors. “Friendship is friendship. Hooray for Brazil,” says the professor.
With Nida, Nasr shared most of his years in Brazil. She was a Spanish professor, also at the USP, and they lived together for almost 30 years. She passed away due to lung complications. “She was wonderful, very pleasant,” he says. In an old photograph on a shelf at his home, Nasr shows the tall, elegant woman he was married to. Himself a speaker of Arabic, French, English, Persian, and a bit of Spanish, Nasr used to speak Portuguese with his beloved one.
Born in Mansoura, in the Nile Delta, whose scenic gardens he still recalls, the professor will return to Cairo. There, he will be surrounded by doctors: his son is a renowned cardiologist. His brothers are also physicians: one lives in Cairo, the other in the United Kingdom. Nasr has no work-related plans for Egypt; just rest and family. He hopes to find a country that struggles to live well. And he is returning the way he left, playful and with an easy smile. Posing for a photo with a picture of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti in his hand, he quips: “My aunt,” and breaks out laughing. By July he will be there, in the land of the legendary queen.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
