Egypt's Unreasonable Opposition: We Must Never Allow Ourselves As Muslims To Compromise The Main Principles Of Our Faith
01 March 2013
By Khalid Amayreh
The National Salvation Front (NSF) is the main entity
encompassing opposition to the Islamists in Egypt. It
often projects itself as a united and homogenous body.
However, a closer look into it suggests a
heterogeneous group comprising cacophonic components
that are only united by their hostility to Islamists.
Indeed, what makes an odd couple like Nasserist
Hamdeen Sabbahi and ultra-libertarian Mohamed
ElBaradei coalesce in one front, other than their
sullen hostility to the Muslim Brotherhood? In fact,
ElBaradei's declared philosophy has more to do with
Miltonian political philosophy and the Areopagitica
than with Islam or Nasserism. His undeclared ideas
could be too exotic and anomalous if judged according
to the general principles of Islam.
The man who had the audacity to suggest establishing
places of worship for Buddhists and Hindus when there
is virtually zero population of adherents to Buddhism
and Hinduism in Egypt could conceivably embark on many
eyebrow-raising feats, such as advocating homosexual
and civil marriages as well as women's rights to have
multiple sex partners.
The man is apparently thoroughly imbibed in Western
values and it would hard to reindoctrinate him in
things Arab and even Egyptian.
For obvious political and public relations reasons,
the co-leader of NSF can't reveal all that he has in
his libertarian depository.
The NSF lists a host of contentious issues and demands
it says must be met by the government before agreeing
to suspend its disruptive protests in Egypt's streets.
However, in the honest opinion of this writer, most of
these issues and demands are more or less "red
herrings" that are meant to obfuscate the real issue:
rejection of what the opposition calls "political
Islam."
The opposition makes a lot of clamour about the
recently-approved constitution. However, an honest
reading of this constitution fails to show the
"horrendous and unacceptable violations of an Egyptian
citizen's rights and dignity" that the opposition
suggests it represents.
In fact, the vociferous ranting of the opposition,
constantly parroted by a shockingly biased media, is
unreasonable to say the least. In short, the real
issue is not the constitution. The real issue behind
the demonstrations has more to do with the
opposition's undeclared refusal to accept the rule of
the ballot box, especially if and when that ballot box
breeds Islamists.
The opposition claims, utterly falsely, that the
Muslim Brotherhood are promoting a fascist government.
Well, this is a lie. Today Egyptians, for the first
time in 5000 years, can demonstrate really freely,
call their elected leader "Hitler" and "Nazi" as well
as attack his presidential palace with Molotov
cocktails without being riddled with bullets.
Do we remember that poor Egyptian who was instantly
shot and killed several years ago upon approaching
former president Mubarak's motorcade, probably to hand
the former tyrant a small paper stating his
grievances?
Last week, thousands of Egyptian demonstrators shouted
"Irhal, Irhal, Irhal," meaning "leave," outside the
Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo. Well, what sort of
political culture do these people have? Are
democratically-elected presidents in any
self-respecting countries asked to leave office a few
months after elections?
Can we imagine thousands of Americans converge at the
White House, hurling firebombs and stones and shouting
at President Obama "Leave, leave, leave"?
President Morsi may not be the best president Egypt
could elect. But he is the legitimate president of the
country and he has the right to complete his term.
Yes, hundreds of thousands have been demonstrating
against him. But a silent majority of tens of millions
of people are still giving him the benefit of the
doubt.
Two months ago, the opposition thought the president's
popularity had gone down the drain, prompting its
decision to take part in the referendum over the
constitution. However, the fact that nearly 65% of
eligible voters who bothered to cast their votes voted
in favour of the draft constitution showed that Morsi
was more popular then than when he was first elected
in June 2012.
This is because the mid-December referendum was
effectively a referendum over the performance of the
president, thanks to a hostile campaign of
delegitimisation and vilification preceding the poll.
I know that the opposition in general as well as many
ordinary Egyptians are overwhelmed with frustration
and indignation over the slow pace of political and
economic reforms promised by the revolution. I also
understand that the economic situation is very bad.
However, the disruptive nature of the opposition's
activity, especially its cheap opportunism, is
derailing and endangering the march of the country
towards a brighter future.
In truth, the destructive behaviour of some segments
of the opposition would give the impression that there
are certain people in Egypt who would rather see Egypt
fail than the Muslim Brotherhood succeed. Well, if
Egypt failed, God forbid, then no political group or
coalition of groups would succeed. Everyone would
lose, irrespective of whose voice was louder and whose
patriotic credentials were more authentic.
I don't like to entertain the idea that there are such
Egyptians. Such people would be Egypt's enemies as
well as their own enemies. They must be stopped at all
costs, not looked upon as seasoned allies in the
battle against the "Islamist ghoul."
This is why I believe the opposition must give the
president the full opportunity to succeed. It is
ethically indefensible to impede and disrupt the
president and then complain about the lack of
progress. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the
opposition is doing. They seem to hate the Muslim
Brotherhood more than they love Egypt.
A final point. Some of the opposition figures keep
invoking the term "political Islam," as if the term
were a source of shame to Islamists.
Well, political Islam is not the invention of the
Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamists. It is rather
solidly rooted in Islam and its holy scripture, the
Quran.
I am not going to discuss certain arguments made by
anti-Islam secularists who claim that the rule of
Sharia is not a must upon Muslims and that Muslims
might opt for modern Western-style democracy without
violating the tenets of their faith. These arguments
are quite nonsense, even for first grade Muslim
children.
But I do want to point out that one cannot reject
political Islam as a matter of principle, without
rejecting Islam itself.
Yes, one might disagree with certain Islamist
modalities, behaviours and interpretations. We all
reject violence and terror committed in the name of
religion. And we all would like to see a kinder and
gentler practice of Islam everywhere.
But we must never allow ourselves as Muslims to
compromise the main principles of our faith in order
to appear more in tune with the age, and more
acceptable to the West.
Khalid Amayreh is an American educated journalist
based in occupied Palestine.
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