Kuffarphobia in Egypt

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Comment by Indoeuropean on December 20, 2011 at 19:09

 

Factors behind the triumph of Islamists in Egypt

 

By Tawfik Hamid

 Dec. 20, 2011

www.tawfikhamid.com

The overwhelming victory for Islamists parties in the first stage of recent and ongoing elections in Egypt deserves critical attention. Careful analysis of the situation in Egypt can reveal that the selection of Islamist parties was due to several reasons. These include:

1-     Desire to implement Sharia Rules in the country. Several poll results have shown that a significant number of Egyptians want to implement Sharia Rules within the country. The overwhelming percentage of women who wear the Hijab (Islamic head scarf) and the Niquab (face cover) in the last few decades is a clear indication of the increasing religiosity among the population. In fact, some estimates identify around 80% of women currently wear the Hijab. This percentage by itself correlates well with the percentage of votes gained by Islamist groups in the current elections (around 70%).  The desire to implement Sharia Law is partially based on the slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) that "Islam is the Solution" which gives hope for many Muslims that implementing Sharia Law will magically solve all the problems in the country (Note: Failure of the MB, in Egypt, to fix the economic problems of the country can be the biggest blow to Political Islam in its history).  

 

 

2-   Desire to have less corruption. Several Egyptians supported the Muslim Brotherhood MB with the hope that they will be less corrupt than the Mubarak regime.  During my recent visit to Egypt, after the revolution, several Non-religious Egyptians expressed their desire to elect members of the MB for one reason, which was that they are "not corrupt".

(Note: Many Egyptians correlate being more religious with being less corrupt).

 

 

3-   The Penalty of 500 Egyptian Pounds for not participating in the elections. Several Egyptians expressed on the mainstream TV stations that they only want to do the elections to avoid paying a fine the 500 pounds if they did not participate. Those who participated in the elections only for this reason were simple people and an easy target to be persuaded into voting for the well-organized Islamist groups who uses the word "Islam" effectively to manipulate their simple mind.

 

4-   Feeling of guilt for not being a 'good Muslim'. When I was in the Medical School of Cairo (1978-1984) the Jammaa Islameia (The Islamic Group) used to win the elections of the student unions. Several Muslim students who were not religious at all used to elect the members of Jamma Islameia only because these students felt guilty for not doing the religious edicts of Islam (such as the daily 5 prayers) so -in their view -choosing an Islamic Group was the only good deed they could do for Islam to compensate for not being pious Muslims.

 

 

5-    "Let us try something new." Several Egyptians expressed their choice for Islamist parties by saying "Let us try something new." In their view, Egypt has tried the socialism (with Nasser), Capitalism (with Sadat), and free market (with Mubarak) and ALL have 'failed'. Accordingly, trying a new experiment with an Islamic system may -as they see it- succeed and thus bring prosperity to the country. This is just like someone who lived in pain for years, who has not been relieved by any medication, becoming a part of a clinical trial to test new medication that may relieve his pains. The attempt of trying something new in this case is based on the "failure" of the other measures rather than a genuine desire and confidence in the new medication. Failure of the SCAF to fix the current economic problems and security concerns of the population have aggravated the desire to try something that has nothing to do with former Mubarak system (i.e. to not be secular and not be military) as these features were linked in their minds to nothing but failure. This feeling made many people place more trust in the Islamic parties as they -unlike secular parties - fit in both criteria of being non-secular and non-Military.

 

 

 

6-   Increase in crime rates. Several Egyptians live in fear because of the increasing crime rates after the Jan 25 revolution. Many of those Egyptians feel that the tough criminal Laws of Sharia can help control the streets and bring back security to the Egyptian streets. The support of Islamic parties in this case is based on the desire to have more security in the country and a belief that the criminals who kidnap children and rape women can be deterred only by the tough Sharia criminal laws rather than the 'soft' punishments of western based criminal laws.    

 

 

7-    Lack of trust in current leadership. Failure to put Mubarak and his wife in prison and their "five-star" treatment by the authorities was perceived by many Egyptians as that the Military are still more loyal to Mubarak than to the population. This five-star treatment included destruction of the CD that recorded the communication between the president and his top officials during the revolution. This CD was considered the ONLY evidence that could prove that Mubarak was the one who ordered the killing of the demonstrators. The feeling that the authorities are still pro-Mubarak made many of people desire to have an Islamic system that is - in their opinion - more likely to punish Mubarak, who -as they see him-"stole their money, allowed very high levels of corruption, and killed hundreds of the demonstrators in the Jan 25 revolution".

 

8-   Ignorance. Many ignorant people expressed on Egyptian TV (Al-Quaheera Al-Youm 8/12/2011) that they choose the symbol of the "Balance" (which represents the political party of Muslim Brotherhood). When they were asked why they choose it, many stated that they were told to. When they were asked if they knew what party this symbol represented, many answered that they did not know. The Islamist groups, who are much more organized than secular groups, utilized the ignorance of these individuals effectively.  

 

9-   Unclean tactics of some Islamic Parties.

 

These tactics included:

 

Ø Bribing the voters with food and occasionally money. This approach was believed to be used more by the Islamic parties as they have more money than their competing secular parties and are well supported by Islamists from different parts of the world.

 

Ø Defaming secularism. Islamists tried to defame secularism in several ways such as calling it "against Islam" and by promoting that it will encourage nudity and prostitution. This approach worked well with the minds of many Egyptians.

 

Ø Breaking the laws of the election by promoting their Islamic parties during the 48 hours that preceded the Election Day.

 

Ø Illegally using the Mosques and Islam to promote their political parties, knowing that Muslims have a psychological difficulty in rejecting the 'Islamic' option.

 

10-                       Failure to understand the consequences of implementing Sharia Laws. Several Egyptians believe that implementing Sharia Laws will bring "blessings' and prosperity to the country. The liberal media were not very effective in making Egyptians realize that implementing Sharia Laws is likely to cause a collapse of the Egyptian tourism industry and will directly affect their own pockets. Failure to understand the negative consequences of implementing the Sharia Laws made many Egyptians more likely to choose Islamic parties as they could not see the negative impact of this choice in their life.   

 

11- Fear of Punishment by Allah for not choosing 'Islam'. Many Egyptian Muslims feel that Allah will punish them if they do not choose an 'Islamic' party, as Allah will see this as rejection of his religion. The fear mechanism works well in the mind of many Egyptians and paralyses their ability to choose any option other than 'Islam'.

 

12-                      Weakness of the secular and liberal parties.

 

These weaknesses can be exemplified by the following points:

 

Ø Weaker financial resources compared to Islamist parties.

Ø Talking to people from the media without real existence on the Egyptian streets (unlike the Islamists parties that worked hard on the Egyptian streets for the last few decades to provide food and health services for the poor).

Ø Failure to use Islamic text properly to support their secular approach (Note; recently several thinkers such as Ammar Ali Hasan, Bilal Fadl and others have tried to provide an Islamic base to support secularism, but their attempt was relatively too late).

Ø Inability to effectively defame the Islamists. In fact after the January 25, 2011 Revolution, several liberal media offered Radical Islamists air time to speak on mainstream media in a way that actually gave them legitimacy and more respect in the society. This attitude worked against the liberals in the end.

                                  Ø Focusing more on fighting with and criticizing the SCAF (who are seculars) rather than in fighting Radical Islamic views in the society. This worked only for the benefit of the Islamists as it diverted the power of the liberals toward another enemy.

Comment by Indoeuropean on December 17, 2011 at 8:11

Most of the people in Egypt are so to say uneducated, they are almost so to say analphabets,

and they CANNOT leave the country due to permissons/visas (that one can get from Abroad only)

and/or due to the lack of money for travelling. Therefore they are easy preys for Arabo islamist brainwashers, and

[as much as it happens to us, for other unreasonably reasons (*)]

they are subjected to the (Arabo islamist) propaganda of/in the Medias,

which includes Hates for the West.

Now, I think this has already happened in Iran (former Persia) in the Seventies,

and we could recently see how happy are today, [about that time's (reactionary) "Revolution"],

Iranians (former Persians) [see today's progressive Green Wave].

The problem is, that uneducated, ignorant Egyptians do not know (enough) about Iranian truth, reality.

And therefore they risk to face the same Iranian (former Persian), very sad, reality.

(*) Medias in our Western countries do brainwash (brainpollute) people, youngs, but for other "reasons" (not with Arabo islamist propaganda), which anyway are as dangerous (brainpolluting) as the Arabo islamist (mindless or ethicless or ugly) "reasons".

Comment by Indoeuropean on December 13, 2011 at 11:51

Understanding the Muslim Brotherhood

By Tawfik Hamid

Dec. 13, 2011

www.tawfikhamid.com

 

Preliminary results of the recent Egyptian elections indicate that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) of Egypt is likely to dominate the next Egyptian parliament and will create the new Egyptian constitution.

Some see the MB as a moderate Islamic group that can fit with real democracy while others see them as radicals.

Evaluating how such an organization works, its behavior, and its tactics is pivotal to understanding and accordingly dealing with them.

Whilst it is fair to say that at the individual level, several members of this group are likely to be less corrupt than many former government officials during the Mubarak regime, it is also fair to say that many in the MB of Egypt are professionals in using deceptive tactics and that their true agenda will be clear only when they come to power.

The flag of the MB shows the word "Waaedo" in Arabic underneath the swords. This word means "to prepare and plan" which gives an indication of the process of thinking of this group. The word "Waaedo" in Arabic is well known to be a direct quote from and a reminder of the following verse in the Quran.  

 

Quran {Al-Anfal 8:60} Against them (enemies of Islam) prepare "Waaedo" your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly.

 

Some of the tactics used by the MB of Egypt include:

 

1-    Hiding their true intentions

 

When President Nasser came to power after the Revolution of 1952   the MB were initially supportive of the Military. This was based on a power sharing arrangement. Later on, the Military realized that the MB did not actually want to share power but wanted all the power. This led Naser to turn against them and put their members in prison. In the January 25 Revolution, many believed that the MB had an initial arrangement with the Military whereby the Military would support them to control the new government in exchange for sharing in power and having special privileges. This initial pro-Islamist attitude of the Military was observed in the selection of the committee that modified the Egyptian constitution during the transitional stage. This committee was headed by a person known to be a sympathizer with the MB  (Tarwk Al-Bishry) and did not include any women  or  even a single Coptic Christian (a religious minority that is 10-15% of the population). Later on, when the Military asked the MB for some privileges to ensure that it can be protected from future backlash and to have a role in political leadership for the country, the MB refused to accept this and asked its supporters to demonstrate in Tahrir Square against the Military (on Friday Nov 18). After the preliminary results of the election showed that the MB will be the majority in the next parliament, leaders of the group started to be more vocal about their demand to appoint the next government. This means they want to deprive the Military from a significant portion of its power as the Military currently has the power of the president to appoint the government. These demands of the MB have become clearer only after they felt that they are getting more power in the election. The struggle for power between the MB and the Military is likely to cause several troubles to the country in the near future.

 

 

The interaction between the MB and the Military shows the following stages:

 

Stage 1 (initially): Showing solidarity with powerful groups based on a promise to share power

 

Stage 2 (once feeling that they are becoming more powerful):  Trying to have all power

 

Stage 3: People in power turning against them

 

It is unclear yet how the military will respond to the MB this time as -unlike after 1952 revolution - the MB currently has a very strong base of support within the population. Turning against the MB now is much more complicated than it was in the 1950s and 1960s during Nasser era. Initial indicators include the comment of General Tantawi that the position of the Military in Egypt will remain the same in the new constitution in reference to attempts of the MB to limit the power of the Military.

 

2-   Deceiving statements

 

Initially the leaders of the Muslim brotherhood after the Jan 25 revolution issued statements to welcome more tourism , to show respect to previous treaties (which includes the peace treaty with Israel), and to promote a state where people are treated equally irrespective of their faith or gender "Dawla Madaneia".

Later on (when they felt more powerful) leaders of the same group did the following:

 

a-    Declared that they will not allow female tourists to dress freely and will not allow drinking or selling of alcohol.

 

b-   Expressed clear hostility toward the peace treaty with Israel and a desire to end it.

  

c-    Pushed for a massive demonstration on Friday 18 to reject the super constitutional principles that aimed at ensuring equality between different Egyptians irrespective of their faith or gender. 

 

 

3-   Opportunism

 

When Egyptians demonstrated against Mubarak on Jan 25, the MB refused to share in the demonstrations until they started to feel that Mubarak was collapsing. This delay showed the opportunistic style of the group as, later on, they wanted to gain the political fruits of the revolution and claimed to be part of it.

 

 

 

4-   Using general principles and avoid being specific  

 

Many members of the MB speak about general principles such "No compulsion in Religion" but they never give a clear statement to clarify that a Muslim has the right to convert without being killed (known as the "Redda Law" that is common to all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence). In fact, their leaders clearly say on Arabic satellite TV shows that there is full freedom to enter Islam but the situation is very different when it comes to leaving it. In other words, they just want to get acceptance in the eyes of Westerners by confirming that there is 'no compulsion on religion' but are not truly ready to apply the true values of freedom of religion.

 

5-   Rejecting Muslims who show real steps toward modernity

 

 

After receiving the Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan as a hero in Cairo airport when he visited Egypt in September, they turned completely against him once he encouraged secularism of the country. Similarly, they kicked Abdel-Muneim Abu El-futooh (currently a possible presidential candidate in Egypt) from the MB who is one of the few Muslim leaders who clearly supports the view that Islam must not intervene in personal freedoms of people such as forcing the dress code of women or banning drinking and selling of alcohol. 

 

 

6-   Tactical Mutation

 

 

When the MB started by Hasan Al-Banna in 1928, it did not focus on making women wear the Hijab. The group was not very successful in changing the society. Later on, they realized that the best way to Islamie a society was to promote an Islamic uniform for women (e.g. the Hijab) to put their minds in a continuous mental prison and facilitate the Islamization of the society.  In other words, they did a 'mutation' in their tactical approaches to give more attention to promoting and enforcing the Hijab in the society even to young girls. This tactical mutation was an extremely successful tool that helped to change the Egyptian society. The ability to study their own causes of failure and to develop effective tactical changes to achieve their Islamic goal is one of the main features of this group.

 

 

7-   Diversion Tactics

 

 

Recently more than 30demonstrators of Tahrir Square were killed and thousands were injured in clashes between the demonstrators in Tahrir Square and the Military. This led many Egyptians to plan a gathering of a million people and called it "Friday to save Egypt". The MB could not tolerate to see the Egyptians giving their full attention to the future of their country. So instead of joining the millions of Egyptians in the demonstrations they asked for changing the slogan of the demonstration from 'saving Egypt' to 'saving Al-Aqusa Mosque'. This attempt to divert the attention of the Egyptian people from their local problems to the Palestinian cause illustrates the MB's true focus for their global Islamic vision, rather than their care for Egypt itself. This is not surprising especially when we know that a few years ago, Mahdi Akef (the former leader of the MB of Egypt) said "Toz Fi Masr" which is a very insulting word in Arabic that generally means "Let Egypt go to Hell". Mahdi Akef said this statement in a huge gathering for different Islamic scholars and Ulema to emphasize to them that building the Islamic Caliphate is much more important for individual countries. Irrespective of the context, the statement tells a lot about the true intensions and way of thinking of the MB.

 

 

 

In brief, the MB of Egypt uses several deceptive tactics. It is important that decision makers in the West understand these tactics (see above) to be able to deal with this organization appropriately.

Comment by Indoeuropean on September 1, 2011 at 17:44

Tawfik Hamid and his Experience among Jihadi Scholars, as he was a Student in Egypt (now he's a Member of Potomac Institute, USA): http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_568600&fe... 

Comment by Albert Case on August 8, 2011 at 5:16

Comment by Alan Lake on May 6, 2011 at 16:53

Comment by Indoeuropean on February 24, 2011 at 4:47

Thank you Mary, don't worry, I didn't want to say that he was for Politics. Actually we do it here :-)

 

Politics is made of Knowledge, and knowing one's History is good.

 

V.S. Naipaul and his "Beyond Belief" explains how ... Middle Easter/Asian Population even forgot their own Heritage and adopted (so to say) Islamism,

 

identifying themselves with ... Muhammedan History (and even Race!). Absurd.

 

The biggest Problem is, that People of the West support that Conversion of them, and simply because THEY IGNORE THAT THOSE COUNTRIES WERE INVADED BY JIHADISTS!

 

As soon as they know better about those Islamized Countries' History and Roots,

 

I am almost sure that ... Westerners ... will support the Roots, and blame Islamism and Islamization (of those Countries and in general).

 

Which is GOOD.

 

Wishing you a brightening Day.

Comment by Mary, Act 4 America Chptr Leader on February 23, 2011 at 23:19

The linked site is a great place to discuss historical facts, although the folks that run the community are woefully and ignorantly, at their own peril, PC useful idiots.  Mince words? Who ME?  Never!  PC (to parahrase the Islamists on the street) go to hell!  The linked site is NOT a site to discuss politics. 

Comment by Indoeuropean on February 22, 2011 at 2:46

About Ancient Egypt and its Mythes (many Thanks to Mary)

Comment by Mary, Act 4 America Chptr Leader on February 21, 2011 at 18:46

Glenn Beck is NOT the foremost authority on Islam, and he is certainly NOT "as good as it gets".  People should listen to people who have lived through Islamic Jihad and who speak Arabic, who have lived as a Muslim or who has lived amongst them.  These are the people who understand the mindset of Muslims, which is 180 degrees different than than the Western mind, with the exception of the antifas, socialists and commies.  Two people who know far more about Islam than Glen Beck, are Walid Shoebat (former PLO and convert to Christianity, and Bridgette Gabriel.  Both have first hand knowledge and experience and both are very activve in trying to get people to understand what the real Islam is about.

 

I recommend Glen Beck on amnesty, as this issue is much closer to HIS experience.  This is not to say that Glen Beck doesn't understand Islam and is trying to spread the word, but he is by no means an authority or the best person to try to explain to PC useful idiots what is happening globally.

Another thing to remember about Beck is that he somewhat adheres to PC in order to keep his TV and radio show from being cancelled.  Shoebat and Gabriel are both highly opposed to PC.

 

There are plenty of other authorities on Islam, some of them right here in our 4 Freedoms Community.

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