Bayoumi Andil

Beginning in the 1980s, Andil's work focused on promoting the revival of secular Egyptian nationalism, on language and linguistics in Egypt, and on the revival of ancient Egyptian culture. Despite his admiration for Taha Hussein, an intellectual of the Egyptian enlightenment movement in the first half of the 20th century, Andil criticized Hussein's publication, Mustaqbal al-Thaqafa fi Misr or (The Future of Culture in Egypt). He argued the work did not adequately define Egyptian culture.

Andil asserted that the language spoken in modern Egypt is not a dialect of Arabic, but rather a linguistic evolution of the Coptic language and the ancient Egyptian language. His most well-known book, The Present State of Culture in Egypt, posits that Egyptians have resisted attempts to change their national identity, language and national religion. Although the country embraced Christianity in the 1st century AD and Islam after the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, Andil states that Egyptians Egyptianized both Christianity and Islam. He argues that the "true" Egyptian spirit survived only in the oral culture of illiterate Egyptians, specially rural Egyptians, whose illiteracy protected their national identity from disappearing. He was also an Egyptian nationalist. He stated that traditional Egyptian culture is pluralistic and respectful of women. He espoused secularism and scientific thought, and called linguistics a "noble" field of study.

Among the cultural norms stressed in Andil's writing was the respect of women. Unlike the region's other peoples, Egyptians were distinguished by the appreciation of women. The attributes that the Egyptians gave to Sayeda Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohamed, had their source in the attributes of Isis. The same could be said about her brother al-Hussein, the attributes that the Egyptians gave to him had much in common with the attributes of Osiris. Although Egyptian culture changed in many ways over the ages, certain features survived. The first is tolerance, a characteristic of agriculture-based societies, and the second is plurality which led Herodotus to describe ancient Egyptians as the most pious people. Centuries later, Sigmund Freud conceived of Egyptians as a gentle people, while he considered Semites wild and savage. Plurality in turn led to the promotion of equality between men and women. Yet there was a setback in terms of the status of women with the advent of the Abrahamic religions that were introduced to Egypt under the Romans and later under the Arabs and the other invading rulers. Andil has a telling story to confirm his view of the inherent gentleness of Egyptians. He heard the story from a Palestinian friend who was living in Gaza during the Israeli invasion in 1956. When Jewish soldiers of Egyptian origin inspected her home, they caused no harm to the family, on the contrary quelling the family's fears. One of the soldiers gently told her grandmother: "Don't be afraid, mother, and don't bother to get up. Stay where you are." Iraqi Jewish soldiers, by contrast, stormed her neighbours' house and wreaked havoc in their home and committed horrible crimes.

Bayoumi Andil (Arabic: بيومي قنديل) (31 July 1942 – 8 October 2009) was an Egyptian linguist and writer who authored many books on Egyptian culture and Modern Egyptian language.