On November 18, 2011, Sami El-Beheiri, a dear friend of mine dating back from last century, wrote an article where he presented serious questions for the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists in Egypt who are desirous of power and aspiring to govern. I believe the answers to Sami's questions should be mandatory, no ifs, ands or buts. Sami wrote his questions in Arabic in the Ilaf, the first daily electronic published out of London, May 21, 2001, please see link at bottom.
I believe Sami's questions are spot on, succinctly cover the myriad of issues that must be addressed by any future president/government/parliament of Egypt if Egypt is to have the opportunity to come out of its doldrums and be thrust forward and upward toward a better life for all of its people. This is precisely why I translated it into English, to allow for as wide a dissemination as possible.
Thank you, Hussein
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Dangerous Questions for the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists in Egypt
There are many questions we have yet to hear the Islamists (the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafists, the Gama'a Islamia...) answer before the elections. We know they are poised to get maybe 50% of the next parliament seats, we also know in advance all the easy things they will do, things that may create hardships on people who may be willing to grin and bear it, if they think it will lead to the improvement of their lives. We know you will try to impose the hijab and maybe the veil on women, and we know you will try to dominate women and probably the Copts, but let us hear your responses to the following serious questions:
First: Foreign Relations
Israel
We heard from many Sheikhs and Effendis that you will immediately abrogate the peace treaty with Israel. Of course you know that the opposite of peace is war. Are you ready to go to war with Israel? Would the Egyptian army agree to this? What if Israel were able to occupy the Sinai again? Are you ready for Egypt to lose Sinai again, this after we have built tourist resorts and the underlying infrastructure for hundreds of villages where millions of Egyptians are making their living?
The United States
Your animosity toward the United States is of course not a secret, and your sympathy with al-Qaeda and Iran is also not a secret. Are you ready to enter into a state of hostility with the United States? This will happen automatically if you abrogate the peace treaty with Israel. Are you ready for US aid to stop? Do you have alternative ways to buy wheat to feed the Egyptians? Do you have money to buy weapons for the Egyptian army rather than using US military aid for that purpose? What if soured relations with the United States would cause it to refuse to provide the Egyptian army spare parts for military aircraft, tanks and guns, this when most of Egyptian weaponry is American-made?
Ethiopia
What will be done if Ethiopia continues to build more dams, reducing the share of Egypt and Sudan's share of the Nile water supply? What are the alternatives? Are you ready to go to war for the sake of the Nile water supply?
Arabs
Rich Arab countries that Egypt resorts to in time of need have strategic relationships with the US. What would happen if Egypt's relations with the US worsened as a result of the abrogation of the peace treaty with Israel? Is it possible to improve Egypt's relations with Iran at the expense of relations with the Gulf States, which fear the Iranian and Shiite influence in the region? Iran is a rich state flush with oil, it can bear isolation and boycott with its oil which it can sell at any time; but Egypt will soon begin importing its oil after the depletion of its reserves. Egypt does not have any golden goose.
Second: The Economy
Unemployment
I do not know specifically the unemployment rate in Egypt, I do not think that Dr. Essam Sharaf himself knows, but if unemployment is at 21% in Spain (without revolution), I think 20% unemployment would be an optimistic estimate for Egypt. This means that at least 4 million Egyptians are unemployed or looking for work and they are all young. What are we to do with the millions of unemployed young Egyptians? And with a simple calculation, each job costs an investment between 100 thousand and 500 thousand Egyptian pounds. In all, Egypt would need to invest about 150 billion dollars to create 4 million jobs. Do you know where this investment would come from? Which countries or international organizations would provide the necessary funds to an unstable Egypt in the midst of a raging global economic crisis?
Population Increase
Egypt's population increases at the rate of about 2% annually, that means more than a 1.6 million people annually, leading to a 2050 Egypt of about 175 million people. 175 million people living in this narrow valley with the threat of severe water shortages. What will you do to stop this increase, considering the increasing scarcity resources? In the face of this continuing population increase, additional hospitals, schools and housing, without eating, drinking or jobs would cost an average of about 160 billion Egyptian pounds per year. Do you know where those resources will come from?
Tourism
Egypt's biggest hope, if not its only hope, is the expansion and revitalization of tourism, which needs to reach a number of 30 million tourists in ten years. Revenue from tourism is a quick affair, and you will find a lot of investors willing to invest in it. This is beautiful talk. But with all the talk we heard from you about the size of bathing suits, what tourists should eat and drink, if this enters the culture of tourism in Egypt, tourists will jump out the window to escape from such country that restricts their liberty. One of your candidates for the presidency has said that he would arrest any female tourist in a bathing suit. This is a beautiful statement, but what would you do with the five million Egyptians earning their living from tourism? The same candidate said: "We will not sell our manhood for the sake of tourists," offering no alternative. Unfortunately, many of you think only with your bottom half.
Food
You recite prose about achieving self-sufficiency in wheat and food. Any student in junior high can talk such words, but how can this be achieved in light of the expected reduced Egyptian share of the Nile water supply?
Egypt's foreign debt
Do you plan to pay Egypt's debts? With what? How will you pay the interest? Will you consider it forgiven? Will creditor banks and nations accept you not paying the interest on Egypt's debts?
Egyptian banks
Most Egyptian banks fall under what you call the interest-based banks. Will these banks will be closed or will they be converted to Islamic banks? What about foreign banks operating in Egypt? What about Egyptians and their deposits in these banks, estimated at hundreds of billions of pounds? Will these banks continue to pay out interest on deposits and investment certificates? If you stop paying the benefits, what is the alternative? Millions of Egyptian pensioners, widows and orphans depend on those deposits and their interest to live.
Borrowing from abroad
The only way for Egypt to invest is to borrow. So, would Egypt borrow with benefits? Or will you find well-intentioned people willing to give Egypt interest-free loans?
Capitalism or Socialism, or a mix:
How are you going to close the gap between the haves and have nots, when the difference between rich and poor has reached an intolerable level? Or are you going to nationalize companies? Are you going to cancel signed contracts of the public sector? Are you going to levy taxes? Or would the imposition of zakat (charity) suffice? Are you going to confiscate funds for the house of money?
Third: The Culture, Arts and Literature
Film and Television
Will you close existing cinemas? If they are left open, what kind of films will be shown? If music and singing is haram (sinful), what will the hundreds of thousands of families who depend on the arts for living do? Are you going to close the Music Institute and the Institute of Cinema? What about all those TV channels, which show in your opinion pornography? Do you shut them down? What about the satellite channels? Will you be breaking down antennas on rooftops of buildings and houses all over Egypt?
Pharaonic, Greek and Romanian Statues
You have destroyed a Pharaonic statue in Mansoura and veiled another statue in Alexandria, so what's in store for the thousands of statues all over Egypt? What about the Egyptian Museum, filled with thousands of statues and idols? Are you going to burn it or destroy it, as did the Taliban with the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan? Your greatest symbol, Abdel Moneim Shahat, unashamedly said "the Pharaonic civilization is a rotten civilization." So, will this mold be erased from human history?
Books and the Freedom of Culture
Egypt over the ages and even in the darkest ages was an important cultural center in the world in general and the Arab and Muslim world in particular. Would this position change based on a single point of view that sees everything as sinful? Music, singing, film and photography all sinful, so much so that Abdel-Moneim El-Shahat also stated "Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel Literature Loreate, shamed Egypt"? And would culture in Egypt be limited to only two books (the Quran and the Bukhari)?
Fourth: The Politics
The Freedom to Demonstrate
Will you allow demonstrations protesting you, even if those demonstrations disrupt business and traffic? Will you permit labor strikes and road blockades as happens now?
Freedom to Organize Political Parties and Elections
Will the current Political Parties Law be kept, allowing the formation of any party, even the communist or liberal party? Will you allow future elections or be satisfied with only this one as did Hamas? Are you going to organize a council of experts like the one in Iran, one that would control the parties and determine which party is allowed to practice politics and which is not allowed, as well as determining who would be authorized to run for the presidency, and who is not?
Constitution
Are you going to tailor a constitution to your size in the next parliament, or the size of the nation?
Islamic Caliphate
Are you going to strive to establish the Islamic Caliphate, with Cairo as its capital?
Copts
What will you do with 8 million Egyptian Christians? Are you going to force them to leave Egypt, as some have called for them to go to Canada or the US? Are you going to place a tribute on them? Will you give them leadership positions in the ministries, the provinces, the army and the police? Will you allow them to build churches or will you burn and destroy their churches? And how would you implement Sharia law and its many limitations on them, they are not Muslims?
.......
Many questions need serious answers, whether from you or any other party or coalition that will assume power. These are dangerous questions. Some of them are old and have been ignored for decades, maybe hundreds of years. I am honestly trying to scare you in order for you to leave governing to people who are competent and capable and have the experience and expertise to do so. We want real experts who can solve problems, we do not want people with expertise only in growing beards and zebibah. If you insist on entering politics, I know very well that you will be the first to give up your famous slogan "Islam is the solution" and you will replace it with a new one that I would recommend to you "necessities trump the forbidden."
samybehiri@aol.com
أسئلة خطيرة تحتاج لأجوبة من الإخوان والسلفيين فى مصر
سامي البحيري
© Dr Hussein A Amin 2011
