The Humaithara valley

The majesty and solitude of the Humaithara valley in the Red Sea Governorate is beautifully portrayed in this short film (watch, runtime: 5:22) by Egyptian filmmaker Seif Abdalla and photojournalist Mohamed Mahdy. The Humaithara Mountain is considered by Sufis as a shrine for the late Sheikh Abul Hassan Al Shadhili and is where nearly half a mn people from all over Africa congregate in to celebrate the Mawlid. The film, which plays sometimes like a documentary and others as a string of almost surreal and moving imagery, captures the religious significance of this holy place. Egyptian Streets sat down with Frederic Brusi, a PhD researcher at Stockholm University focusing on Sufism in Upper Egypt and Sudan, on the appeal of sites in the modern age. “In pre-industrial time, regional and local sites of pilgrimage were very important for Muslims… it’s possible that the practice of pilgrimage outside the hajj is again becoming more popular.”