Will Ikhwan-al-muslimeen have a day in the Egyptian sun ? By Kaleem Kawaja

Will Ikhwan-al-muslimeen have a day in the Egyptian sun ?

 

By Kaleem Kawaja

 

 

After 3 decades of the autocratic rule and domination of the Egyptian state by one family and their wealthy cronies, finally the day of reckoning has arrived.  For three decades this clique headed by Hosni Mubarak, supported by the American military industrial complex and the US oil lobby, allowed neither political freedom nor economic emancipation, nor religious expression to the ordinary people of Egypt.  In the face of the brutal onslaught of the Israelis on the impoverished Palestinians, this regime prevented the free expressions of solidarity by the Egyptians.

 

But as the saying goes, every dog has his day.  So now the powerless and helpless ordinary people of Egypt are bringing down this arrogant oligarchy that lived on the support of the foreigners. Noting the crowds in Tahrir square in Cairo for about 12 days now it was impossible to ignore the large masses of Muslim Egyptians offering two Juma congregational prayers on two successive Fridays.  What was unmistakable was the fact that the ordinary Egyptian Muslims are relgious people who find offering congregational prayers in the full view of the western media an important part of their daily lives.  Indeed at a time of crisis and facing many dangers and divisions they felt that the congregational prayer to Allah can keep them united and relieve their national afflictions and emergency.  The message is that the view that Islam can help them in their hour of crisis is not something to be shy about.

 

Surely that must have felt good to the many Egyptians who have good feelings towards the eighty year old Ikhwan-al-Muslimeen, who anchor the life of the Egyptian nation around the core valus of Islam.  Over the last eight decades Ikhwan has seen many ups and downs and has made many mistakes.   When they tried to make Ikhwan militant, that ran against the core values of Egyptians.  Ikhwan faced many hardships from even the venerable Gamal Nasir, the popular hero of Egypt, who has been the only uncorruptible head of the Egyptian state in the last hundred years. Mubarak was just a oligarch who usurped power and kept it with foreign help.

 

At this time while the miseries of the Egyptian people should be the focus for a change in regime in Cairo, in America the media is full of only one concern: will the new regime be friendly towards not only America but also Israel.  Even in this time of Egypt's national peril the American politicians are thinking mostly of the interests of theocratic and brutal Israel.  And they wonder why America is not popular in the Muslim world?  Indeed the manner of discussion in the Ametrican media gives one the impression as if they are talking about one of the states in US itself.  Look at the press statements of the US President and Secretary of State.

 

An interesting element that I observed in the US media is that several American commentators have said that Ikhwan-al-Muslimeen is not an extremist Muslim organization and they do not pose a danger to a secular polity in Egypt.  Apparently some Americans have learned a lesson from the sad experience in Algeria where annuling an election in which the Muslim group had won, caused much instability and violence.  Yet Ikhwan faces many dangers, most from the Israelis and Americans and their henchmen in Egypt who may try to pursuade the Egyptian army to keep Ikhwan out.  Even though of all parties Ikhwan suffered the most for decades at the hands of the Mubarak regime.

 

Let us hope that at this time as several national political groups come together to change the nature of the despotic regime, Ikhwan will project a cooperative and constructive face, allaying the fears of those who fear a militant Islamic face from them.  Like the Istiqlal party in Turkey they have an opportunity to gradually return Egypt to its long peaceful Islamic heritage.  Let us hope that they will not make the mistake that Taliban did in Afhganistan when they mindlessly put militant and sectarian postures as policies of the state, that scared the world and that also did damage to the core peaceful and egalitarian image of Islam as a political force. 

'Ferment in Arab World Can Be Traced to the Denial of Power to Islamists' : Ayed bin Abdullah Al-Qarni

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Siraj Wahab <sirajwahab@gmail.com>

- Hide quoted text -

Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 3:50 AM
Subject: 'Ferment in Arab World Can Be Traced to the Denial of Power to Islamists'

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article252786.ece

                                                                               Ayed bin Abdullah Al-Qarni

Shariah the Only Path for Arabs, Says Saudi Scholar

By SIRAJ WAHAB
Published in Arab News on Feb 7, 2011

A popular Saudi author and religious scholar says the current ferment in the Arab world can be traced to the denial of power to Islamists in the past. Only Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states have been the exception where Shariah or Islamic law became the constitution.

Writing in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Ayed bin Abdullah Al-Qarni said that in Egypt, a revolution for change took place in 1952, championing reform and an adherence to post-monarchical values, whereas the Egyptian people actually wanted Islam as their means of reform, as advocated by Muhammad Abduh and Jamaluddin Afghani.

When the Free Officers assumed power in 1952, they cast Islam aside, denounced the Shariah and ruled according to a constitution derived from French and English law.

In Yemen, Islamic scholars, judges, and intellectuals such as Al-Zubayri, Ibn Al-Numan, Al-Kibsi and others, staged a revolution in 1962. Al-Qarni said they were putting forth the Islamic project against the Yemeni imamate. However, Abdullah Al-Sallal, a former student of Abdel Nasser, hijacked the Yemeni revolution along with the military. Again, they cast Islam aside, objected to Shariah law and ruled in accordance with a set of legislation derived from various dubious sources.

The Algerians staged their glorious revolution against French colonialism, under the leadership of great Islamic scholars such as Abdel Hamid Ben Badis, Lakhdar Brahimi, and others — all carrying the spirit of Islam. Al-Qarni noted that when Algeria achieved independence, it was governed by a socialist, Western-orientated regime, which deprived the Algerian Muslim people of their ambitions and aspirations for Islamic rule. “The Algerian people are Muslims; Islam is inherent to the Arab nature,” Al-Qarni said.

In Sudan, the Mahdi reformist revolution took place advocating a project of Islamic renaissance. When English colonialism was ousted, military figures assumed power, although they knew nothing about Islam. Hence, they rejected the Shariah and imposed a foreign, Western-oriented constitution.

In Libya, the descendants and followers of the martyred freedom fighter, Omar Mukhtar, were eager to raise the banner of Islam during the 1969 revolution. However, the Libyan people were surprised when this movement was hijacked by a government that discounted the Shariah and usurped freedom.

In Iraq and Syria, Al-Qarni said the people were 100 percent Muslim, and they led their struggle and revolution against French and English colonialism under the banner of Islam. However, when the Baath Party assumed power in both countries, its first move was to denounce Shariah and marginalize Islam.

Regarding revolutions in the Middle East, Al-Qarni said no one has adhered to Islam, its rule, doctrine and approach, except King Abdul Aziz when he led the revolution in the Arabian Peninsula. He was revolting against delusion, heresy, division, dispute, looting and robbery. His first announcement was that Saudi Arabia was an Islamic state, which would be governed according to the Qur’an and Sunnah. He wrote on its flag: “There is no god other than God, and Muhammad is His Messenger.”

Al-Qarni says this is not hypocrisy or flattery, but it is a fact to which historians, Western or otherwise, have testified. Such historians include Muhammad Jalal Kishk, author of “The Saudis and the Islamic Solution.”

He is an impartial writer who wrote the book from a neutral standpoint supporting it with documents and evidence. Another example would be the late Austrian Muslim, Muhammad Asad, who mentioned in his book “The Road to Mecca” that he had met King Abdul Aziz. According to Asad, all that King Abdul Aziz spoke about during their meeting was Islam and his pride in the religion.

The Tunisian people are Sunni Muslims who follow the Maliki school. Their land is the home of great heroes and conquerors such as Uqba bin Nafi, Ibn Khaldun and Al-Tahir bin Ashur. It is also the land of great seats of learning such as Al-Zaytuna and Al-Qayrawan. The majority of Tunisian people want Islam as their source of governance. However, the followers of some left-wing parties considered themselves to be worthier of running the country than anyone else and thus tried to remove Islam from Tunisian life. "This was yet another example of a revolution being hijacked in the same manner as previous Arab republics," said Al-Qarni.

--