I have translated below for your leisurely reading an article by a dear and old (he is actually a tiny bit younger than me) friend of mine, Sami ElBehiri. This more than excellent article touches on a couple of subjects you all know are very dear to me. I will give it my all now and into my future to expose the misinformed and misguided people who do not understand the merits of doing something about them once and for all.
- Separation of Mosque (Church, Synagogue) and State, a must for any society where humans live in order to allow for people of any faith, all faiths, to live in peace and harmony and contribute to their respective societies, and
- Women's right for complete equality with men, human rights are inalienable to humankind, and women last I checked are part and parcel of humankind. What is so difficult about that to understand and what gave men the right to decide what rights to bestow on women?
Now, please read Sami's brief yet remarkably comprehensive article. Sami has a writing style that is to the point, a point he always makes easy to grasp. I also included the link to the original Arabic version, published in the Ilaf, the first electronic daily, for those of you so inclined.
With my best regards, Hussein
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Egyptians are Muslims, Christians and Women,
and they are capable of defeating extremists
Of the most beautiful things I read about tolerance, which was widespread in Egypt in the first half of the twentieth century.
It is known that Naguib Rihani and Badie Khairy started a theater and wrote many screenplays together. They were partners in the art and the business sides associated with those works. Their works continue, despite passage of more than 60 years, to be some of the most prominent in the history of Egyptian cinema.
The story goes that Rihani having found out that a relative of Badie Khairy had died, went to offer condolences, and when he went to the place of solace, he noticed that there was an old man reading the Koran. After the Sheikh had finished his reading, Rihani walked to Badie Khairy accusing him, saying: how come you in all your life you have not told me that you are a Muslim? Badie Khairy replied this exquisitely beautiful answer: you never asked me!! For the record, Naguib Rihani was a Christian of an Iraqi father and an Egyptian mother!
Today, Egypt is on the verge of the most important elections in its history, and we should take this opportunity to restore the tolerant and liberal Egypt, the Egypt that opened its arms to all people from all parts of the world: the Greeks, the Italians, the Shawwam, the Armenians, the Jews, the Circassians, the Arabs, and the Bedouins. That Egypt was a melting pot of all races and religions. Then came the slogans: "Egypt for the Egyptians," and then "Islam is the solution." These two slogans completely disregarded the melting pot that produced the beautiful and modern Egypt, the Egypt where the Khedive Ismail established a parliament in the nineteenth century, before Italy and many European countries had theirs, the Egypt where Greeks and Italians built careers in services, restaurants, shops and buildings.
In spite of the pessimism that permeates many of the Egyptian seculars and liberals these days because of the current course of the January 25 Egyptian revolution, despite the loud voices of the extremists, I am optimistic that Egyptians will choose a parliament that will achieve the principles of the January 25 revolution: "Freedom and Justice." My optimism is based on three conditions that are hard to come by but not impossible:
The first condition is for all the women in Egypt to vote against extremism and for true freedom, and I say to you, my mother, my sister and my daughter:
If you do not go to vote someone will come to power who will force you to dress as you see in the picture below, and when they hold the first Women's Conference you will not be invited to this conference, as you see in the other picture below.
- Do you want to be deprived of your right to education?
- Do you want to be deprived of your right to work?
- Do you want to be deprived of your right to ask for a divorce?
- Do you want not to be allowed to leave your home except to go to the house of your husband or to the grave, as they want you to do?
- Do you want to be deprived of life?
- Do you want to be just a bowl where a man empties his desires?
- Do you want to be just the carrier of his children?
- Do you want one of these imbeciles to throw boiled water on your face so you won't want to show it again?
- Do you want to give your vote to those who consider it aberrant that you are voting?
If you would like to liberate Egyptian women, go to the ballot box and give your vote to those who do not consider it aberrant! You are half of the society, and without you, Egypt will be moving on one leg.
The second condition is for all Egyptian Christians to vote, and this is my word to you:
You are the native Egyptians, you are not a minority, you are not foreigners and you are not temporary. You are the "salt of the earth" and you have the power to change the political map in Egypt if you were to abandon passivity. You will not benefit from your priest or your church, only from your votes.
- Do you want to be treated like a subjugated tribe obliged to pay a tribute?
- Do you want your churches to be burned and destroyed?
- Do you want your children to be killed in the streets or schools if they wear their crosses?
- Do you want your daughters and wives to wear the hijab, against their will?
- Do you want to be deprived from defending your country?
- Do you want to be forced to emigrate from your country, Egypt, the way they forced Egyptian Jews?
- Do you want to be denied "sensitive" jobs in the state, thus treated as if you were spies?
- Do you want the planned division of Egypt to be carried out?
- Do you want foreign armies to come to Egypt to protect you?
- Do you want your children to be denied the opportunity for the academic excellence they deserve?
The third condition, to Egyptian Muslims I say:
I know that some extremists might fool you with their religious look, and their constant presence with you in the mosque. You may vote for them because they are "people of our Lord", but you must know that we are all "the people of our Lord," not people of the devil, and that Egyptians are naturally religious, they practice their religions in moderation without religious mania, and at the same time they believe in their fortune in life, "Work for the Hereafter as if you will die tomorrow, and work for worldly affairs as if you will live forever."
- Do you want to come to power those who will impose on you what to wear and drink?
- Do you want to be forced to swear allegiance to a ruler?
- Do you want Egypt to become like Afghanistan or Somalia?
- Do you want your daughters and your wives to be treated like second-class citizens?
- Do you want to be governed by the Taliban?
- Do you want for your children, the five million who work in tourism, to become unemployed?
- Do you want the demolition of the great monuments left to us some five thousand years ago by our ancestors the great Pharaohs, because they will be considered idols?
- Do you want the demolition of the tomb of Hussein, Zainab, and other righteous slaves of Allah?
- Do you accept terrorizing our Egyptian Christians brothers until the implementation of the planned division of Egypt takes place?
- Do you accept the abolition of art, literature, music and song?
- Do you accept Cairo, the "Hollywood of the East" to be closed under lock and key?
- Do you want to hand over the Sinai back to Israel?
- Do you want the upcoming elections to be the first and last?
Personally, I will travel to Egypt specifically to cast my vote, and I call on all Egyptians working abroad to travel to Egypt, if at all possible, to cast their votes, because I doubt that the Egyptian government has the time or desire to organize the parliamentary elections in Egypt's embassies abroad. If you do not vote, you have only yourself to blame.
samybehiri@aol.com
The Arabic version
المصريون مسلمون ومسيحيون ونساء بمقدورهم هزيمة التطرف
http://65.17.227.85/Web/opinion/2011/10/692390.html?entry=opinionwriters
© Dr Hussein A Amin 2011
