Dear reader, don’t be astonished by the title as it is but the truth. Al-Nour ultra conservative party, Freedom and Justice Party and other Islamic parties can not be considered religious parties according to the constitution and law! Consequently, they cannot be banned for being religious! They have non-Muslim members and anyone can join them without discrimination. Furthermore, their platforms don’t state clearly they aim to establish a religious state. They only talk about an Islamic reference, which is totally fine with Article II of the Egyptian constitution that says the same!
Many people believe that atheism is a new phenomenon to Egypt. Well, this is not true. Writer Ismael Adham wrote an article entitled: “Why I am an atheist?” which was published in Egypt in the early twentieth century. Yet, the old phenomenon has strongly appeared in Egypt with the increasing amount of freedom after the revolution of January 25.
It's understood that the Islamists became so angry because the military intervened to remove president Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood from power. Such intervention suddenly destroyed their dreams, which lasted for more than 80 years, to govern Egypt. Additionally, I understand that the anarchists as well as the revolutionary socialists supported Morsy hoping he will eliminate the state institutions including the army and police and put an end to their power or authority.
The veils became so common in Egypt as a religious symbol by the seventies of the last century. Yet, it became more of a phenomenon in 2001 with the advent of the Islamic preacher Amr Khaled, who made “the veil worn by Muslim women” his main cause. He ignored all its conditions and encouraged all Muslim girls to cover their heads. He made it so simple that most Muslim girls covered the head as long as they could maintain their beauty and keep up with latest fashion lines.
The former Egyptian regimes have tried hard to keep politics out of our schools, and to suppress any political activity in the Egyptian universities, raising the slogan “No politics in education”. Suddenly, we had a revolution, and politics have been mixed with everything in Egypt including educational institutions. Unfortunately, such mixture wasn’t void of violence and chaos. Thus, many people are demanding the prevention of politics in schools and universities, which was refused by many people as well.
Political Islamists reject secularism claiming it came to fight the Christian priesthood, which Islam doesn’t have. They claim secularism was founded to fight the domination of the Church of Rome over every aspect of life. Thus, they claim there should be no contradiction or separation between religion and politics.
The United States allied with political Islamists against communism and the Soviet Union. Soon, this trained ally was turned into an armed monster in Afghanistan. This monster turned against America and many Arab and Islamic countries that previously supported him with money and weapons. A wave of terrorism started in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and African countries in the nineties against American targets, till it reached its peak on September 9, 2001.
We must acknowledge that we have a serious sectarian problem that turns many common problems between two citizens of different religions into a religious holy war! Those who do not recognize this are either ignorant or evil people seeking some political interests.
People in Alexandria fought a fierce battle against the terrorist group of the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday, 5 July 2013. This battle lasted from 3:00 PM to 1:00 AM, till the Brotherhood were completely defeated and flew the neighborhood of Sidi Gaber. However, this battle showed a big difference between the Egyptians and the Muslim Brotherhood concerning how both deal with women.
There are different kinds of the Muslim Brotherhood, and some of them are counted though have already left the group. Many of those who claim to abandon the Brotherhood, they belong to it and support its ideology more than its official members.
I couldn't wait to see the expected constitutional declaration and the new government. However, I found this declaration as a slap on the face because it tries to bring Egypt back to the Middle Ages. It was pretty much a Salafist declaration with a strong flavor of political Islamists who seek old fashioned regimes that don't fit today's life.
Though many people used to call the Muslim Brotherhood a "national faction", I have never considered them national or even Egyptians. I am not talking here about the former General Guide insulting Egypt and wishing for a Malaysian president for Egypt, which proves Islamism ideology that does not recognize homelands or borders. Thus, they are not national nor Egyptians.
Others
Protesters who were in Tahrir Square to commemorate the second anniversary of the deadly Mohamed Mahmoud clashes fight with supporters of Army leader General Abdel Fatal al-Sisi.