Thursday 15 August 2013

Taking Dawaa as profession




With the increasing number of educated people and decrease of illiterate ones who cannot read or write… and with the huge surge in mass media and technological means of communications… meaning tens of radio stations, satellite channels, unlimited internet, Facebook, twitter and all their likes… tens of newspapers and monthly and weekly magazines… I inquire about the importance and necessity of having or establishing those so-called religious Dawaa organizations… whether muslim or christian.

I here ask because we have seen a lot from such so-called Dawaa organizations… and it was proved that most – if not all – of them do nothing in the field they claim they work for.

As muslim brotherhood refused to legalize the status of their group for many years… and when they came to power in Egypt, they had to change this because they were in power and violating the law in the same time… and so they went to the ministry of social solidarity and got everything done in 24 hours while others have been waiting for months… they declared their group a Dawaa and not a political one… despite this and their allegation to legalize their status, they have not ceased for a moment to practice politics inside the country and abroad… as we all see in the weekly speeches of Murshid that are still continuing until this moment.

Muslim brotherhood represented the most blatant model of going astray from what they call Dawaa to other affairs that extend to blackmailing the poor to get their votes, working in retail and wholesale businesses, banks, carrying arms, executing assassinations through an armed military branch inside the group… and not ending by the open political work and taking control of the rule…

In addition to what is more dangerous… I here mean the foreign extensions of their group called the international organization of muslim brotherhood… having active and dormant members in other countries… also, summoning the foreign armed elements when necessary like what is happening now in Sinai… and then we see some of them feeling no shame to say that they are a Dawaa group that invites for the way of God with wisdom and good instruction… we also see others who say that we should keep the group just to work in Dawaa… as if saying we should keep the fire provided that it does not burn!

Working in such so-called Dawaa groups have turned into a profession that earns massive revenues for those in charge of such groups… for example, Hajj visas and its costs that became unbelievable when we see advertisements talking about ordinary Hajj, another special, a third touristic, a fourth luxurious, a fifth super, a sixth extra-super… etc… while our country is suffering from debts and low standard of living of most of its citizens.

Adding to this the clinics and schools which are called Islamic but they have nothing to do with Islam… starting from abusing the orphans as we all saw when those so-called Dawaa and charity organizations sent the orphans by force to be used as human shields for Muhammed Badee’a, Muhammed el-Beltagi, Essam el-Erian, Safwat Hegazi and others… and not ending by spreading misunderstanding in interpreting Islam.

Now let us see who are those who call themselves stars of Dawaa… they all almost look the same… one sees them wearing this Khaliji Ghutra on their heads with its corners going on the sides… long beard – almost rectangular for it is too long – and usually dyed… shaved moustache… expensive eye glasses that augment eye sight and attract the one who sees them to examine him in the same time… fancy-fabric-made Gallabyias with costly-buttons sleeves… and a great ability of stressing on word endings and terrifying the listeners if they thought for a second in discussing or objecting to what they say…

When did all those people come and spread in our life with their loud noise replacing the trusted Dawaa men who studied in Al-Azhar Al-Sharif?... was the reason behind this that millions of Egyptians, that our country’s bad circumstances pushed them to travel to Arab oil-rich countries to earn their living, came back with this culture different to our balanced one that we had for hundreds of centuries?

We have a very dangerous phenomenon that was proved to be threatening to our country on all economic, social, thought and cultural levels… also on the strategic and security ones… a single telling example on this strategic and security threat is that some schools affiliating to such so-called Dawaa organizations refuse to salute the flag as they consider it a symbol of atheism… and also refuse to stand for the national anthem and do not let the students recite it… they also grow fanaticism and disdaining other Egyptians who believe in other religions than Islam… What if the students of those schools became one day officers in the army or police or worked in the important government institutions, and in teaching in particular?… we can imagine the security and strategic threat they represent.

For God sake… do societies which believed in Islam centuries ago and Islam became a main part of its cultural and civilization composition need anyone to invite them to this religion once again?

Shouldn’t they go to other societies that believe in non-Abrahamic religions… meaning that those long-bearded people wearing Ghutra and who allege to want to call people for the way of God by wisdom and good instruction should go to India, China, Mongolia and all like nations… like the first Muslims did when they went trading in Indonesia, Malaysia and other nations… and presented themselves as respectable models of Muslims… then the people of those nations diverted to Islam without the need for spending massive money, satellite channels or whatsoever.

Any Muslim who reads Arabic can reach Quran, Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Bughiyat as-Sahah… and all known books of Fiqh, Osul el-Fiqh and Tafsir in few minutes through the internet… he will also find the opportunity to use his mind to know what he wants to know of rules and opinions… without the need for those claiming to be guardians of Islam.

I ask those who take Dawaa as a profession to start looking for another job to represent themselves as decent working knowledgeable examples who can earn their living out of hard work… and to do something useful for our country that can help protect it and keep its glory, dignity and unity.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar



This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on August 15, 2013.

To see the original article, go to:


#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Islam #dawaa #salafists #muslim_brotherhood

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