The incarcerated Reformer: Free Islam Al Behery!

Among the few serious Muslim reformers in modern times, comes Islam Al Behery as one of the most talented, young analytical minds to surface in the Middle East region in many decades.  Unlike many other Islamic reformers, Al Behery simplistic and direct approach has distinguished him from his contemporary and more classical reformers such as the late Nasr Abu Zayd or Farrag Fouda. His eloquent and convincing method of TV lectures through the program “With Islam” has rallied millions of followers young and old all across the Arabic speaking world.

For many he seemed to be the key to unlocking the solution to a dilemma between preserving the faith and adopting modernity. But woe betide for those who dare to challenge the religious powers that be, represented in Al Azhar institutions, Ministry of Awqaf (Endowments) and Salafist groups in Egypt. Though the above entities may fight amongst each other for the bragging rights of being the most righteous representative of Islam, they all united against one man who dared to defy the norms and present the Islamic faith without the complications and adopted traditions that has negatively affected the core of the faith throughout centuries of practice.

The Smear Campaign preceding the court sentence:

 

Islam Al Behery despite his massive popularity was left to fend himself alone against a deluge of Al Azhar institute supporters and minions both in the form of  clerics, media anchors and journalists. False rumors were spread in his name which included that he questioned the validity of Prophet Mohamed saying, insults his disciples and he is an apostate. All of these fallacies  been spread like fire in a haystack by the same minions who are usually the guardians of backwardness in Egypt. For the first time since June2013 revolution, the entire Anti-Islamists media have joined forces with the very Islamist terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood supporters along with their allies the Salafists against Al Behery . They launched a vicious propaganda campaign against the reformer which resembled medieval witch-hunting and inquisition tactics. Throughout, the campaign was fueled by pro-government and anti-government media alike, they have questioned the reformer integrity , sanity, nationalism and of course his faith despite ironically him being called “Islam”!

The end result of the vicious smearing campaign, was a lawsuit against Al Behery followed by a bizarre sentence of 5 years in prison that was reduced to 1 year upon plea.The writer was convicted by Cairo Misdemeanor Court on December 2015 of defaming the Islamic faith. The sentence was given according to the controversial and unconstitutional law of Blasphemous Libel. The shocking verdict has tossed all the high hopes of change and reform in Egypt into an abyss of despair and oblivion. After the hope that filled Egyptians after June2013 revolution of ousting Islamists once and for all , again the Egyptian writers, journalists , reformers and general public are in fear of the consequences of writing or saying anything that could be interpreted by others are heresy, blasphemy and find themselves in courts of law.

Al Behery was not supported by any government, official or media entity short of few independent media anchors  who believed in his cause. Even his own TV network has nearly sold him out at one point in favor of not opening a front against the Al Azhar powerful propaganda machine. The media network Al Kahera Wal Nas who introduced the young reformer to the public through the program “With Islam”, distanced itself from the writer/reformer and started to issue apologies to appease the Azhar institution .  Al Azhar institution administration witnessed a man being prosecuted by their clerics and their media minions and yet stood idle despite the façade of moderation that they always attempted to maintain. It is apparently a message sent by Al Azhar for others not to follow Al Behery path or face similar consequences.

Al Behery chief  fault was believing in the system, the law and the constitution which on paper protect the freedoms of religion, speech and belief. The reality is a completely different story. The sentence could be part of the black comedy that Egypt lives on nowadays where a President calls upon Egyptians to adopt reforming the Islamic faith but the opposite happens. When Egyptians such as Al Behery answered the call by starting to provide a modern understanding towards religion, they get jailed for it under laughable pretexts.

Islam Al Behery is a victim of many things in the Egyptian society and on top of them the Blasphemous Libel law that resembles European medieval laws. According to this law , any person who is found criticizing one of the 3 Monotheistic Abarhamic faiths Islam, Christianity and Judaism would be fined and serve a jail sentence. The ironic part here is that Islam is as his name suggests is a Muslim who happens to be not just devout but also a profound researcher in all sections of the Islamic Theology. Not only Al Behery was defending the Islamic faith against the misinterpretations of many Islamic scholars, but also asking his audience to adopt a new method of adhering to the faith that doesn’t simply follow the footsteps of these scholars but newer understanding of the Holy Quran and the religion by means of utilizing the critical and creative thinking methods.

Ultimately, Al Behery efforts and growing popularity have angered powerful and influential Al Azhar Islamic Institution. As the official Islamic institution of Egypt since the 10^th century A.D, Al Azhar clerics and Sheikhdom granted themselves  the right to be the sole speaker on Islamic matters by self proclaiming that they are the most knowledgeable in terms of Islamic theology. Al Azhar administration waged a ferocious media war using all its influence to tarnish and discredit Al Behery accompanies by an army of mercenary journalists and writers who portrayed Al Behery as the public enemy number one.

Al Azhar hardly spent a similar effort in combating actual extremism and violence except  the traditional clichéd’ press releases after every terrorist attack taking place in Egypt or any other country. They refrained for labeling Al Qaeda or ISIS as Kafirs or heretics as they claimed that it is unrighteous to question the belief of any other Muslim. However, they have no problems in questioning and publicly condemning the beliefs of peaceful and non violent writers such as Al Behery and many others. This type of behavior from the current administration of Al Azhar places the great institution in a questionable position especially after decades of being infiltrated by Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists.

Admittedly,  the institution condemns every violent or terrorist act worldwide without hesitation  but when it comes to practically fix the Wahhabi Islamist theology that the terrorism is founded upon, they refrain from that. On the contrary they witch=hunt researchers, reformers, writers and journalists who do so. This duality has been the prevailing fact in Egypt for decades.

Al Azhar Grand Imam Dr. Ahmed Al Tayeb is perceived by media and internationally as being one of the most moderate voices in the Islamic faith. That statement might be relatively  true but on the other hand, he opposes profound reformation  since he believes that Al Azhar is already a beacon of enlightenment and moderation. That refusal was shown publicly when Grand Imam Al Tayeb diplomatically shunned the President’s call for reformation in the presence of the of the President himself publicly claiming that Al Azhar is already teaching reformist Curricula and protects the faith from any form of extremism.

Later on the Grand Imam and after what is believed be some pressure from the Presidential  office, have conceded to the idea of reformation and claimed that Al Azhar will blaze the trail for the path of reformation. Almost a year and half later, nothing substantial has taken place and the victims such as Reformer Islam Al Behery and writer/poet Fatima Naout are increasing in number as Al Azhar affiliated and influenced media tarnishes their reputation and the judiciary system finishes them off with prison sentences.

The President’s neglected call:

Calling for a reformation within Islam and Muslims understanding of the holy scripture and faith, President Al Sisi shocked the world by his bold and direct call to all Muslim Clerics and intellectuals  to work on reforming the Islamic faith and what has been taken for granted as part of the faith within its own boundaries. The call was welcomed by all media, scholars and politicians of all faiths and nationalities. Almost a year and half later, the call seems to have fallen on deaf ears as nothing substantial has been attained till this moment in August 2016. Short of a few trivial changes of curricula in some school textbooks, the media, society and government are still as wary to any change or reform as they have ever been.

The once pillar of moderation and modernity within the Islamic world Al Azhar has been deeply infiltrated by Wahhabism and extremism that has tainted its long traditions of tolerance towards other religions These teachings were once deeply imbued in its scholars teachings generation after generation. Al Azhar scholars used to be filled to the brim with the spirit of the reformation and tolerance that has characterized them for centuries. It also characterized  Egypt more than any other predominantly Muslim country, as a place of interfaith tolerance and a country where faiths may exit in harmony. Alas, eight decades after the founding of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, traces of that tolerance is becoming rare to find as years pass.

Al Azhar infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood and Wahhabi teachings are rampant within the texts and academic material provided by institution  to its own students.Al Behery during his long TV series have exposed the radical views that are being taught by Al Azhar scholars to younger students thus helping in creating more radicals instead of  moderate and tolerant scholars. Accordingly, entrusting Al Azhar at its current Sheikhdom of Wahabbi and Muslim Brotherhood infiltrated body to reform the Islamic beliefs is entrusting arsonists to protect a forest from fires.  French Statesman George Clemaenceau  (1841-1929) once said War is too important a matter to be left to the military and accordingly in today’s Egypt Religion is too important a matter to be left to the Clergymen.

Thanks to these Islamist clergymen of all types, Egypt has been witnessing decades of on and off violence by radicals who get inspired by so called Righteous Salafists (Al Salaf Al Saleh) teachings which is an accumulation of mostly unverified texts and sayings unrelated to Prophet Mohamed message and mostly even contradicts the very holy texture of the Quran. Nevertheless, Al Azhar still believe that this legacy of conflicting theology should be preserved and even taught as part of the curriculum to new students and scholars.

Al Azhar administration seems to be so frightened to open the door for new interpretations of the Holy Quran (Ijtihad)  by anyone other than their own conservative and traditionalist scholars lest they would lose the power they held for over a millennium. Little do they know that through these actions , they are gravely harming the faith they vowed to protect and pave the way for radicals such as Wahhabis and terrorist such as ISIS who actually defy all Al Azhar moderation and teachings, to gain more ground at their expense.

President Al Sisi fight on terrorism has only been on the security level where the war is being successful on most fronts whether in Sinai or others across Egypt. On the other hand, the fight against terrorism is impeded on the cultural and theological level. The president’s strategy has been severely lacking and he is not showing the same boldness he initially displayed in countering extremism, sectarianism  and terrorist ideologies and still concedes to the will of Al Azhar who show little interest in reformation.

Thus far, the President has failed the Egyptian intellectuals who believed and acted upon his call for a reformation within the Islamic faith and depended on his protection on doing so.It is not too late for President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi to take the initiative again and enforce the rule of law. He is urged to  initiate a true era of enlightenment, logic and reform within the Egyptian society that has been scarred by decades of backwardness, extremism and religious bigotry. Also he is deeply urged to issue a presidential pardon for Al Behery and all similar freedom of expression prisoners in Egypt. Also , he is urged to call upon the Egyptian parliament to end this sham called the Blasphemous Libel law once and for all.

Free Islam Al Behery!

Just like any other religion, there are enemies of the Islamic faith spread across the four corners of the globe. They are usually fueled by the current waves of extremism depicted in the likes of Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. These bigots or enemies of Islam will always find excuses to hate Muslims and Islam regardless of what moderate Muslims such as reformer Islam Al Behery do to present as the real face of Islam. That said, it is becoming more apparent even to the most delusional, that the real enemies of Islam lie within the faith itself. These enemies are the ones adopting the faith while committing atrocious crimes in its name and claim raising its banner.

These above mentioned enemies are the ones that Muslims must focus on targeting and eliminating first to save their own religion and their lives. These kind of harsh sentences by the Egyptian judiciary wastes the efforts the entire nation is doing to combat terrorism and extremism ideologies that are adopted by all the terrorists across the globe.  The thousands of Egyptian soldiers, policemen, judges, policemen, journalists, writers and regular citizens who paid their lives as a result of the endless terrorism waves since the inception of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 till today will be in vain because terrorism must be fought by security  and cultural means simultaneously.

Combating terrorism and ending a generation of terrorists will only serve as a prelude for another wave of terrorism if the same ideologies are  adopted by terrorists still prevail in the Egyptian society and unfortunately protected by the powers that be. Unfortunately, the reformer has paid the price of being a citizen in a nation that seems not ready for such reforms. Al Behery still spends his jail sentence now and pays for saying what he believes is true. His incarceration will never stop him or similar people from spreading their message of freedom of thought and reformation, as freedom and truth always find a way in prevailing in the end regardless of the odds against them.

For that and all the above Islam Al Behery must be set free and be given the right to express himself freely according to the new Egyptian constitution and the very call of the President for reformation. That call which should have rejuvenated the movement for Islamic reformation now seems completely derailed and lost its path. The winner in this case will always be terrorism and extremism.

Free Islam Al Behery !

 

 

 

 

 

ALBAWABA NEWS: Saudi Islamist Blacklist: Game Changer?

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” 

― Albert Einstein

A new chapter and a new game is being introduced to the war on terrorism in the Middle East as a result of the Saudi Arabian bold political decision to enlist Muslim Brotherhood organization (Worldwide) , Al Qaeda with all its branches in (Yemen, Arabia, Levant) El Nusra Front of Syria , DAESH (The State of Iraq and the Levant), Hezbollah (Lebanon) , Al Hoothy Shia’ Brigades (Yemen) and all related and affiliated organizations which may indicate Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Palestinian based Hamas .

Saudi Arabia has finalized the game changing process that started with Egypt declaring the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group on December 2013 and Hamas declared by Egyptian courts as a terrorist organization on March 2014. Just 2 days from another shocking diplomatic decision of withdrawing Saudi Ambassador from Qatar for supporting Muslim Brotherhood, propaganda against the Saudi Kingdom through the Islamist propaganda machine Al Jazeerah . That decision was in coordination with the Emirati and Bahraini governments who felt the same threat from the small Gulf principality who seemed to aim for much larger role than its actual capabilities and size.

One of the most notable matters was that the Saudis didn’t ban officially these groups even at the height of the George Bush Administration War on Terrorism that had counter effect. The reasons were not exactly known but what is clear that the Saudi government has finally realized that his is a game of thrones and they have to choose sides now and not any other time especially that they have seen what these terrorist elements are able to do if nurtured and given sanctuary on their land. As a matter of fact, it was Saudi Arabia who has given shelter and financing to the Muslim Brotherhood during the crackdown on them by Nasser’s regime in Egypt in the 1960s. However, the very Muslim Brotherhood were the ones who repaid the Saudi government by plotting against them in an attempt to seize power in Saudi Arabia which led to banishing them from the kingdom.  Saudi Arabia is no stranger to terrorism as the Kingdom has been fighting it since the infamous 1995 Khobar Towers Bombing that killed 19 US Servicemen and wounded 498 others in the most devastating terrorist attack in the Arabian Peninsula.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabian organizations have been propagating the Wahabbi doctrine for at least 4 decades and it is the basis of its interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence in the Kingdom. Without Saudi institutions funding the Salafists in Egypt , Iraq, Lebanon , Syria and other countries they would have seized to exist long ago . Though most of the money is not directly through Saudi government but the funding takes places under the Saudi Regime watch. Now it will be revealed if banning these Jihadist terrorist groups that all entirely adopt Wahhabi doctrine short of the Shia’a Hezbollah in Lebanon marks a shift in Saudi government domestic politics or adapting more moderate approaches to Islam’s interpretation. It’s not a secret that King Abdullah was criticized by his foes as leaning toward a more free society.

Accordingly, many question arise as a result of this unexpected decree including:  would Saudi Arabia government curb on the activities of the Salafist or Wahhabis groups and their financiers like the Egyptian government did on the Muslim Brotherhood in an attempt  to curb extremist views? How far  Saudi Arabia  will attempt to modernize its social structure as well as laws remains to be seen? And only time will answer these questions. But undeniably this is a historical step and decision for the Arabian kingdom that that might pave the way for a better future for the Saudi Arabians in the long term.

On the other hand, it’s noteworthy to observe that the Saudi decision was loaded by stipulations that seem questionable and require clarifications from Saudi government which includes; Prohibiting what is labeled as “the spread of Atheism”, Questioning the pillars of Islam , revoking the pledge of allegiance towards the rulers and elders (Wilat Al Amr) , advocating violence and calling for wars in other countries and finally pledging allegiance or endorsing party, group or individual in Saudi Arabia and outside. The decree also prohibits endorsing, donating or financing any violent or terrorist group by any means necessary regardless physically, through mass media or social media which can be understandable but never mentioned exactly the parameters and methods of applying this decree.

The above mentioned stipulations, indicates that the new decree though historical is not without its possible disadvantages only yet to be seen in practice and Saudi government is recommended to clear these ambiguities in order for the law to be effective and focused only on fighting terrorism not personal rights.

The bold decree by the Saudis if applied without any infringements on personal and human rights will be a great step forward for the kingdom and its neighbors. Also the international impacts of this will put USA, UK and EU governments to shame for refusing to declare the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization despite their terrorist activities in the region for decades especially in Egypt.

Finally, several media reports indicate the Saudi and other Gulf countries like United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for Egypt to join in an economic and political pact which may also include according to some observers Jordan, Kuwait and maybe even Morocco.  Should this happen it will create a belt Creating this alliance sounds to some a farfetched goal since the traditions and societies vary between these nations but economy and security will be the main aim of such a coalition. This coalition is aimed to countering external threats to the region like Iran and also internal one which is terrorism. Only upcoming weeks and day will reveal the nature of such presumed coalition but the fact remains that the Saudi decision can be easily labeled as historical.

ALBAWABA NEWS: Saudi Islamist Blacklist: Game Changer?.

Betting on the Wrong Horse

From the very early days of the Jan 25th Egyptian revolution, US President Barack Obama administration and Department of state led by former Secretary Hillary Clinton, has demonstrated a total lack of capability of keeping up with the hour to hour escalating situation in Egypt and reading the political situation. The displayed performance by Obama’s administration has shocked and alienated both the pro-Revolution and anti-revolution sides in Egypt while shaking the image of the United States domestically and internationally.

USA and EU have followed a path that they believed that will solve their long term problems of  the immigrations of North African and West African by making sure that the citizens of these nations wanted which is Sharia law according to their limited vision about the state of affairs in the Middle East.

Many of their so called political Think Tanks produced reports which were more worthy of the contents of Septic tanks that  can be summarized ; that once Islamist regimes are installed in the region, USA and EU will have no further problems of immigration of Middle Eastern countries as the Muslim populations will prefer to stay in their home countries and enjoy the Sharia laws.

Much to their amazement the Middle Easterners and Arabs were not seeking a medieval rule but they were aiming to transform their own countries toward modernization and development . The June30th 2013 Revolution in Egypt was a clear message in that context to the western world and so called  Think Tanks.

For over a decade the USA has been fighting in Afghanistan a war against the same type of terrorists that the Egyptian army is facing in Sinai and all over the Egyptian state. Yet for some reason Obama administration has granted legitimacy to intervene in Afghanistan and Pakistan while Egyptian army is portrayed as an aggressor just for defending the Egyptian nation’s borders and interior against marauding terrorists lead by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Obama administration chose silence regarding the crushing of the peaceful secular demonstrations in Turkey against the Turkish eccentric Prime minister who turned Turkey in the Journalist’s biggest jail in the world. Erdogan police forces have even shown no discrimination in handling women protestors and shocking photos about have surfaced all over the news agencies and internat.

On the other hand, police and army enforcing law in Egypt by the demand of the citizens is frowned upon and considered violence by the same Obama administration. Obama stood still while the country was pushed to violence by Islamists and Jihadist led by Muslim Brotherhood who are attempting to terrorize the nation with all forms of terrorists acts starting from firing arms randomly passing through assassinations and bombing government building. That was all casted aside by the US State Administration which denounces the killings of civilians and armed forced by the feeblest words and denouncing arresting the ring leaders, financiers and perpetrators of these terrorist

Should the American policies were originally non-interventionist, none could have blamed the USA politicians just as much as no one blames their Japanese or Brazilian counterparts for not denouncing certain acts of violence or others. However, the Obama administration insists on interfering in favour of Islamists and neglecting the rights of the rest of Egyptians and Turks to live in a free society with the tyranny of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and their counterpart APK party in Turkey.

 

Barack Obama’s major mistake to leave delicate matters like relations with Egypt in the hands of such senators like John McCain  who ruins relations with other nations as he breathes.  . A president whose campaign promised to instill “Change” in Washington have made the worst bet an American president could ever make and lost it. With that lost bet he lost a legacy that could have been his , should he played his cards right.  It’s not a secret that even if the USA manages to acquire its lost influence in the region, it will not be a trustworthy partner to its traditional friends and allies in the region like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey ,etc..

 

Currently, Obama is clinging to the faint hope of actually resurrecting a dead peace process between Palestinians and Israelis and believe that this agreement might save his legacy. Obama still fails to see the big picture that as long as the likes of Hamas still ruling Gaza with an Iron fist while he was he effectively weakening the legitimate Palestinian authority in Ramallah throughout his 5 year rule , he will never attain a peace in the Middle East.

At the same time, Egypt is fighting an unannounced war against Hamas which has been proven to be red-handed in countless terrorist attacks in Egypt recently , he still doesn’t support Egyptian efforts to contain that terrorist group and supporting the actual terrorist group  Muslim Brotherhood and calling their branding as terrorist “Alarming” . One could easily imagine the reaction of the USA if Egypt had supported Taliban or Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and denounced labeling them as “Terrorists”  by the USA!

 

While Egypt the long term ally is paying a huge price maintaining moderation in the Middle East and fighting a lone war against terrorism, Obama administration provided a life support to an ailing radical Iranian regime through the Geneva accords of 2013 believing he will prevent the inevitable of acquiring a nuclear bomb which threatens all the Middle Eastern countries as well it will initiate a nuclear arms race in the region.

For several decades the international community has attempted to establish a reliable cooperation with the so called moderate Iranian leaders like former President Khatamy and current one Rouhani. These so called “Moderate” leaders seem to take shifts with Radical ones like Ahmedinajad every few years to provide a breathing space and a smiling face for one of the most tyrannical regimes in the world.  Nevertheless, the final word in Iran remains in the radical clerics and their so called “Guardians of the Islamic Revolution Council” headed by Former President and Radical Supreme leader  Ali Khamenei. Accordingly the same Iranian regime expansionist and aggressive policies towards their neighbouring countries still prevail regardless of the denial of the Obama administration and its allies who believed that the Geneva agreement is a great achievement.

One day President Barack Hussein Obama administration will ponder on how USA lost its long standing influence that was exerted in the Middle East since the Suez Crisis in 1956. Also they will regret the influence it had on the Middle East region as a main player especially after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Nevertheless, it has to be mentioned that, the American influence was not exerted simply for being a superpower but actually as moderator and an efficient commercial and military partner to the region key countries to maintain at least some form of stability in the region. However, starting from the catastrophic mistake of invading Iraq during Bush administration followed by a series of other mistakes last of which were supporting Islamists to topple governments by any means necessary has diminished the role of the USA as a reliable partner to the region’s  countries. Usually the USA had maintained a certain form of good cooperation with governments and some of the region’s populace held that role in high esteem but Obama administration has lost the hearts and minds of the Middle Eastern region and on top of them the Egyptians , whom even their most Pro-American  citizens cannot fathom or explain the contradicts and negative messages sent by his administration to Egypt.

Obama administration has lost its bet in the Middle East by making all the wrong choices for several years and will leave a difficult heritage to deal with for future American administrations. Obama during the time left in his presidency has an uphill battle to fight in order to rectify the damages that his policies have left the already battered Middle East in but the trust between him and the leaders and people of the Middle is long lost.

Egyptian comedy icon Adel Imam under jail threat!

Legendary Adel Imam represented comedy at its purist form in the Egyptian cinema for over 40 years. Imam was not just a comedian but a drama actor who captured the hearts and minds of Egyptians as well the Arabs for decades. He represented in my many cases the hero or the anti-hero who breaks the rules of bureaucracy and ridiculous traditions in his society.
Imam rose to stardom in the early 1970’s as a superstar for the new wave of Egyptian comedies of that era. Mentored by the legendary actor Fouad El Mohandes who is considered by some to be the greatest Egyptian comedian of all time, Imam didn’t just follow the path of his mentor but his impeccable talent created a comedy school of his own. He portrayed the daily life of the average Egyptian man in most of his movies, plays, TV and Radio series. Egyptians would find Imam representing their daily struggles and life hurdles. The man was the biggest name in the industry in Egypt in 1980’s and 1990s and still retains that title till now despite the heavy competition from his generation and new generation stars.Through his career Imam battled backwardness, terrorism and religious zealousness. He was the arch-rival of all the Islamists movements in Egypt and often portrayed them in a manner that is satirical and comical to draw attention of the populace to their divisive and sectarian rhetoric. Some of his movies reached international success like the 2006 “The Yacoubian Builiding” based on award winning novel by the same name written by Egyptian famous novelist Alaa El Aswany. The movie was set in 1990s after the first gulf war and describing the social rift and economic struggles between classes in Egypt after decades of the 1952 coup d’etat. These struggles are displayed in the portrayal of characters of different classes living in the same building situated in the heart of Cairo’s downtown. Yacoubian Building is considered by many as of his best masterpieces and received world wide acclaim and rewards.
As a payback to his continuous mocking and satire against the Islamists throughout the past decades, an ultra conservative Salafi lawyer from Alexandria sued Imam for what he deemed as anti-Islamic movies throughout Imam’s career. The weirdness and preposterousness of this claim is not new to the Salafi followers who try to witch-hunt many Egyptian artists, writers and poets, whom they claim to be anti Islamic and sue them for blasphemy and heresy. Unfortunately, some of these law suits find a hearing and a place in the judicial system that has been infiltrated recently by Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups.
The court has fined Adel Imam and sentenced him to 3 months in prison. Also, the same court rejected his appeal to drop the charges and sentence. This court ruling is considered to be one of the most outrageous infringements of freedom of expression in recent memory and set back to all the mottos and slogans of the 25th of January revolution.

Imam may have not been a great advocate of the Egyptian revolution and one can understand why now as the replacement of the old regime was nothing more than his old enemies the Islamists.  The man who is nick named as “El Zaeem” or the Leader represents a great importance to every Egyptian for he was among those who portrayed the hardships of their daily lives under previous regimes on silver screen and TV. Despite being accused of siding to the previous regime and being a friend of the ruling family of Mubarak, the man still represents an artistic and cinematic icon of his generation and generations to come.

Egyptian cinema is considered to be the Hollywood of the East with over 300 million viewers in the Arab world and outside. This cinema industry is one of the main reasons that gave Egypt its prominent cultural position in the Middle East and particularly the Arab world. Also it’s a reason that the Egyptian accent is widely understood in most Arab countries as well as the Egyptian tradition, culture and sightseeing’s thus giving a great boost to the tourism industry. In short, the Egyptian cinema is part of the Egyptian cultural prestige in the region and the entire world.

 

Egyptians, who are known by their excessive and blatant sense of humour only rivaled by Americans and Italians, will not stand idle to see their comedy and drama hero being jailed for giving them great years of joy and happiness. Hardly any Egyptian of any age or social status who lived in Egypt or abroad haven’t watched at least a dozen or more of his movies, plays and TV shows. The iconic star will always remain in the heart of people and will be supported by all the Freedom fighters in Egypt and the whole world against the dark forces of tyranny surfacing from the deep abyss of backwardness, ignorance and terrorism.

Adel Imam’s case is a fight for freedom of expression that all patriotic Egyptians must stand their ground for or they will find themselves to be next in line accused of heresy and disdain towards religion. This is not a fight that Egyptians should take lightly but it’s a fight for survival. Art is what captured the imagination of the ancient Egyptians civilization by the entire world and still is the pride of every Egyptian till this date. Art is the message and imprint that each civilization is weighed by in the annals of history. Without art ancient Egypt would have been a tiny footnote in history since all those temples, palaces monuments and documents of human achievements won’t have existed. The same applies to modern day Egypt, if Egyptians succumb to the will of Islamists to fight freedom of Expression then the Egypt we know today will cease to exist. Moreover, if freedom is defeated in Egypt it will not take a long time before it’s completely obliterated in this troubled region.

Adel Imam gave Egyptians, Arabs and the entire world decades of joy, happiness, laughter and great art while on the other hand his Islamists archrivals gave these nations nothing but wars, misery , poverty, terror and backwardness. This is a call to all the freedom fighters and human rights groups around the planet to support free Egyptians against the tyranny of Islamists and forces of darkness. Support the freedom for Adel Imam and all artists in Egypt and the Middle East. Your voice must be heard to support this great actor in his ordeal or it will be only a matter of years before the infection is spread in your country. This is a time to reflect on French Journalist, writer philosopher and Nobel laureate Albert Camus words of wisdom “Without freedom, no art; Art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others.”

Support the freedom for Adel Imam

There is no business like God business: Islamist exploitations

 

Over two thousand years ago the great Greek historian Herodotus described Egypt in his memoirs as follows: “Concerning Egypt itself, I shall extend my remarks to a great length, because there is no country that posses so many wonders nor any that has such a number of works which defy description” then he added “They (Egyptians) are religious to excess, far beyond any other race of men”Herodotus description of ancient Egypt couldn’t be more accurate and certainly still resembles the modern day Egypt especially when it concerns religion. In the land that invented Beer and created belly dancing, religion is and piety ironically plays a factor in almost every Egyptian’s life. Be that he is a Muslim, Christian, Jew or any other creed. The organized religion in Egypt dates back to the ancient Egyptian Sun-God Ra. Other Gods Osiris, Seth, Ptah were worshipped in Egypt till the dawn of Judaism, Christianity and finally Islam. It may be correct to mention that the ancient deities’ worship lasted for a period that exceeds the existence latter two religions combined. Hence the sense of religiousness and piety is deeply rooted in the Egyptian mentality and society.
At the same time, Religion has been exploited constantly by its preachers constantly for power, authority and sometimes money for the same period. This can be attributed to the first ancient secret society the Amon Ra monks and all the way to the Salafist Groups of Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau .The modern Egyptians have been entangled in a web of Islamization procedures by two main forces the Salafis groups (Fundamentalist) and Muslim Brotherhood. The involvement of these two main groups in the Egyptian political and social life have shifted the momentum of the Egyptian age of modern enlightenment which started by Mohamed Ali Pasha reign (1805-1849) and ended by the abdication of  King Farouk I in 1952 through a coup’ d’état Led by Gamal Abdel Nasser and his associates “Free officers”  The 1952 Coup’ d’état marked the end of the Golden era of Liberalism and free thinking in the Egyptian society which started after the independence from British occupation in 1922 and ended in 1952.
The years that followed witnessed the sunset of the age of rationalism and secularism in the Egyptian society. They were replaced by the more tyrannical values led mainly by extreme leftists and communism ideals followed by a more lethal Islamism of the society on many degrees.
Gamal Abdel Nasser tried to instill some secular ideals in the society in a manner to battle his archrivals in power the Muslim Brotherhood. However, his oppressive methods of hunting down all liberal thoughts of all factions that opposed him sealed the death certificate of the enlightenment period and began a period of instability, wars and endless economic pressures on the country and society.  That period witnessed the rise of the Islamists post the 1967 war as Nasserism seemed to appear as a failed ideology in the eyes of the Egyptians.ISLAMIST FACTIONS IN EGYPT1- Muslim Brotherhood:Pre- January 25th Revolution

Hassan El Banna

“Listen and obey” is the motto of the prominent Islamist group which was established in 1928 by Islamic Scholar Hassan El Banna. El Banna one of the most controversial figures in the modern Egyptian history. The man behind the politicization of religion in the region and his impact is still felt till this day. The Group since its inception has been in a collision course with the governing authority in Egypt. The collision initiated during King Fouad and King Farouk’s era, through the reign of Presidents of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Sadat and all the way to President Mubarak. The group founder El Banna was assassinated in 1949 in retaliation of his involvement in the assassination of Former Egyptian Prime Minister El Noqrashy as well as Judge El Khazendar among many others who also died in their bombings of Jewish and British owned stores and businesses in Cairo. These actions led to the banning of the Islamist group for the first time in history then another time during Nasser’s era when they attempted an assassination against the late president in 1954 which resulted in the banning and crackdown on the group activities and members in Egypt. During that period the brotherhood despite it’s relatively moderate ideology about Islam compared to Jihadists have managed to produce one of the most dangerous extremists in Islamic theology which is Sayed Qutb, The man who was sentenced to death by Gamal Abdel Nasser was the God father of modern terrorism .His book “Malameh fi El Tareek” or “Signs on the road” represented the Magnus Opus and bible of Jihadist and extremists for decades till this day. He was the first to call for violent change in society through force and eradicating the infidels and to pave the way for an Islamic puritan society according to his teachings that the likes of Ayman El Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden followed later. The Quttbian followers among the brotherhood are still there despite many deny their existence and among them the General Guide of the Brotherhood Mohamed Badie.

Mohamed Badie

Since that date, the brotherhood managed to stay as the shadow players in the political scene and forged a deal in the 1970s to resume with their activities with late President Sadat on the condition that they would abide by the laws of the country. It wasn’t long before they broke the deal and found themselves in the collision with Sadat’s regime. After Sadat’s assassination by Jihadists, they try to forge another deal with Mubarak’s and managed to form an alliance with El Wafd party in 1984 which resulted in winning about 50 seats in parliament shared with El Wafd representatives. In 2005, a final deal with forged with Mubarak’s regime that resulted in winning 88 seats in the parliament but that deal broke in 2010 when the regime managed to run of Egypt’s most rigged elections ever. Despite all of the above the Brotherhood continued their cooperation with Mubarak’s regime even during the revolution and was among the first to declare that they are not participating in the January 25th revolution only to join it later after the initial success of the first wave led mainly by the Liberals and socialists activists. The Brotherhood has franchises that follow the same ideology in over 80 different countries and a very complicated web of contacts all over the world. It’s considered as the equivalent of a multinational corporation in the form of a religious group.

Post January 25th Revolution

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time. – Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

The resounding success of the revolution led to achieving the first goal of the banned group which is restoring governmental and public recognition. Despite this recognition the banned group never registered the group as an NGO till the moment. However, Muslim Brotherhood forged a good cooperation with the Supreme council of Armed forces SCAF. A cooperation that led them to establish the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) which should have been unconstitutional under Egyptian law forbidding any form of religious party but they managed to find a loophole declaring that they are not a religious party but a party that has Islamic background ideology. That party and the earlier cooperation with SCAF led them to secure some of their long fought interests among which obtaining 44% of the Parliament seats and almost double that number in upper house.

The brotherhood became no longer the banned group but more of the lucky group and among the only few winners post of the revolution. However, the greed for power and lust for authority has dominated the actions of the members, they and their ally the Salafi party “El Nour” or “The Light” and hijacked 70 seats out of the 100 seats to form the committee for writing the constitution. This action among many others led to the alienation of the Egyptian populace and political spectrum from them with almost all liberal and socialists’ parties and powers boycotting the committee. Fortunately, the Supreme administrational court decreed that the committee was formed in an unconstitutional and revoked the formation proposed by the FJP party.

Mohamed Morsie

In the first days of the revolution Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Essam El Arian vowed on march 14th 2011 that they will only campaign for 35% of the parliament followed by an increase to 40% a few days later than 50%. Eventually they increased the percentage to cover 100% of the seats from which they won 44%. They also vowed never to present a Presidential candidate only to break that vow in April 2012 and announce Khairat El Shater as their candidate and FJP president Mohamed Morsi as a replacement candidate. El Shater who was accused and imprisoned during Mubarak’s era is the master financier of the rich organization.  The organization is estimated to earn about 500,000 Million Egyptian pounds annually from its estimated 400,000 members who donate 8% of their earning to the brotherhood. Also the businessmen members of the Brotherhood donate a huge sums of their earnings that can reach up to 20 million EGP each. Furthermore, the group has international investments located mainly in Dubai, Turkey and Hong Kong amounting two Billion dollars that generate a sum of 500,000 Million annually for the group. Furthermore, international Islamic bank like the defunct Bahamas/Swiss based El Taqwa Bank owned by Swiss/Egyptian Businessman  Youssef Nada was a continuous source of income till its bankruptcy. These numbers are sourced from Brotherhood chief financial expert Dr. Hussein Shehata in 2008.
The Brotherhood has infiltrated large sectors of society in recent years and now that is now manifested in the growing power of the 80 year old group in the Egyptian society. Regardless of what happens in the near future the brotherhood will remain a key player for at least the near future in the Egyptian politics despite its shattered image in the eyes of many Egyptians post the revolution. The party is now on a collision course with SCAF and almost all other non-Islamist powers. They have shown a real power-mongering and greedy attitude towards all parties. That attitude was prevalent particularly in the issues concerning the new constitution writing committee whom they took the lion share with their allies Salafi party El Nour. That resulted in the withdrawal of all other powers and boycotting the committee activities even by Al Azhar Islamic institution and the Coptic Church. Yet, the group relentless quest to establish hegemony over the political, economic and social life in Egypt is an ongoing process. The group are resilient into holding the position for presidency by nominating not one but 3 different candidates among them the relatively moderate Abou El Fottoh who can be the Trojan horse for Muslim Brotherhood to obtain the presidency seat.
Unless the liberals and leftists powers stand their ground and unite against this endless ambition, the third Reich scenario in Germany is no longer an unlikely scenario in the upcoming years.

2- Salafis: (Islamist Fundamentalists)

 Pre- January 25th revolution

Salafis

The Salafi movement in Egypt is the Egyptian version of Wahhabi ultra-conservative radical movement in Saudi Arabia. The movement was established by Mohamed Abdel Wahhab ( 1703-1792) in the 18th century and was quelled by the Egyptian forces of Mohamed Ali Pasha in an expedition in the Arabian peninsula in the present day Saudi Arabia. The movement first traces in Egypt can be identified by the establishment of “El Gameia El Shaaria” or the “The legitimate association” 1912 for mainly charity reasons but it was the backdoor in later years and precisely after the 1970s oil-boom in the gulf for funding projects as a façade for the extremists to fund Salafi and Wahhabi doctrine teachings in Egypt.

The rise of the Salafis groups in Egypt started slowly in the early years of the 1930’s and they found their way through society through charity work and establishing clinics for the poor in rural and impoverished areas where the consecutive governments failed to live up to their duties.
For the past two decades Saudi Arabia along with several Persian Gulf countries have funded a lot of the Salafis groups . Saudi Arabia is believed to have spent an estimated amount of over 100 Billion dollars in the past 2 decades to spread to the Wahabi doctrine worldwide according to British TV presenter Antony Thomas. The funding is usually directed to schools, mosques and charity organizations worldwide. Also other nongovernmental organizations have spent billions others in the form of charity money usually sent to Salafi groups in Egypt especially “El Gamaia El Shaaria” and “Ahl El Sunna” or the “People of the Sunni” . That flow of money has helped the Salafi groups and their scholars to gain a strong ground in the Egyptian society particularly in impoverished areas within the country where social services were badly sought after. The launching of the two Salafi Satellite channels “Al Hikma” (Wisdom) and “ Al Nas” (People) have marked a shift in the Salafis strategy in reaching further masses with the Egyptian version of Tele-evangelists presenting the programs in these channels and preaching for a rigid intolerant version of Islam that hardly has nothing to do with the original message of Islam. In fact it has a lot to do with the Wahabi version of Mohamed Abd El Wahab. Surprisingly, the Egyptian government looked the other away from that sort of Wahhabi propagation in the society.
The Egyptian government and National Security Bureau have used Salafi Sheikhs and leaders for decades to curb the growing influence of Muslim Brotherhood. They relied on the Salafis continuos declarations and ideology of Salafis that practicing democracy is “Haram” (Forbidden) as they believed back democracy is an evil invention of the west. However, that resulted that Salafis has gained much further ground in the Egyptian society and once their leaders decided that it’s “Halal” or Permitted to practice democracy and elections as a mandatory practice after the revolution, the face of Egyptian politics have chhanged forever.

Post 25th of January Revolution

The Salafi groups in Egypt with their different factions from ultra-extremists to relatively moderate (Costa Salafis) have decided by some miracle that’s it’s no longer “Haram” or forbidden to practice politics and democracy and decided to establish several political parties. The most prominent of them is the Nour Party meaning “The light” which is an oxymoron judging by the amount of dark ideologies that this party adopts. The Nour capitalized on the Salafi group already widespread believes and utilized the religious rhetoric to the extreme during their elections campaign. They called their opponents infidels and crusaders to push their followers among them many overzealous and also illiterate people away from voting for their opponents. Yet all these infringements to the Egyptian law received the blessings of the government and SCAF.

They managed to hold about 27% of the Parliament seats thanks to overspending and the vicious smear campaign against their opponents. However, their performance in the parliament is still abysmal starting from calls to ban internet pornography as a priority that precedes any other economic all the way to moral scandals.

El Balkimy

Members of  El Nour party with surrounded by s scandals as in the case of representative El Balkimy who had a nose job operation and lied about it and filed a report that he was mugged then apologized for lying. One week later a bigger scandal to be found that he was married in secret to a belly dancer. Further scandals about the part of receiving about 300 Million Egyptian pounds funded from overseas sources through Salafi groups are still lingering.
However, there is still a good chunk of Egyptians who still believe they are puritans and they are men of God. The latest episode is the Salafi Presidential candidate Hazem Abou Ismail with extremist anti-American rhetoric whose deceased mother and sister were found to be carrying American nationalities side by side to his Egyptian one. Once proven his application for presidency will be rejected..Very few Salafis have common sense and wisdom not to provoke others and maintain an enlightened moderate stance like Sheikh Osama El Quosy who appears to be more moderate than Al Azhar clerics. But the large majority are still radical and posseses extreme views of the religion .The Salafis will still play a role in the Egyptian politics for years but inch by inch the halo around them will fade as their real face is uncovered to the common Egyptian.

3-Jihadists (Militant Islamists)

Pre January 25th revolution

The word “Jihad” resonates a bad sound in the ears of the western hemisphere due to its utilization by what’s known in the media as Jihadist in their holy war against the west and those whom they deem as infidels whether they are Muslims or any other religion.

The fact is that, the actual word means doing an effort to achieve a goal like studying for exams or creating a new project. The word now is reserved for Militant Islamists in the likes of the “Islamic Group in Egypt”, “Al Jihad group” and the notorious “Al Qaeda” There is no space enough to describe the atrocities and the killings performed by these groups from the assassination of late Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, Speaker of the House Refaat El Hahgoub , prominent writer Farag Fouda all the way to the bombings in Cairo, Sinai, Luxor and dozens of other incidents that taken away the lives of thousands of Egyptians.

On international scale Al Qaeda is of course the household name of terror personified. Hundreds of these groups were arrested, imprisoned and many executed for their deeds but they found themselves a new place in the new Post revolution Egypt. They preceded that with what they called the “Revisions” of  their Ideology and modus operandi a few years ago written by the founder of Al Jihad group Sheikh Sayed Imam which he denounced their formal terrorist activities and asked all his followers to start a new chapter with society. However, still the bulk of Egyptian society is weary from Jihadists due to the years of turmoil they caused to the Egyptian society and for which the former Mubarak’s regime stripped away a lot of freedoms under the pretext of fighting these terrorists.
Post 25th January Revolution

Many Jihadists found themselves released from prison even those who spent life-time sentences (Usually 25 years in Egypt) were out , Among them President Sadat’s assassin Aboud El Zomor and many others who wreaked havoc in the Egyptian nation in the past years. The shocking release of these highly dangerous elements provided a sign to Islamists that their activities are finally tolerated by the authorities.
Added to that hundreds of members of the Jihadist groups found their way back to Egypt from Albania, Afghanistan, Iran and others in the days that followed the Fall of Mubarak. This represents a clear and present danger to the Egyptian national security for these are highly battled hardened militants who can are unpredictable in their next course of action. The reason they were permitted to enter the country again after being banned for years remains an enigma in the eyes of many Egyptians. Some deemed it as a scare tactic from SCAF to curb the revolutionary powers that these will be the replacements in case we are gone.
In the parliamentary elections they collected a small number of seats in the parliament and they are still shunned by a big sector of society despite some of them like to appear in the media as more tolerant like Nageh Ibrahim but they all fail to convince anyone except the hardcore Islamists of their clear intentions.

Nageh Ibrahim

The likeness that they play a stronger role in future remains reliant on the success of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis to grow in power even further. Statements from the likes of Khalid Al Islamboli’s (Sadat’s Assassin) brother Mohamed that a Taliban like system in Egypt will be the key to security proves once again that all the so called revisions in their ideologies were just a method for them to acquire a release from imprisonment. Given the chance most these militants will raise arms again against the Egyptian state and its people. The way to counter the negative effects for such groups will not be only counter-violence but awareness programs led by Al Azhar and other enlightened institutions in Egypt.

Part B 

Growing Islamist exploitations in Egypt

THE GOALS OF ISLAMIST AND POLITICAL ISLAM IN EGYPTA-  Islamization of the Egyptian Society:For centuries Islam in Egypt managed to maintain a moderate stance that inspired other nations from all around the world. During the darkest periods of religious wars in Europe, Egypt maintained tolerance to with Muslims alongside Christians and Jews living together in harmony. All monotheistic religions were tolerated and practiced freely for centuries all the way till 1952 coup d’etat .Before 1952, there were a Muslim King and a Christian Prime Minister and Jewish Minister of Finance at one time. However, the entire scene started to change during the years that followed 1952 with many Jews were hassled after what was known as the Israeli plotted “Lavon Affair” terrorist operation in 1954 and left for Europe, USA and Israel. Christians started to be marginalized politically and slowly from the higher seats in governments. The situation didn’t change much as the years went through and during the last 20 years forms of radical Islam brought by my mainly expatriates who lived in the Gulf-states and back home started to replace the moderate Islam. The Full Veil (Niqab) and long beards started to be more common scenery in the streets of Cairo and all Egyptians cities. The sectarian tension and dismissal from public offices for Christians and minorities becomes more prevalent as their power grows.Before the 1990s even the regular veil wasn’t very common in many rural areas especially in the north of the country. But now it’s even very common in the most urban areas. While the latter doesn’t represent a problem but the full veil have caused a wide stir in the ranks of Egyptian society, since it’s an identity as well as a security problem. Islamists have been propagating this look in the society for decades and assisted by billions of dollars donations coming from a variety of overseas sources as well as their own businesses run in Egypt. Their business is on the rise and fueled by the overzealous status they created in the society. The billions of pounds spend on buying their products be that ring tones with prayers, , Islamic veils, niqab, books of Salafi doctrine and other Islamic related products. Religion is a mutli-billion dollar business in Egypt and it’s possibly the only thriving sector of the economy after the revolution.

 B-   Full implementation of Islamic Jurisprudence “Sharia’”:

Islamists and particularly Salafis never miss an opportunity to demand for the full implementation of the Islamic Jurisprudence laws. While 80% of the Jurisprudence laws are already applied in the Egyptian law without the use of the medieval methods of capital punishments and replaced instead by jail terms and sometimes death sentences for crimes of murder.

Islamic Jurisprudence have been revolutionary 1400 years at time that Byzantine, Roman& Persian laws dominated known societies of the old world at that time. Human rights guaranteed by these laws especially regarding women rights of freedom of marriage, work, inheritance and ownership that no one women in the world possessed under any system at that time. Even the family names of women were kept after marriages as a sign of their independence. At the earlier days of Islam women traded, worked and even joined forces with men in wars. However, eventually these rights were stripped one after another through the years thanks to interpretations some radical Islamic Scholars after the death of prophet Mohamed by a century. Eventually things went from bad to worse with more radical interpretations of the Quran surfacing from famous Islamic Scholars in the centuries to follow thus rendering women rights to be very limited and in certain cases almost non-existent in some societies like Saudi Arabia.

These pioneering jurisprudence laws can be utilized as some guidelines but they cannot be in total coherence with the modern times especially due to the conflicting interpretations from the Islamic narratives and the huge difference between the modern societies of today to the nomadic societies of the past. Also the there have been issues which was not been dealt with decisively in the Islamic Jurisprudence like slavery and although Islam urges people to free slaves as a good will and deed but there wasn’t a decisive order to free them because 1400 years ago they represented the labour in those societies so the gradual emancipation of slaves was called to all Muslims. Yet many Muslims have found some loopholes in the jurisprudence and the actual numbers of slaves increased in the Islamic societies to the extent that some of them became too powerful in the army that they managed to rule countries like Egypt for over 200 years like the Mamluks dynasty.

The Islamists fail to understand that it was actually the narrative and counseling of great Islamic Scholars such as Sheikh Mohamed Abdou that inspired the 1923 constitution and constitutions that followed. Sheikh Mohamed Abdou was inspired by western progress and civilization and wished to incorporate that into the Islamic world while  preserving the identity. Islamists fail to listen to anything beyond their own voices concerning politics. Even the advice and inspirational work of Mohamed Abdou and other more liberal Islamic scholars like Gamal El Banaa (Ironically Hassan El Banna Brother) never attract their attention.

It’s would be unreal that Egyptians after a glorious revolution seeking freedoms would succumb to punishments that governed mainly tribal societies over centuries ago and were even ceased in most periods due to famines and other social and political issues. The Islamic Jurisprudence is already applied and implemented in laws of Marriage, trade and many others facets in Egypt but not the medieval punishments. Therefore, these demands of applying the medieval punishments are preposterous to say the least. The problem with Islamic Jurisprudence punishments is that it’s not applied by God almighty but by people who claim to act on his behalf rendering them unsuitable for the modern world.

C-   Establishment of a new Islamic Caliphate

Now this is the part where delusion meets historical nostalgia among Islamists. Since the fall of the last Ottoman Caliphate in 1922 and the establishment of the republic of Turkey, many Islamist scholars have been longing for the day they would revive what they believe as the old glories of the caliphates. While their argument relies on the power of Muslims during the periods that lasted from the 7th century to the 20th century, they still ignore categorically the weaknesses and the real reasons why the last caliphate fell. The Islamic caliphates might have been the necessity of their own time but living in the period of nationalism and nations founded on the basis of national identity regardless of creeds makes that argument very weak.

Furthermore, they fail to acknowledge that during these caliphates a lot of atrocities and human rights infringements took place in the name of religion despite the existence of some golden periods like the Rashidin Caliphates and Umayyad Caliphate in Andalusia (Spain&Portugal). However, those short periods are not a valid reason to turn the clock backwards and establish a Caliphate lead by a single man who has all the powers over Muslims and non=Muslims from east to west. The current democratic and national foundations surpass any benefits that could ever occur from the establishment of a caliphate. However, hardcore Islamists master plan is still to topple all the governments in the Middle East and establish a new caliphate that unites Muslims under one banner. All Islamists have the same ideology of recreating the caliphate from Muslim Brotherhood to Al Qaeda. They all believe in the same goal and have vowed to fulfill their dreams even at the expense and demise of their own nations.

 Conclusion:

1. First they came for the communists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
2. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
3. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
4. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me!

Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)

These were the simple words of a German Theologian and Anti- Nazi Pastor describing his initial reaction towards the rise of the Nazis in his country and how they took factions one by one till the dominated the political scene. This statement was published in  1955 book by MiltonYou can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time. – Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Mayer’s book “They Thought They Were Free” as part of the interviews conducted with Germans who lived through the Nazi rise and fall. Niemöller was initially a supporter of the rise of the Nazis before he realized later the blatant truth about them and started to criticize them which led to his arrest and he narrowly escaped execution.

Ironically, this statement summarizes it all as well for post Egyptian society towards the Islamists attitude and the apologists who surround them and asking people to give them a chance despite their blatant disregard of the others opinions and rights. Also the Islamists endless quest to hold all political positions in Egypt be that the parliament, government or Presidency proves that they will stop at nothing before Egypt is turned into a state with a larger scale caliphate.

Religion and Politics is a lethal cocktail when mixed together that always kills anyone who drinks It and it seems Egyptians have been sipping a lot of it lately. Religion in politics is the equivalent of Anabolic Steroid doping in Sports, it marginalizes the competitiveness of athletes into who has a better mix of chemicals injected into their bodies. Similarly, when politics mix with religion it’s a doping process that favours those who claim to be more pious and holier than thou without presenting viable programs for the public hence it’s an infringement to all traditions of democracy and equal rights.
Egyptians as well as their Islamists politicians are still failing to grasp that the purpose of government is to establish a profitable free economic system, form a good healthcare system, create a modern educational system, pave the roads, and establish ports, airports, etc… But no government’s task should ever include providing an entry ticket to heaven for its people. That would be asking too much from the wrong persons who have no hand in them entering heaven or hell.

Indulging in matters of afterlife with politics is a plague that struck the Egyptian social and political life in recent years. Matters of afterlife are totally in the hand of God and nothing to do with politics. Furthermore, it should always remain within the boundaries of mosques or churches. People will not be judged in afterlife as nations, cities, villages nor families but as individuals. Each on his own will face the consequence of his own deeds and not the deeds of his country or fellowmen.

There are no countries going to heaven or hell. Egypt will not go to heaven because we have Islamists in power and France going to hell because they don’t have them as rulers. This entire notion is ridiculous and a rhetoric created by Islamists throughout their campaign for the past 80 years to attract the attention and hold the votes of some of the simpler minded masses.  The dreams of establishing an Islamic utopia must be given up for the simple fact that there is no such thing not before and not ever. Society’s progress as time do and all those who keep looking in the past will never build a future which resembles 18th century British Politician and scholar Edmund Burke saying  “You can never plan the future with the past”

The path Egyptians have chosen will lead into further divisions within the country and Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Algeria, Gaza, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan are living proof that Islamists when in power they never bring the milk and honey to people’s lives.

The educational system in Egypt should emphasize on the importance of coexistence between all Egyptians of all faces. A more modern and secular education should replace the antiquated educational system that belongs to the early 20th century in Egypt. An education system that stresses on the civic duties of each Egyptian and equal rights and obligations of all citizens alike.
Islamists are gaining ground now inch by inch and step by step for total hegemony on the country and very soon on the Middle East region, they have used every deception trick from the Machiavelli’s “Prince” book and added an appendix of their own to it.

Moreover, the once cosmopolitan society that amalgamated all nations, creeds and ethnicities into one melting pot throughout history cannot be poised towards a totalitarian single polar society.

One doesn’t need to be a man of God to be a good politician or even a good man, in fact hypocrisy and double standards still taint the reputations of many of those holier than thou types in Egyptian politics.  Moreover it’s necessary for all politicians to possess a vision for the country regardless of how pious he/she is. Piety is a great trait but the holier-than-thou attitude usually a façade to cover deeper vices. It would be better to have politicians with some vices but actual capability to serve the country than others who appear to be immaculate but incapable of running a country.

Maybe everyone would reflect and think what they might learn from a simple phrase made by the greatest American leader of all time President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) which could resemble the exact situation in post revolution Egypt.  “It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”

Dark Comedy of Egyptian Presidential Race

The Long and Winding Road for Democracy in Egypt Part 6

Part 6: Dark Comedy of Egyptian Presidential Race

It’s been believed by some analysts that the current Republican race for the Presidential candidate in 2012 is quite filled with satire and jokes due to the candidates inability to attract the masses or provide any viable solutions for the current American economic crisis or provide a vision for America’s future. All of those analysts would have thought twice before professing their thoughts if they have been following the current race for presidency in Egypt. The race for presidency has turned from political race into a dark comedy possibly of the worst type.

Since 1954 and the establishment of the Republic in Egypt by Gamal Abdel Nasser only 4 presidents ever took power of Middle East biggest and oldest country. They are General Mohamed Naguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Mohamed Anwar El Sadat and Hosni Mubarak respectively. The Duration for presidency varied from each president starting from only one and half year for President Naguib to approximately 30 years for Mubarak.
The Egyptian political system never allowed contesting for the presidential elections but it was an authoritarian system based on the president who is always of military background. The coup d’état of 1952 that ousted the King Farouk (Last king of Egypt) made sure that the upcoming rulers will be of military backgrounds. The only change happened after the ousted president Mubarak declaration in 2005 for the first multi-candidates elections which Mubarak unsurprisingly won by a landslide against other contestants 2 of them were well known like Dr. Ayman Nour of El Ghad party and Dr. Numan Gomaa of the WAFD party both who didn’t achieve a fraction of the percentage of Mubarak 88% landslide win. Of course like almost all elections post 1952 the rigging of the votes was prevalent in the 2005. But in 2012 the scene is completely different and here are the most prominent candidates in the upcoming election.

Dr. Mohamed El Baradei (Now Withdrawn) 

Former UN Nuclear watchdog and Peace Nobel Prize Laureate and Egypt’s most prominent former diplomat were the front runner of all presidential polls post the revolution. However his Boy Scout attitude and declarations never really impressed the majority of Egyptians among them even his most ardent fans and supporters. Dr. El Baradei, since day one was close to the revolutionaries but never close enough to make the necessary impact for change in the Egyptian politics and Egyptian society. Dr. El Baradei always wanted the people to move first and then he would move but he failed to understand that the revolutionaries needed him as a leader and not a follower. His Boy Scout attitude and sometimes distancing himself from the actual work on the ground was a factor in fueling criticism against him.
Even worse, he was falsely accused of all forms of accusations and being involved in conspiracies against Egypt mostly false by his closest associates. It is a fact that most of the Islamists and socialists who were competing to shake his hands and take group photographs with him backstabbed him badly at the first chance and also a significant number of Liberals were alienated from his programs and started to act as staunch opponents for his views which led to his early withdrawal from the race. Dr. El Baradei claimed that the conditions and the bad management of the transitional point by SCAF as well as the unclear conditions and regulations of the presidential race are the real reasons behind his surprising withdrawal.

It remains to be said, that the viable plan presented by El Baradei in the early days post the revolution was the most convenient and practical than anything proposed by all the factions in the Egyptian political spectrum.
However, the Supreme council of Armed Forces (SCAF) ignored that plan and enforced their own road map based mainly on articles actually proposed by former President Mubarak. The days have proven that El Baradei was right on most of the issues he stood for and should SCAF generals have listened to what he said earlier, situation in Egypt would have been completely different and possibly much better.
Dr. El Baradei may have helped ignite the revolution by his homecoming from Austria in 2009 and was part of the initial movement of the 18 day revolution but his performance lacked severely in the days after the revolution and a lot of his statements were incoherent and out of touch from the pace of the events. Despite the above Dr. El Baradei still he represents a true and an immaculate icon of the revolution and if it wasn’t for him and people like him the Egyptian revolution won’t have taken place.

Dr. Mohamed Selim Al Awa

Originally a prominent Islamic thinker and writer who became famous in the past decade being deputy to Egyptian/Qatari Sheikh prominent Youssef Al Qardawi. El Qardawi who became household name in the Arab world through his weekly TV show on Al Jazeerah News Network, helped El Awa of becoming a better known name in the media. Dr. Al Awa and Qardawi founded the International association for Islamic scholars which they founded in an attempt to spread the belief and the moderate Islamic values across the world according to their views.
Mr. Al Awa was not a very prominent name in the political scene but in the Islamic scholars scene and that is prevalent in his statements which usually seem very uncalculated and sometimes preposterous   like the time he called upon Egyptian authorities to search all the churches for presumed illegal weapons and accused the church institution of arming up to protect their own Coptic interests. That statement stirred the anger of the Copts and even most Muslims in Egypt as well as his continuous attempts to appease SCAF generals at the expense of the rebels and activists, never really helped with his popularity. All these attempts didn’t earn him much respect on the broad spectrum. His only chance now was to get an endorsement from the Muslim Brotherhood who mentioned that they will not support any candidate with Islamic affiliation but as we have seen before that can be just a test balloon to show that they are unbiased towards their own ideology but that is yet to be seen in reality.

Dr. Abdel Moneim Abou El Fottoh

An Ex Muslim Brotherhood leader who has been a prominent figure within the ranks of the once Muslim Brotherhood which is still in fact banned by Egyptian law however, they managed to construct their first political party Freedom and Justice Party. Abou El Fottoh lied already about leaving the Muslim Brotherhood and admitted recently that he never left the group and only distanced himself from them to avoid embarrassing the group leaders who vowed not to present any presidential candidate in the early days post the revolution or support an Islamist candidate in the upcoming elections.
Despite his relatively moderate stance on most issues especially social issues unlike most other Islamists which appealed to a broader spectrum of Egyptians including liberals, it’s safe to assert that Egyptian liberals who think that they are saving the revolution by voting for Abou El Fottoh are actually writing the revolution obituary. Since this will only mean that the Muslim brotherhood group will have the final say in any political decision on the long term future and thus ending the revolutionary ideals that thousands have paid their lives and thousands others injured to uphold.

Voting for Dr. Abou El Fottouh or any other Islamist candidate will mean that Muslim Brotherhood will be equal to AIPAC in USA; they will control whoever is in charge in the future. Liberals cannot allow this to happen because what will result in the upcoming elections and constitution writing is likely to rule the Egyptian political spectrum for decades to come. This doesn’t only apply on him but also as a general rule against any candidate that will be introduced by the Political Islam prominent group. Their influence and power will only grow further in case they manage to successfully push a candidate to the presidency seat.

Mr. Hamdeen Sabahy

Head and founder of the Karama party and a hard-core leftist Nasserite, Sabahy has been involved in the Egyptian political movement since his youth in the 1970s and till now. He was one of the staunchest adversaries of the Mubarak’s regime and his newspaper “El Karama” which stands for “The Dignity” was a strong opposition newspaper during Mubarak’s reign.

Sabahy may appeal to a certain sector of the Egyptian community but his hard-core socialist and anti-American/Israeli rhetoric which seems to be synonymous of the same rhetoric used by late President Abdel Nasser in the 1950’s and 60’s. He and apparently many of the Socialists in Egypt can’t seem to break out of that ancient rhetoric or find a more modern message for the Egyptian public other than the holy quests to liberate Jerusalem or what they call the Zionist/American conspiracy against Egypt.

The prevailing message of Sabahy’s is composed of conspiracies and how he will protect Egypt from the vultures who want to ruin, divide and destroy the Egyptian nation. While that rhetoric may still appealing to some pan-Arab nationalists and few others, Mr. Sabahy rhetoric if not toned down and matured a bit might lead Egypt to conflicts if not wars with its neighbors in any given day , if he is ever to be president. He maybe an honest and good willed politician but certainly his radical socialist and pan-Arab rhetoric is becoming less appealing to the masses recently especially it’s the year 2012 and not 1962!!

Mrs. Bothaina Kamel 

She is the only female presidential candidate and for the first time in modern Egyptian history a women actually is a contender for this post. Mrs.Kamel is a former prominent Radio and TV host and one of the true revolutionary figures amongst the current candidates. She has been very active before and past the January 25^th revolution and also a staunch supporter of women rights and the total reform of Egypt. Her chances to win are not great judging by the current conservative sentiment in Egypt but still have more chances in the future and this current presidential campaign might make her a better known name for Egyptians in future presidential races. Mrs. Kamel staunch support for the Tahrir rebels might alienate some Egyptians who are still conservative or reject the actions of those rebels and that might not work in her favour in any upcoming elections. Yet she is a very open minded and cultured lady who will remain one of the icons of the January revolution despite the outcome of the elections.

Dr. Ahmed Shafiq

Tainted by his older friendship and relationship with the former president Mubarak, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shafiq former 3 weeks Prime Minister and former Minister of Civil Aviation represents a dilemma in the eyes of the political analysts. He was the first Prime minister to submit his resignation since 1952 and he did that just after 3 weeks of his appointment by Mubarak during the first few days of the revolution and who was ousted by the time her turned his resignation. Yet that appointment by Mubarak and some miscalculated statements have turned him into the rebels’ enemy Number 1.

The fact he was a former minister under Mubarak’s regime cannot take the man’s achievement in the field of Civil Aviation and the complete overhaul to the national Airline Egypt Air and the airports in Egypt after decades of neglect and transforming them within a few years to meet international standards for both the airline and Egyptian airports. His managerial skills are impeccable and though his opponents have accused him of corruption but none of the accusations actually were proven as much as many others against former regime figures.

The man chances to be a president exists especially he received a nationwide sympathy being harshly criticized by famous Egyptian novelist Dr. Alaa Al Aswany on air while being in office and as a result to the man who remained calm against all of the accusations despite being a successful minister and a war hero, he quit his job next day. Dr. Al Aswany criticism and demand for the resignation of Shafiq may have worked but it backfired when Dr. Shafiq received a nationwide sympathy for his respectful attitude, despite what Dr. Al Aswany did would have been completely normal in a democratic country. Dr. Shafiq remains to be an important contender in the upcoming elections in spite of all odds because many in Egypt believe that he unjustly paid the price for things he didn’t do himself.

Mr. Amr Moussa

In a similar manner to Lieutenant General Dr. Ahmed Shafiq, former top diplomat and former Secretary General of the Arab league Amr Moussa years working as a Foreign Affairs Minister in the 1990’s still stains his record among many rebels and Egyptians in general . Yet, the man strong character during his time in office still leaves a good memory in the minds of most Egyptians. The withdrawal of Dr. El Baradei certainly boosts his chances in the upcoming elections. Mr. Moussa eloquent speeches and confidence as well as a moderate stance provide him of a stronger edge over the rest. Also he is an Egyptian household name and well known for being a serious politician and diplomat despite lacking decisiveness on many international and domestic issues. However, the man’s capability of talking himself out of most sticky situations as well as his vast array of international connections and good relations with world renowned politicians which might help him to achieve both domestic approval as well as international one. That quality in Moussa may be the key to his success in next elections and not forgetting his cordial relationships with SCAF as well as all the powers that be in Egypt and the region. There are a lot of drawbacks in Moussa being the man in power in Egypt among them. He is old school, a former Nasserite though not a radical in any way and also was part of the former regime even in small way. However, he is still a front runner in this race despite all of the above.

Mr. Hisham El Bastaweesy

Honourabe Judge Mr. Hisham El Bastaweesy became a household name in the judiciary system being a staunch opponent against the Mubarak regime continuous interference and influence on the judiciary system. He and Judge Ahmed Mekky led a campaign within the Egyptian judges for the complete separation of authorities and the complete independence of the Egyptian judiciary system from the influence of the executive authority. His attempts failed but mustered a huge support for his cause and he is still pressing heavily for that noble goal to be achieved. His decision to run for President is still unclear at the moment since he declared his willingness to do that , yet there is no official campaign or declaration to back that fact. His chances are not exceptionally great judging by the short period remaining for the upcoming election but he can be allying himself with one of the candidates to become a vice president who might receive a good approval from the Egyptians who perceive the judge in high esteem due to his noble deeds before and after the revolution.
Mr. Hazem Abou Ismail

Also known as “Bikini Hunter”, “Al Qaida Candidate” and “Evil Santa” the radical Salafi missionary and cleric presidential candidate reflects a lot of what’s happening in the Egyptian political spectrum. His sudden rise from obscurity to a controversial ultra-conservative political figure in the political scene comes as a surprise to a man who almost literally spent his entire life in the boundaries of his mosque. Despite being an engineer, his political, economical and social knowledge seems to be severely lacking for a man who wishes to be a politician let alone the president of the biggest and oldest country in the Middle East. Unlike most of the other candidates who have their pros and cons, it’s hard to be to find any advantages in this particular candidate. His extremist views even led him to support Osama Bin Laden blatantly in his many speeches.
Even more surprising, he seems to be getting more airtime on TV shows and talk shows than almost all of the other candidates combined which seems to be quite bizarre just by the fact he is shown in the same channels that criticizes his ideology and ideas. He is becoming a more figure of controversy and till the moment he is declaring some of the most preposterous statements about minorities, liberals and everyone. The man seems to be ranting and insists on forcing head veil (Hijab) on women, even going further saying that any woman not accepting should leave the faith as if the faith is his own private property whereby he lets people in and out. The man keeps his continuous insanity spree by going to the former terrorist organization The Islamic Group “EL Gamaa Al Islamiya” and started to make emotional speeches and cried about what happened to the members of the terrorist group in regard of their ill treatment in prisons during Mubarak Era. The man who promises to increase Egypt’s GDP to 200 Trillion ( Approximately 13 times the national GDP of USA) represents a clear and present danger on the Egyptian democracy movement should he finds himself by some miracle in the presidential seat there is no political analyst that can really predict the far of Egypt on his hands. Luckily that is still highly unlikely but not entirely impossible.
Other Notable and rumoured candidates:

1.  Dr. Ayman Nour : Head of New Ghad Party
2. General Hosam Khairallah : Former Egyptian Intelligence officer and deputy chief to Egypt’s top spy Mr. Omar Soliman ex chief of EGID
3. Dr. Mohamed Fawzy : Former police officer and lawyer
4. Dr. Nabil Al Arabi: Current secretary general of Arab league
5. Dr. Mansour Hassan: Former Sadat era minister and head of the political council formed by SCAF
6. Mr. Khaled Ali: Youngest candidate and socialist activist
7. Dr. Abdel Allah El Ashaal : former diplomat and political analyst
8. Mr. Mamdouh Kotb: Former head of Egyptian Intelligence who just announced his candidacy very recently

Conclusion:
It’s noteworthy that a significant number of average Egyptians are hardly convinced entirely about any of the candidates due to the obvious weaknesses and mostly lack of experience manifested in all of the candidates.
Democracy is a truly tricky game that unfortunately still many Egyptians fail to grasp. One can’t blame them since 1952 no clear form of democracy has been actually established. But it’s a learning process and the longer Egyptian get involved in the political life the more experienced and better candidates will appear and will be voted for in the upcoming years. Still many Egyptians fail to understand that the next presidents will also the High commander of the army and all Egypt’s political and strategic moves will be on his shoulders. It’s not enough that someone might like a certain candidate but he has to imagine them to be in the place of power. Th is a country and not sports club elections.
Voting for a presidential candidate of Muslim Brotherhood or even supported by them gives the group an everlasting power and legitimacy over the political spectrum for years to come.
For Islamists, they are on a mission to accomplish the complete overtaking of Egypt after huge successes in both lower and upper house elections. The latter most liberal parties boycotted already since they claim that it’s not important despite the fact that both houses of parliament will be part of the constitutional writing committee and surrendering the upper house seats to Islamist will prove to be another fatal mistake for the liberals among the long list of mistakes post the revolution.

Unfortunately, liberals’ best hope in the upcoming elections might be voting for an older regime figure but one who is not too stained with corruption or tyranny like Amr Moussa or Ahmed Shafiq. Liberals are still scattered and still adopting sometimes trivial causes and leaving the scene entirely for Islamists and their allies to take a grip on the future of Egypt.

They now should be in a mission for damage control and from there they should build the future elections and presence. The liberal camp need a good reshuffle and to lick their own wounds and start preparing for the future elections with more capable candidates. There are few Egyptian Liberals that can see beyond the shining objects and admit that there is no serious contender that represents the liberal values in Egypt at this stage. However, that is not an excuse for them to vote for any candidate that represents the opposing side just because he/she doesn’t seem too extremist.

Most importantly for liberals to remember that if you can’t find the food you like you can’t starve yourself to death. The same applies to the presidential elections!

End of peaceful nature of the Egyptian revolution?

Unfortunately, the Egyptian revolution which has been a beacon for the liberty of the oppressed nations in the 21st century and fighting tyranny by peaceful means has now slipped into a dark abyss of violence from the authorities and counter violence.
The unprecedented scenes of violence starting from March 2011 all the way to December all over Egypt, have really crippled the slow and stumbling steps  towards establishing a democratic system in the country.  The violence that erupted from the burning of a church in a village of Sol in Giza last March followed by sectarian clashes in many urban and rural areas, have slowly overshadowed the peaceful nature of the Egyptian revolution that was applauded by the world during the initial 18 days.
During those initial peaceful days that resulted in ex President Mubarak stepping down from office, peace prevailed despite the use of force from the old regime forces against the demonstrations mainly on the 28^th of January (Day of Fury) and 2^nd of February 2011 (Battle of the Camel)
However, that looks like history. What followed was mayhem. Particularly; February 28^th, March 9^th, April 8^th , May 15^th (Storming Israeli and Saudi embassies) May 28^th , July 23^rd , September 9^th , October 9^th (Maspero’s Copts massacre) , November 19^th (Mohamed Mahmoud St. massacre) and last but not least December 16^th (Kasr El Ainy battle).
All of these incidents happening only in Cairo created a big question mark on the peaceful nature of the Egyptian revolution. The total number of injuries and deaths after the ousting of Mubarak would almost match those who died in the first days of the revolution if not surpass them already.
The violent quelling of the initially peaceful protests mainly by activists and Cops have turned the entire body of the revolutionaries against the Supreme Council of the armed forces who were hailed as heroes in the beginning for protecting the revolution. are are now considered by the rebels as the villains.
The Supreme council of Armed Forces (SCAF) despite being a major player and decisive factor in the ousting of Mubarak, have played a negative role in instigating some of the violence. The onus is on bad decisions taken by SCAF during their 10 month rule of Egypt.
The sluggishness in taking important and decisive decisions of holding trials to the old regime key figures and the murderers of the protestors during the first 18 day was also part of the reason of the growing anger amidst the rebels.
The continuous state of denial from SCAF and rejecting the involvement of their troops in the clashes that lead to thousands of wounded and killed rebels, have angered even the most ardent SCAF supporters and left them alienated to a great extent. The sheer brutality and draconian methods of the Military Police and Central security forces (CSF) has created a state of total distrust within the ranks of the rebel all over Egypt.
The Rebels will not stand down till SCAF announces that they will relinquish power, something that SCAF promised to do only after an elected president will be in office and that will not be before June 3oth 2012.

Despite all the above, the blame for the escalating violence cannot be pointed solely towards SCAF. Any reasonable analyst will figure out that the source of violence can be dispersed on several levels that include the following parties responsible for this escalation:

1-      SCAF:

As the country supreme leader during the transitional period, the political, social and economic decisions of SCAF had a negative impact on the stability of the Egyptian society. Their political decisions were far from revolutionary and managed to keep the old regime political system as much as possible.

Furthermore, the evident lack of security in several Egyptian cities and districts has negatively affected the daily lives of the average Egyptian and in turn the flow of investments and tourism that was expected to happen after the revolution. Moreover, the violent responses from their Military police against the mostly peaceful protestors and the bloody quelling of protests committed by some of the officers as well as the endless stream of military tribunals and arrests of activists have alienated all the rebels from them. These tribunals have arrested and tried over 12000 Egyptians according to the latest reports most of them were thugs captured during raids. However, a significant chunk of them were political activists who were captured and tried like Maikel Nabil (Received 2 year sentence) and Alaa abdel Fattah (Still on trial) among dozens more.

SCAF have effectively proven the lack of political awareness, prudence or strategy to stabilize the country and fulfill the dreams of most Egyptians who dreamt of a better future after the revolution. However, the alternative of SCAF is not evident now and their presence in power during transitional period may still be the best of all evil alternatives since they are the last organized institution on the land.

2-      Mubarak Loyalists:

They are old regime loyalist who are still in power or have the authority and money to fund all the anti-revolutionary movements starting from the infamous assault on the rebels during the first 18 days on the February 2^nd 2011 (Battle of the Camel) all the way to their physical, material attempts to kill, injure, discredit the rebels in every possible way.

They resort to violence sometimes or propaganda against the rebels on National TV and their own private TV networks. They are still one of the most organized anti-revolutionary group and many of them are concealed within the ranks of the pro-revolutionary ones. Due to the current mayhem in the Egyptian streets and public opinion they are gaining ground that they didn’t think that they would ever win again after the revolution.

Despite the failure of most of them as candidates in the previous two rounds of parliamentary elections, they are still operating successfully on the ground and managed to cause turbulences in the political scene against the rebels. Their ability to hire thugs and cause mayhem during any revolutionary demonstrations or protests has been proven time and again.

SCAF surprisingly, turned their back on the actions of the loyalists despite of many declarations that some of the old regime figures are under investigations but SCAF till this moment didn’t pinpoint who is behind all the funding and organized violence produced by that group.  Mubarak loyalists still represent a clear and present danger on the path for democracy in Egypt.

3-      The Rebels:

Puritan Rebels sacrificed everything to reach their goals in this revolution including their body parts and their own lives, yet the lack of coordination and common acceptable goal have made themquite spontaneous and sometimes rebels without a cause in the eyes of the public. The original puritan peaceful groups have been infiltrated by more seemingly violent radical leftists and anarchists groups who don’t seem to follow any logical path in their demands and sometimes dictate unreasonable demands to SCAF and all Egyptians in the name of the revolution.

The collision of such groups with the security forces and SCAF was inevitable since they occupy the streets, forward their demands and insist that they are met without negotiations. This method is neither acceptable by SCAF or a large spectrum of the public opinion seem to accept.

These actions have manifested negatively on the results of the rebel candidates in the Parliamentary elections with only very few seats won compared to the more organized conservative Freedom and Justice Party of Muslim Brotherhood and radical El Nour party of the Salafis fundamentalists. Even the rebels actions have affected the other liberal blocs candidates like the Egyptian Bloc or Al Thawra Mostamera (The Revolution Continues) bloc. The last two were misjudged about being completely supportive of some of the mayhem caused by the anarchists within the rebels ranks and paid a hefty price in the election results.

The path of the rebels now is filled with obstacles to achieve any tangible results due to the lack of leadership or unified goals. No longer the words “Peaceful, Peaceful” chanted during the demonstrations have the same affect on the ears of the public opinion since some of the rebels were already involved in acts of violence. Also, SCAF propaganda machine have managed to taint all of them as being violent rioters instead of peaceful rebels . Their reputation is at stake at the moment and without a unified front and a clear message to the public opinion they will likely to fail in their aim of achieving their entire goals for change. The rebels must adopt a new strategy in order to gain the lost ground in the hearts of the public and keep the loose cannons among them checked.

4-      Islamists:

Be that Muslim Brotherhood or Fundamentalists like Salafis parties like El Nour. Islamists didn’t keep their hands clean from the violence that erupted after the revolution. In fact, they were the first to use violence after the revolution targeting the moderate Sufi shrines and other places of Sufi worship.

Furthermore, the Coptic Christians have suffered from physical violence that resulted in killing of some copts and burning of 2 churches for the first time in Egyptian modern history on the hands of the Salafis group. These groups didn’t just resort to physical violence but also hate speech in some satellite TV channels operated by them and mainly funded by countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE.

The violence incitement and media propaganda orchestrated by the Salafis leaders against Copts and liberals took a harsher form during the elections with some Copts being prevented from voting in the Elections in the governorate of Fayoum by Salafis groups.

Amazingly, SCAF have kept their eyes shut throughout the violence committed by these groups and never attempted to apply the law on them as much as they do to the liberal and activists in general. Islamists were the first to instigate the violence in streets post the revolution and managed to be a bully to all liberal powers without any sort of law-abiding except siding with SCAF politically to serve their own agenda.

Reports of coercion and violence they practiced during the elections in many districts while they are still not in power can only be an indicator what they are willing to do to maintain their authority while they are in power and form the government.

5-      Egyptian Media:

Egyptian private TV stations and media may have played a great and positive role in the years preceded the revolution in spreading political awareness and democratic values in the Egyptian society thus paving the way for the glorious revolution to take place on the Jan25th 2011. However, starting from the days that followed the ousting of the former president the media shift to sensationalism and adopting an extreme and irrational political view was evident.

The sensationalism factor became the dominant one in most of the political TV shows including very prominent TV hosts and shows. In most cases, the hosts of such shows had hard time separating their professional duties from their own personal views and feelings. That result is further dismay and confusion of the Egyptian public.

Programs either adopted a hardcore pro-revolution apologist view or a hard core pro-SCAF or old regime apologist view. The truth and objectivity could be hardly noticed while incitements for civil unrest and violence could be easily heard or watched during the course of such daily programs that were watched by millions.

The apologists for the rebels, Islamists, loyalist or SCAF would go all the way to prove their theories with mostly half-truth or distorted ones at best. It was common during the past months that the public Egyptian TV to incite violence against protestors time and again and called for what the names as “honourable citizens” to fight against the rebels in Tahrir in the name of stability of the country and economic growth.

The negative role of most media outlets and those non-traditional ones like Social media network have led to further sense of paranoia and division in the Egyptian society. Calls for attacking military officers, police as well as other opposing factions can be easily traced on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets used by the Egyptian youth. Rumours about the military, rebels, loyalists, etc.. are like a daily diet for all the users of such network who find themselves sometimes entangled in a web of lies they partly created themselves.

A call for reason and good judgment from all parties involved in official and non-official media is a must now in order for Egypt to pass through this critical phase as the damage is already done and now it must be rectified.

6-      Egyptian public

Now this maybe a surprise to some, but every able bodied Egyptian has a shared responsibility for the current state of affairs of the country. They have chosen either to back SCAF blindly and done that in the March 19^th Constitution reform referendum without knowing the consequence of voting for “Yes” which resulted in all the mess Egypt is witnessing now. Some of them gave way to shared rumours and innuendos either about SCAF or Rebels and tarnishing the reputation of both without full knowledge of the details.

The Egyptian public was too eager to rip the fruits of the revolution and believed that everything will be fine just by ousting the former dictator Mubarak. They exchanged numbers of the presumed wealth of the former regime and brought their calculators to check their own portion. Most wanted an increase in their wages and immediate improvement in their life standard and ignoring that the revolution is a first step in doing that but they will not achieve it except through more years of hard work and dedication to the country.

The majority of Egyptians kept accusing the rebels of receiving foreign funds, questioned their motives daily and even voted against their candidates in the parliamentary elections. All of which consequently that led to a more violent response from within the rebels directed towards everyone. The public is not willing to check facts or news they receive before spreading them like cancer and believing that they are unquestionable facts. Most are willing to believe what SCAF announces in their periodical media declarations and press conferences without questions.

The passiveness of another chunk of Egyptian public is also adding complications to an already complicated situation. Those who couldn’t care less to vote in the elections as if the future of Egypt is not already at stake. Those who vote for spite against rebels for radical Islamists who already had a long dark history of committing atrocious terrorist and violent acts against Egypt have all added to fueling hatred and violence in Egypt.

In conclusion, the vicious circle of violence fueled by the all the above is not likely to end without unrelenting efforts from all parties to give way to a democratic process that features no losers or victors. Meaning every single Egyptian must understand that the very fabric of the Egyptian society is on the verge of corrosion and the endless mindless violence from SCAF, Rebel, etc.. will only postpone if not annihilate the chances of creating a true democratic Egypt in the near future.

Egyptians are in a very critical transitional point of history where every able bodied Egyptian is responsible for the safety of this country for this generation and the future ones. The draconian old methods of SCAF must cease now as well as the rebels need to indulge with the rest of the powers in a political process that saves country from falling further in the abyss they created.

Egypt is on a crossroad that leads either to further violence or a democratic society and a model to follow in the turbulent Middle East.