The Egyptian protesters thought Mubarak and Israel were their greatest enemy, but in fact Islam is their biggest enemy. Unless they recognize this fact, post-Mubarak Egypt is likely to go the Iranian way...
After 18 days of protest, chaos and turmoil, calm returned to Egypt on February 11. The newly-appointed Vice President, Mr. Suleiman, in a brief televised address, said, “President Hosni Mubarak, has decided to step down as president of Egypt and has assigned the higher council of the armed forces to run the affairs of the country.” VP Suleiman’s statement was greeted with uproar by the hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the Tahrir Square, and flag-carrying youth began to dance in joy and hug each other.
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Just before this announcement, the protest was further intensified as Mubarak was refusing to quit before September. The angry crowds, thronged the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other cities, in what they called the “final stage” of their campaign, to dethrone the autocrat. Suleiman’s words broadcast for less than 30 seconds were electrifying, “causing the bottled up emotions of anxiety, defiance, courage and hope among the youthful protesters to explode.”
Mubarak's iron-hand rule over for three decades came to an end with handing over power to the army.
Shortly before Suleiman’s announcement, Mubarak and his family left his presidential palace for the Red Sea resort city of Sharm-el-Sheikh, bringing the curtains down on his authoritarian era, which began when he assumed power in 1981 after the brutal assassination of Anwar Sadat during a military parade. Son despised elder son Gamal had already fled to London, with his family.
It should be noted that only a fortnight ago, Tunisian President Ben Ali, another despotic dictator, fled the country after a similar wave of protests rocked his nation. Tonight, a large crowd descended on central Tunis, to express their solidarity to the Egyptian people and celebrate the departure of another despotic leader, while in Algeria, authorities braced for the contagion of protest spreading to their country.
Reactions
The recently appointed vice president, Omar Sulaiman said, “May Allah help everybody” in his brief television address, while the ecstatic protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square were dancing in joy, and hugging each other. Egyptian human rights lawyer Ahmed Seif Hamad, who has battled Mubarak most of his life, said, “Let me live this and savour this moment,” he screamed, overcome with tears and sobbing, “I never thought I would live to see this day, but what we could not achieve, the youth of Egypt have, I salute them.”
Welcoming the resignation of Mubarak, opposition leader Mohammad El-Bareidi said, “It is the greatest day in my life.”
US President Barack Obama asked for an irreversible and credible process of transition of power in this country, which has witnessed massive pro-democracy protests for more than two weeks now. “There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege of witnessing history taking place. This is one of those moments. This is one of those times, and the Egyptian military must ensure credible transition of power”, Obama added.
David Cameron, the Prime Minister of UK, also welcomed the developments leading to a peaceful transfer of power.
 Protesters rejoicing in Tahrir (Liberation) square |
India also welcomed Mubarak’s decision to step down and the commitment of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to ensure a peaceful transition of power in a time-bound manner. “We welcome the decision of President Mubarak to step down in deference to the wishes of the people of Egypt,” Mr S M Krishna, the external affairs minister, said in a statement while reacting to the development in Egypt.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today commended the people of Egypt for their peaceful protests that led to the exit of the embattled President. Israel reacted cautiously, expressing hope that the transition of power in Egypt will be done “smoothly” while stressing the need to preserve the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
“It is the beginning of a new Egypt which seems to have been cleansed and reborn,” a man at the Tahrir Square said. Others said they were experiencing a new sense of pride in being Egyptian. “I feel I am again empowered and in control of my destiny,” said Amira, an engineer and regular visitor to the square.
Mubarak's Corruption
A report appeared in The Statesman, a Kolkata based daily, says, “Britain’s fraud investigation agency has launched a hunt to identify the millions of pounds in money and assets secretly stashed in the country by deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and his family.” .. . “Mr Mubarak’s family fortune is thought to be at least 1.5 billion pounds, and is thought to be held in British and Swiss banks and tied up in property in London, New York and Los Angeles”, says The Sunday Times.
The Serious Fraud Office is now investigating the assets of Mubarak’s family in the UK. One of the assets being investigated is a private equity company in Belgravia, west London which has been linked to Gamal and Alaa, sons of Mubarak, the report said. Quoting an expert on Mubarak’s regime, the report said moves were underway in London to file court petitions to freeze family assets. Like the Swiss, the British are concerned that the assets be identified in case the funds came from illicit deals.
Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, is the daughter of a Welsh nurse. His family members are regular visitors to Britain. In fact, Gamal, 47, once lived and worked in London and is said to regard Britain as his second home. In 1996 he set up an investment vehicle, Medinvest Associates, which is based in Sloane Street, central London. Medinvest then set up Horus, Egypt’s first offshore private equity fund.
The US$ 54 million (34 million pounds) fund was aimed to invest in Egyptian public sector organisations that were being privatised by the Mubarak senior. On 11 February, Mubarak left for his residence in the Red Sea resort of Sharm-al-Sheikh but his present whereabouts are not exactly known.
The Future of Egypt
Political analysts and experts on Egyptian affairs say that after the military’s assertion, the country is returning to a model defined by Gamal Abdel Nasser, modern Egypt’s founder, of running the state by a loyal army officers’ council. The recent developments have helped Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi emerged as the new strongman and he is expected to remain so till the time the political transition is complete.
“It should be noted that the army is Egypt’s only respected state institution and has gained popular reverence for the restraint and impartiality with which it conducted itself through the roller-coaster revolution. It was a tough, often perilous, tightrope the army was walking but it has come through, along with revolutionists, in flying colours”, says an analyst. “It is not the defense minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, but the chief of military staff General Sami Eman will most likely be in effective control to see Egypt through to the “free and fair” elections it promised in the run-up to Mubarak’s toppling”, he adds. A stand-off with the military had begun there but it melted into scenes of joy in the face of Mubarak’s announced exit from the presidency.
But as night thickened over Cairo, pro-democracy leader Mohamed El-Baradei poignantly said on his Twitter page: “Today, my dream has come true. Egypt has been going down the drain for the last few weeks and we need to get it back to where it should be… We need a democratic country based on social justice.”
Regarding the future of Egypt, Dr Babu Suseelan writes, “To shed light on the reasons for social revolution in Egypt, Phony liberals, bogus intellectuals, leftists academicians and pro-Islamists have been predicting that the social crisis we witness in Egypt is good for the country. They claim that Egyptians are marching towards financial freedom, liberty and democracy. They miss the point. The root cause of Egyptian revolution is Islam. Islam is the fundamental principle that operates in the minds of Egyptian Muslims. They are striving to do what is right. What is right according to Islam is: striving or struggling in the way of Allah”. It is the central concept that pushes all Muslims in Egypt.”
“Since Islam is incompatible with democracy, secularism, and human rights, in the long run, Egypt will be run by Islamic Mullahs. Egyptian revolution is disguised as a fight for social correction. But it is an Islamic revolution that will eventually become a threat to Israel and America. America is spending billions of dollars and risking American soldiers but failed to see the root cause of unrest in Islamic countries. Whether it is in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq or Egypt, America is facing Islam, a culture of death. These culture vultures are marching ahead shouting “Death to America”. “Death to Israel”. Believe it or not, the crisis in Egypt will not end until infidels were driven out from Egypt. Intelligence source indicates that Shias from Iran are consorting with sunny groups in Egypt. The US is caught in the crossfire and can do nothing to stop Islamic bloodshed”, he adds. Meanwhile a prominent Egyptian Islamic scholar in London said, "The Islamic revolution in Iran over three decades ago has set an example for others to follow.” …“It has had an impact not only on Egypt but all over the Muslim world,” Kamal Helbawi said on the eve of the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 revolution in Iran. “It was a revolution for freedom, a revolution for dignity and for the respect and worship of Allah,” Helbawi said in an interview with IRNA on February 10.
With regard to Egypt, he said the current uprising was by all people, not only Islamists, seeking freedom from 30 years of oppression. Unfortunately there are “no personality like Imam Khomeini and Imam Khamenei.”
…“We are with freedom now, until the people are ready to accept Islam,” the scholar and researcher said. “Christians and Muslims have no problem; the only problem is with Mubarak and the regime.”
 Mummy of Pharaoh vandalized by Islamist protesters in Cairo |
In his article, “What’s Coming to Egypt: Islam!”, the author Alamgir Hussain writes, “Many of us, who treasure liberty and democracy, are thrilled by the ongoing people’s revolution on the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and other Middle Eastern nations, headed by dictatorial regimes that are friendly toward the infidel world (in Iran and Gaza, no such protests). The following facts, gathered by a Pew Survey (see below), should worry us as much as thrilled are the revolutionaries.”
The People of Egypt are basically Islamic and thoroughly brainwashed by Islam. So, they have no respect for the rich pre-Islamic Egyptian cultural heritage and vandalized the mummy of a Pharaoh in the Cairo Museum. Coptic Christians have been reduced to the status of second-class citizens. They are being mercilessly persecuted, beaten up, harassed and murdered in Egypt. Churches are destroyed and burnt. “Billions of western and American aid has been looted by the top bureaucrats or political leaders. Muslims in Egypt are willing to defend Islam. Inspired by Islam and motivated by politics these Egyptian Muslims are justifying their social revolution to overthrow President Mubarak. The real intent is to wage a holy war in defense of Islam.”
But the people of Egypt should understand that Islam, not Hosni Mubarak, is the main enemy of the people. It good that a demon called Hosni Mubarak has gone. But Islam would create a bigger demon to oppress the people. The Egyptian people should that they should liberate themselves from the shackles of Arab religious imperialism, or Islam. Then and only then would they obtain a free, a truly democratic Egypt, what 59% Egyptians cherish in their hearts. They should go back to their original pre-Islamic culture and that would be the true freedom and true liberation from bondage.
The Pew Report
According to a recent Pew survey (April – May 2010) reported by Reuters:
20% percent had a favourable view of Al-Qaeda
18% had confidence in Osama bin Laden (though it has fallen from 27% a few years ago
Also,
- 49% are favorable of Hamas
- 30% are favorable of Hezbollah
On Islamic punishments:
- 54% wants segregation of men and women in workplace
- 82% wants adulterers be stoned
- 84% wants death penalty for apostates from Islam
- 77% favors flogging or amputation of the hands of thieves
On the preferred system of governance:
- 59% preferred democracy to any other kind of government.
- 22% said a non-democratic system be preferable in certain circumstances.
Above facts may give us inkling to at least a part of the people’s discontent against the reigning dictators, who tries to maintain friendly relations with infidel nations and even show their inclination toward recognizing Israel.
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