To detest… to despise… to
loathe… all these are verbs we use when we have such feeling of despising
someone or when someone is practicing it towards us!...Like the one I saw on
TV, loathing and reprimanding his interviewer who was astonished by muslim
brotherhood’s move to block sewerage pipes’ outlets to worsen the catastrophe
of Alexandria heavy rain torrents… the loathing one asked exclaiming: whenever
something happens, you say it’s muslim brotherhood who did it… you hate all those who have said, "Our Lord is Allah " and just do
their prayers?!
I listened and preferred
to stay silent during the dispute… however, I couldn’t bear it any longer and
so I decide to say my opinion and said what I have already written about regarding
the events I lived and witnessed myself on 1977.
The story begins when we
were residents in the appeal prison from January to June… in May, a bunch of
passing-by residents were supposed to stay for a short time in the prison and
then go back to Abu-Za’abal prison where there were supposed to serve their
life sentence penalty!... they came to the appeal prison – near to Bab
el-Khalq neighborhood behind Cairo police headquarter – so that they could
easily be transferred to Dar el-Ouloom faculty, which they joined during their
imprisonment, to do their exams!
They were members of Hizb
al-Tahrir al-Islami movement which was established in Egypt by the
Palestinian Saleh Serriya who could attract a number of students enlisted in
the military technical college and whom, in turn, decided to stage a military
coup… and so, they took over the college’s arms, killed some and planned to go
out to arrest Sadat or kill him and then take over the power in our beloved
Egypt…
The move was foiled and
some of them were sentenced to death penalty like Saleh Sarriya, Karem
al-Anadouli and others … the rest were sentenced to life sentences… their Emir;
meaning their leader, was in prison… his name – as I can remember – was Saied
Derbala!... back to our story, they went back to Abu Za’abal prison after they
finished the exams and I had an account to tell that took place between me and
them… the account that is really, and not figuratively, stranger than fiction…
when they tried to hit me… and may be kill me after we had Zuhr prayers
on a Friday afternoon!
I was transferred to Abu
Za’abal prison where I found them residing in one spacious cell… just like the
rest of the cells in that warden… I said hi… and they replied with the same
salute… I laid my black blanket in the wide corridor to sit and discuss… we
used to discuss daily and when it’s time to pray… we all get up and I join them
in their cell where one of them is the Imam… we used to stand for few minutes
to align our lines together… shoulder to shoulder… arm to arm… thigh to thigh…
so that the devil can find no gap to delve in or come through… meaning to
tightly block all gaps…
We once disagreed on the
man “who had knowledge from the Scripture”… that who told
Prophet Solomon he could bring him the throne of the queen of Sheba in a
glimpse and so exceeding the greatest Genie who could bring it before Solomon
stands from his sit… I used this situation to give evidence that humans can possess
supernatural powers exceeding time and place; like those pious worshippers of
Allah who possess mystical powers… they, in turn, used to deny what I say… so,
I cited the tale of Solomon’s friend who is named in Tafsir books as “Assef
bin Arkhiya”… when they went far in denying, I asked them if they have any Tafsir
book in their possession, they said they have one for “ibn Katheer”… they
brought it and we found what I said in it… their leader, at once, replied that
this version is fake and not authentic!
Days went by… discussing…
praying… drinking tee together… when one day, Gama’et al-Takfir wal-Hijra
group – those who killed al-Shiekh al-Zahabi – were arrested… the prison
administration decided to have a transition movement in the cells… I, along
with my Nasserist fellows, were supposed to take the place of the military
technical college’s group… Prisoners went out, as per orders, to displace… all
cells took not more than 15 minutes to exchange but we kept waiting from 8 AM
until 5 PM when we were all called by the officers to come out… during that
time, they used to come out and in… not saying a word about what is keeping
them behind all this time until we came in to see the surprise…
I saw the walls which they
painted with oil with some parts of it burnt while the rest is smeared by soot
of newspapers they used to burn the oil over the walls… they took out lines of
the cell’s floor tiles and even digged deeper until they got the sand out… they
took out all the six water taps situated above the long wash basin and hammered
wooden sticks in their places instead… finally, they blocked the outlets of the
two toilettes situated in the cell using mixture of cement and plaster
We were astonished and since
I was the alpha of my fellows, I went to one of them – I remember his name was
Ahmed Maged – whom I thought was kind and forgiven and asked him: what is this
Ahmed?! He answered, feeling a bit ashamed: the group went into discussing the
answer for a question imposed by some of us: this is our home; meaning the
cell, and we will leave it, so what shall we do?! After long discussion, we
decided to do what is supposed to be right… that is “if Muslims left their
homes to non-Muslims, then they shall destroy all that can be beneficial”!
I almost went mad and said
to him: but we are Muslims like you… we used to do prayers with you… Zuhr…
Asr… tens of times… we used to discuss in Usul, Fiqh, Hadith,
Tafsir… and even if what you claim is right… this is not home… this is a
prison cell… meaning it’s public property… and even if you considered us
non-Muslims in your opinion, Prophet Muhammed – peace be upon him – had already
set rules and ethics for war… again, I repeat… war… including not burying water
resources with dirt or putting poison in them… also, not cutting a tree down…
not trespassing over a private property, a monastery, a church… not killing a
woman or child!
The young man gave no
answer… he only assured it was the Gama’a opinion and its leader;
Derbala!
This story took place
about 40 years ago… but it has significance to what happened in Alexandria and
other places when those terrorists blocked the sewerage pipes’ outlets with
cement, stones and sand so that the city float in waters, people die and
everything come to a stop… why not? As they were ousted by the people out of
power and were inherited by “non-Muslims”!
As to the story of me being
hit and may killed in the appeal prison by them… it’s another account to tell
later.
This article was published
in Almasry alyoum newspaper on November 25, 2015.
To see the original
article, go to:
#almasry_alyoum
#ahmed_elgammal
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