I found a strong link between two
matters I was very much interested to write about one of them in today’s
article. The first one is muslim brotherhood assault on Mr. Muhammed Hassanien
Heikal’s farm. The second is the salafists’ pit that we are falling into while
we are still trying to get out of muslim brotherhood hole; meaning, like the
proverb says of the unlucky one “he came out of a hole to fall down in a pit”.
Our case is even worse as we are not yet out of the hole.
As to the link I mentioned, it’s the strong
logical connection between burning books and trees in the farm and burning
Egypt’s history, civilization, culture and identity in the constitution
discussions. Mr. Heikal’s farm is not like any farm, whether regarding
appearance or content, because actually, on both sides, it represents part of
its owner’s character, his composition and vision.
The content of the countryside
residence of Mr. Heikal - as we say when we talk about leaders and politicians
– is not only about the old fruitful trees or flowers’ basins… not only the
extra-warm simple building… and not the books and hand-written and electronic
documents alone… however, it also combines many other things that cannot be measured
in the usual manner… like ideal family relations, unlimited deep social
relations, discussions that some of them led to major decisions affecting the nation…
some of those discussions were rich in all fields of thought, culture and
politics… in general, it is a place that once embraced the breathes of leaders,
famous figures, big intellectuals and promising young men… all those sat in
that place honored and happy… it is a place that held the ideas and words of
its owner and other visitors.
Those barbarians attacked the farm
like North tribes in Europe invaded Rome; the capital of civilization at that
time. They set fire, looted and focused their destruction over books, documents
and even trees. Here, we shall talk openly about what burning books and trees
mean and immediately recall from the history memory the awful circumstance when
Tatars threw the books of Baghdad’s libraries in the Tigris to cross over them
with their horses… they also burnt the gardens of then-capital of the nation
and killed its people that the river water stayed red for several days due to
the blood spilt in it.
Not only this, but there is another
aspect we should pay attention to in this tragic phenomenon; that is what Mr.
Heikal, his personality, ideology, history and role, represent to those
modern-time Tatars so that we can understand the violence, grudge and revenge
they have towards the man. This man is a prominent symbol of the modern
Egyptian civil state who is – away from exaggeration or flattering – not less
than other symbols like Refa’a el-Tahtawi, Muhammed Abdo, Sa’ad Zaghloul, Ahmed
Lotfi es-Sayed, Taha Hussien, Muhammed et-Tabe’i and others. The most important
is that, the man is the most notable figure left of this state from the liberal
Arab-national patriotic era; most famous as the Nasserist era. In such regard,
those muslim brotherhood and their likes have a lot of memories in mind and a
lot of grudge as well.
Not to mention that the man – Mr.
Heikal – is a true knight using words and stances as a sword. He never let go
of his horse; his pen, until this moment as he is ninety years old. It was a
decisive battle to defeat that dark middle-ages scheme that took control of our
country two years ago. And so, again, that was a major battle of the
ninety-years-old young man; Muhammed Hassanien Heikal, and so, those barbarians
revenged by burning books and trees. What a revenge that will enlist such
barbarians with the worst description in history.
As to the second matter; the
salafists’ pit, I wish I am wrong when I say I believe that no one of those
salafist preachers’ leaders – salafist Dawah – had read anything about
the meaning, context and development of the identity term along with its geographic,
historical, civilized and cultural effects, despite that the preliminary rules
of Fiqh necessitate that you identify the term first before you try to
apply it in reality.
Before going on, I would like to stop
here at the title they gave to their party – Noor party or Light party – as it
represents the political arm of the salafist Dawah. I really do not know
how many arms this Dawah has, because the term – once again – has arisen
from the groups formed to fight occupation. And so, those resistance
organizations used to have a political arm, another military, a third of intelligence,
a fourth economic…etc. However, this does not apply as to equal citizens living
in one country and sharing one political map… and while the majority of us believe
in one religion, and then we find some of us appointing themselves guardians over
the “true religion” and having several arms for their group, then it is not
understandable or responsible. I wish Makhyoon and Burhami unveil the rest of
the arms of the salafist Dawah so that the other parties in the country
shall be prepared for the probability of having an armed military branch of the
salafist Dawah.
They talk about the Islamic identity;
meaning that the Egyptian identity is Islamic. I do not know why we do not say
the Egyptian identity then we put a full stop. If those salafists read and
understood – as it is likely they may read and not understand a word – they
would realize that the Egyptian identity is composed of many layers accumulated
through history, civilization, culture and fabric. Those layers are cohesive
and intertwined that if you tried to separate them, the nation would bleed or
even die.
Moreover, describing the identity with
being Islamic alone means that there is total match among all Muslims-majority societies;
meaning that Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and the rest of the countries with the
same description have one identity where geography, history, civilization,
culture and nation fabric have no role to play. This is pure ignorance.
I remember my dear professor Dr.
Muhammed Abdel-Hadi Shae’ira – may he rest in peace – who taught us the Abbasid,
Moroccan and Andalusia history. He told us bout part of the Abbasids’ genius when
they set their empire upon a system called Taraf Dari; meaning to
acknowledge the right of the other partners in the society to have a diverse
culture and to keep their national identities.
Moreover, what Islam do they mean? Is
it Hizbi salafi Islam… Jihadi salafi Islam… muslim brotherhood Islam…
Ash’arite Sunni Islam… Ibadi Islam… Ja’afari Twelver Islam… Wasat or
balanced Islam… or al-Qaeda and Bin Laden’s Islam?
Take your hands off Islam and go do your
empty-meaning rituals you believe in… go dye your beards with Henna… go shave
off your moustaches… go take off your trousers since you believe they show your
private parts or Awra back and front… then go read in history,
civilization and politics and try to understand… and after you do understand,
go do anything good for people; that mission that other non-Muslims did best.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article
was published in Al Ahram newspaper on August 29, 2013.
To see the
original article, go to:
#almasry_alyoum
#ahmed_elgammal #Heikal #salafists #noor_party
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