By Nayera El-Zeki
Social media has become an indispensable platform for exposure, marketing, influencing opinions and openly criticizing. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since there are two sides to every story, but what happens when a person gets mocked with no regards to their feelings, privacy and/or any emotions a human being usually has? People have utilized Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as a platform that connects them with the celebrities they want to harass; an act they pass off as valid because the victim is a celebrity, meaning they’ll get over it.
The book is about women empowerment and the tremendous role each of the women mentioned in the book plays in society, not just in my life, it’s not about picking girls up from Al-Rehab.
Rapper and Author Zap Tharwat’s latest book has stirred up people into a haze of confusion and controversy about whether or not the two-time-successful author has struck out with this one. As a means of expressing their opinions, audiences used Facebook and Twitter, with an exclusively made hashtag, to mock the author.
The book titled “Habebty” discusses the women in Tharwat’s life, but before you jump to conclusions about polygamous relationships and immoral scenarios, the women discussed in the book are his mother, sister, unborn daughter and unmet wife, and of course Om El Donya.
“The book is about women empowerment and the tremendous role each of the women mentioned in the book plays in society, not just in my life, it’s not about picking girls up from Al-Rehab.” Tharwat says.
Tharwat who is genuinely Egyptian in identity and in lyrics, has been known for his role in advocating female-empowering causes. This was reflected in his song “Meen El-Sabab” which was an eye-opener to many about how sexual harassment affects not just the victim, but society as a whole.
There are some prominent names on Twitter whose opinion I used to take highly, but then I found that they, just like everyone else, were sharing unverified information and made-up-quotes from the book.
It hit us as strange that when he decided to write a book about just how significant the women in his life are to him, audiences perceived it in a questionable light because of the amount of sarcastic publicity mainly revolving about the part where he speaks about meeting his potential wife in Al-Rehab City.
During the interview, Zap read us a few chapters from his book and we thought it was sincere and realistic without being a burden to read, which is what everyone needs from time to time.
This raises the question, have we become an audience that immediately jumps at the chance to trash someone else just because it’s a way to vent?
“There are some prominent names on Twitter whose opinion I used to take highly, but then I found that they, just like everyone else, were sharing unverified information and made-up-quotes from the book without considering how it affects their credibility,” Tharwat Says.
In his defense, Tharwat explained to us that he openly said the events of the book were fictional and that the book was written in conversational language in order to be an easy to relate to, read-at-any-time-anywhere kind of book.
Tharwat’s previous books, “Agenda” and “7 Days” were both greatly received and commended, and were written in the same easy-to-grasp language.
“The problem is that us Egyptians like to go with the flow without taking the time to consider consequences,” Tharwat says.
At the end of the interview, Zap Tharwat read us a few chapters from the misunderstood book, and we loved the simple phrasing and everyday situations we could relate to. “I advise the audience to read the book first then criticize it if they feel like doing so, constructive criticism is always a good thing, but doing so must be with an informed opinion not with sarcastic thoughts,” Tharwat says.
Don’t take our word for it, judge for yourselves. Following are some excerpts from the book:
