‘Living Encyclopedia’ Claims to Be 125

KUM ASHFIN, Egypt — The “living encyclopedia” of Kum Ashfin sits cross-legged on a mat on the floor, sharing stories of past leaders of Egypt, the initial British withdrawal from the country in 1936 and the history of his village over the last century.

Mohammed el-Wasimy claims to be 125 years old, and has made headlines in Egypt in recent weeks as one of the country’s oldest citizens. The sudden publicity even garnered him a spot on a popular evening talk show, and it is now routine for the blind, nearly toothless man to welcome strangers into the dim, three-room house where his parents once lived.

Though his official national identification card gives his birth year as 1919, el-Wasimy maintains he was actually born in 1875, before birth certificates were issued in Egypt. He first applied for an ID card in the late 1980s, when doctors estimated his age after a physical examination.

Salah Ahmed al-Hariri, secretary of the regional community council, said his office cannot list birth dates before 1900 because there are no records to substantiate such claims.

“But I am sure that Mohammed is over 120 years old, because he has been known in the area for a long time as a very old man,” al-Hariri added. “Everyone knows he was born around 1880.”

El-Wasimy, gray stubble on his face and his head wrapped turban-like in a white scarf, looks old, but he is not feeble. He lost his eyesight eight years ago and is hard of hearing. He has just two teeth, and his voice is high-pitched and scratchy. He no longer farms his fields or walks miles a day to the market, carrying a bushel of dates on his head.

But el-Wasimy remains active in the life of this town of 10,000 people on the northern outskirts of Cairo. He has memorized the Koran, Islam’s holy book, and teaches it to the young boys of the village. Every Friday he walks the short distance to the mosque for the weekly sermon. Friends regularly visit his home for tea and discussion, and others come to check facts on the town’s history or talk about the way things used to be.

“When I was a teenager, he was already an old man. He made rope swings for the little boys,” said Nasser Mohammed Mursi, a 58-year-old neighbor who comes to el-Wasimy for details on his family’s genealogy. “He’s like a living encyclopedia for the villagers.”

El-Wasimy has lived in Kum Ashfin his entire life. He began working with his father as a fruit vendor when he was 6, and continued that job throughout his life, supplemented by farming. He married in 1950 and has three children, 15 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

“It used to be very hard for people to earn money and to survive,” el-Wasimy said, saying he put off marriage for a long time because it was too expensive. “Now all is easy because it is easier for people to get money.”

Whether he is 80 or 125, el-Wasimy has lived a long life for Egypt, where average life expectancy is 67 years, according to UNICEF.

What is his secret? “I eat everything, drink lots of tea and put my faith in God,” he said. “I keep the holy Koran because God kept me.”

His wife, Fatma Hassen Suleiman, 75, said her husband has never been to a doctor for an illness, choosing instead to use natural remedies for whatever ailed him. He worked hard physically his whole life and never smoked or drank alcohol, she said.

“I believe in God and am satisfied with my life,” el-Wasimy said.

But he admitted to one unfulfilled dream: making the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it is required to perform the hajj once in a lifetime.

“I’m counting the days until the next hajj begins [in mid-March] and hope to be there,” el-Wasimy said.