In a previous article, I wrote about
the hole of muslim brotherhood that while we are still trying to get out of it,
we fell in the pit of salafists!
That hole of muslim brotherhood was
the abyss where the nation fell down after it thought that with muslim
brotherhood in power, we will be able to lean against a tough wall and stand on
a solid ground again after long time… but we discovered that this wall is
nothing but lines of bricks drawn in shining colors on a loose sheet of paper…
and that this land is nothing but dry leaves and grass… once we stood on it, we
fell deep down… we also discovered that those abluted hands are soaked in blood…
and that muslim brotherhood claiming to call for the way of God, know nothing
about his true teachings of Islam.
And here we come to the pit of
salafists who claim to be defending the Islamic identity and that they are guardians
of religion… I have already bet that salafists know nothing about the term and
context of identity… and how this term developed from time to time… and that a
country like France for example was very serious about this identity issue...
Here I invite the salafist gentlemen and
all others to read a book titled “Identity of France”… it consists of two
volumes, authored by Fernand Braudel and translated and edited by Mr. Bashier
es-Sebae’i… this translation is issued by the National Centre for Translation
affiliated to the ministry of culture of Egypt.
This matter of identity shall not be
underestimated, like fanaticism and ignorance claiming to be defending religion
do… as religion is far from fanaticism, ignorance and hypocrites.
Man contemplates a lot about those
verses of Quran guiding us to the importance and necessity of respecting
diversity; meaning different cultures and religions… also to respect the
cultural layers accumulated throughout the historical ages of the one society…
in addition to those verses, prophet Muhammed – Peace be upon him –approved
that Muslim shall benefit from all that is good before he was sent prophet… and
he did not deny that Muslims shall learn from other nations.
There is verse no. 285 of Al-Baqara
chapter saying: “The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him
from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah
and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no
distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear
and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final]
destination”… there is also
the verse no. 62 of the same chapter saying: “Indeed,
those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before
Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day
and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear
will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve”… and verse no. 17 of Al-Hajj chapter
saying: “Indeed, those who have believed and those who were
Jews and the Sabeans and the Christians and the Magians and those who associated
with Allah - Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed
Allah is, over all things, Witness”.
I am about to shout loud: ooh Allah…
how beautiful your words are!
These verses indicate that diversity
and respecting it is a must… even that kind of diversity that includes deep
disagreement over beliefs… such thing was admitted and Muslims were ordered to postpone
such disagreement until God does his judgment on the day of resurrection.
I have already written before that it
is better and more comprehensive in my opinion that our identity is described only
as Egyptian… this is all.
To me, the Egyptian identity
definitely includes all components and layers of Egyptian civilization, culture
and conscience since the first Egyptian settled on the banks of the River Nile
valley thousands of years ago… this is according to the time aspect.
As to the place aspect in our present
time we live, the Egyptian identity guarantees the existence of all subsidiary
components whether of ethnic nature like the Amazighens of some people of
oases, especially Siwa… in addition to what the Nubians and some of the eastern,
western and Sinai people may think that they have certain ethnic origins…
adding to this the Christian, and not Coptic, Egyptians– since all the
Egyptians are Copts – who represent a main component of the Egyptian identity.
Then it is really broader, more
comprehensive and deeper than what the Egyptian salafists think and even claim to
be defending the Islamic identity… such broadness and depth is what enriches
the human existence of all Egypt… and allow it to benefit from the creativity
of its people throughout its history; old, middle, modern and contemporary… also
to benefit from others who came to Egypt either to live or to invade… since the
waves of big migration in pre-historic ages until invasion waves in the old,
middle and modern history… such creativity interacted with the Egyptian
cultural and civilization composition to produce an absolutely great sophisticated
conscience.
And as it is said that the true Muslim
is the one who believes in all divine religions; Judaism, Christianity and
Islam… also the true Egyptian is the one who does not deny his old origins and
all that connect to them until our present moment.
Now… you salafist gentlemen… look for something
useful to do instead of claiming this thing of representing the nation’s
identity and falsely pretending to defend one of its main components; that is
the Arab component which Islam and Arab Christianity represent the most
important part of its backbone.
For the thousand times, I ask you to
read and understand because reading is a divine order to the Muslim just like orders
to pray, give Zakat, fast, Hajj and all that is generally known about religion…
and because understanding is the only way to distinguish between humans and
animals.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article
was published in Al Ahram newspaper on September 12, 2013.
To see the
original article, go to:
#alahram
#ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #identity #salafists
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