The Egypt Conflict For Dummies

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When I was asked in Twitter, “Who is as-Sisi?” I knew I had to write this post.

Based on the format of Israel-Palestine conflict for Dummies written some time ago, Insya Allah I will be sharing some facts and important points related to the on-going crisis in Egypt right now, for the benefit of everyone.
 
Of course, It would be impossible to tell every single detail in this condensed post, therefore I would only focus on two things for the time being:

1. Important facts regarding the on-going crisis
2. Historical background of the crisis.
 
Hopefully, after going through this post, you will more or less have a clearer picture on what is actually happening in Egypt. Thereafter, it’s my wish that you would share these facts with friends, families, neighbours and that fishmonger who comes every Wednesday! Sadly, there are still a lot of people out there who are still not aware of the actual situation in Egypt and relying heavily on the one-sided garbage we call ‘the Malaysian Mainstream Media’.
 
And if you wish to know more, by all means go ahead and kick-start your own research. If you want to know even more, the only way is by doing a live coverage from Egypt itself. Wah!

Okayy.

*coughs*straightens collar*sits up straight*

Fact #1
Let’s first have a look at Egypt’s history, so we can further understand the socio-political conditions that underlie the turmoil currently happening in Egypt.
 
Egypt itself is rich in history. It was home to one of the earliest civilizations that saw the rise of great monuments such as the pyramids, the Sphinx and the Obelisk (not to mention belly dancing. Eh). Egypt was also the setting of Yusuf’s (pbuh) story that ended happily ever after when he was elected as the financial minister. And to top it off, he was reunited with his dear father, Ya’qub (pbuh) and the rest of his brothers.

Egypt was also a witness to Musa (pbuh) and his brother Harun’s (pbuh) da’wah to the Pharaoh laknatullah ‘alaih. Firaun’s cruelty was clearly mentioned in the Quran when he ordered the extermination of all male babies born to Bani Israel, and murdered his sorcerers who followed Musa and turned their backs against him. Fir’aun and his men were finally drowned in the Red Sea, before he was able to seek repentance from Allah SWT. 

Egypt: The land of the pharaohs. And they still exist today. Oh my. [Credit]

And then there was a warrior named Saifuddin al-Qutuz, who had beaten the ferocious Mongols during his reign in Egypt. There is also Salahuddin al-Ayubi, the hero who liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders. He also came from Egypt.
 
It’s clear that Egypt is a blessed and significant land not only because it was home to the prophets, but also because it witnessed countless struggles to uphold Islam.
 

Fact #2
The army’s involvement in Egypt’s modern history is not something new. King Farouk, the last monarch of Egypt was overthrown by Muhammad Naquib and Jamal Abdul Nassir, who were both army officers. Muhammad Naquib later went on to become the first president of Egypt, and consequently was overthrown by Jamal Abdul Nassir after only one year in the office! *evil laugh*
 

Anwar Sadat [Credit]

The military reign in Egypt was later continued by Anwar Sadat who was later assassinated by his own officers in the year 1981. Sadat was later replaced by Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt until early 2011 when he was later overthrown by the people during the infamous Arab Spring.
 
From the era of Jamal Abdul Nassir until Hosni Mubarak, martial law was implemented giving absolute power to the military for a period of over 44 years!

Insane.  

Fact #3
The turmoil that is currently happening in Egypt is the result of a military coup on 3^rd July 2013, led by General Abdul Fatah as-Sisi to overthrow President Muhammad Mursi. In response, President Mursi’s supporters held protests and peaceful demonstrations all over Egypt, but the focal point was the capital, Cairo.
 
The overthrow of President Mursi was seen by many parties as illegal and illegitimate due to the fact that he won the election fair and square, when he secured more than 51% of the people’s votes. Ironically, the parties that held demonstrations to bring down President Mursi claimed themselves as fighters for democracy.

Irony macaroni.
 

Fact #4
Egypt’s 2011 election, which for the first time in many years was fully transparent and fair, with almost no involvement by the military and deceit by the government, saw al-Huraiyyah wal ‘Adalah (Freedom and Justice Party), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood winning big when they managed to gather 37.5% of total votes, followed by the Salafist an-Nur party (27.8%) and al-Wafd party (9.2%). Both FJP and an-Nur are based on Islamic ideology, so indirectly, the Egyptian parliament was dominated by those fighting to uphold Islam. This was an obvious threat to the liberal groups in Egypt.

Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood [Credit]

In the beginning FJP did not want to send a candidate to contest for the Presidency, as it was not their main goal. However, after seeing the potential harm of not contesting, and the greater good that needed to be defended, they decided to send Khairat Shatir to run for the position.
 

However, due to small and petty technical problems, Khairat Shatir’s nomination was cancelled. Muhammad Mursi, the president of FJP, was sent in as the replacement. He officially won the presidential election on 24th June 2012 and became the first democratically-elected Egyptian president.

Fact #5
Prominent figures behind the demonstrations and protests that led to the downfall of President Mursi are Muhammad el-Baradei, Amr Moussa, Hamdeen Sabahi and Hisham Bastawisy, almost all of them losers in Egypt’s presidential election. Do you see what is at play here?

There were claims from Ikhwanul Muslimin that el-Baradei and his men are in bed with the Zionist government of Israel and the United States of America in planning the chaos in Egypt, which ended up overthrowing President Mursi.

El-Baradei was appointed as the new Vice President for the temporary government. This appointment came after protests by many parties who disagreed to the proposition to elect him as the new Prime Minister.

Recently, el-Baradei has resigned as Vice President because he disagreed with the military crackdown that killed protesters in Rabaah Square and the area surrounding it.
 
Hey el-Baradei, that would still leave your hands drenched with the blood of the people of Egypt, you know??
 

Fact #6
It’s an open secret that the US, Israel and other enemies of Islam were behind the scheme to overthrow President Mursi and put an end to FJP domination in the parliament of Egypt.
 
The Tamarrud Campaign, a name given to the anti-Mursi protesters was proven to have received funding from the US, as reported by Al-Jazeera.
 
Among the first actions taken by the temporary government led by President Adly Mansour was to close down the border at Rafah, which President Mursi previously re-opened. This border has been an important lifeline to the Palestinians in obtaining their basic supplies. This closure is proof of the hand-in-hand cooperation between Israel and the new Egyptian government.
 
US and Israel, genuine fighters for democracy..? Pffftttt!!
 

Fact #7
Other Arab countries also played a part in the despicable conspiracy to overthrow President Mursi. As soon as Adly Mansour was appointed as the new president for the temporary government, Saudi Arabia was among the first to send its congratulatory message to Egypt.
 
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE provided funds worth billions of USD to Egypt after the coup d’etat. These countries are notorious for being open adversaries of the Muslim Brotherhood, because of their fear of the Brotherhood’s ideology.
 

It is an open secret that the Saudis and the Americans are brothers. Good brothers indeed. [Credit]

On the other hand, two countries that had been most vocal in protesting the coup are Tunisia and Turkey. The Prime Minister of Turkey, Reccep Tayyib Erdogan did not acknowledge the temporary government led by Adly Mansour and demanded that President Morsi be released and returned to his original position.
 

Fact #8
On July 3rd 2013, General Abdul Fatah as-Sisi announced on national television that the military has taken over power from President Mursi due to his failure to fulfil the demands of Tamarrud and the ultimatum given by the military. President Mursi was arrested in a secret location unknown to anyone besides the military.
 
Who is as-Sisi? He was handpicked by President Mursi to replace Muhammad Hussein Tantawi as the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces. He was seen as a moderate figure with a strong religious stand; the most suitable candidate to replace the old Mubarak leftovers. Who would have known that he will be the main player in overthrowing his own boss?

After appointing Adly Mansour as the president for the temporary government, as-Sisi appointed himself as the new Minister of Defence, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister. 

Nice.

It was probably Mursi's biggest fatal mistake to put his trust on as-Sisi. [Credit]

Fact #9
What/Who is Ikhwanul Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood)?

You must be nuts, asking me to explain about the MB in one single fact..! Eh.

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is a da’wah movement founded by Imam Hassan al-Banna in the year 1928, as a direct response to the downfall of the Ottoman Caliphate in the year 1924. The history of this movement is very long and colourful, and suffice to say the history of modern Egypt is heavily influenced by this movement.
 

The clash between the military and the MB is very well known. MB members have suffered mass arrests, imprisonment and torture during the era of Jamal Abdul Nassir, and millions were estimated to have been detained all over Egypt. Many of them were released when Anwar Sadat came to power, but were later captured again when Hosni Mubarak took over. Prominent Brotherhood figures who lost their lives under dictator rule include Sayyid Qutb, Abdul Qadir Audah dan Syaikh al-Faraghli.
 
Since then, the MB was banned from active involvement especially in the political arena, as the rulers saw them as a major threat. However, that didn’t stop MB members from continuing their struggle, albeit behind different names or various organizations.
 
The popularity and influence of the MB amongst the masses is obvious when they were finally allowed to contest in the post-Mubarak elections. It was an easy win in most places, especially in rural areas. The ongoing protests against the overthrow of President Mursi involving millions of Egyptians are another testament to the solid support enjoyed by the movement, now more than 80 years old.
 
To date, the MB plays an important and active role in the socio-political and economic life of Egyptians.

 
Fact #10

[Credit]

The massacre unleashed on the protesters on 14th August 2013 (until this minute) started when the military decided to clear Rabaah Square, al-Nahda Square and Mustafa Mahmud Square in Giza from President Mursi’s supporters. Before this, there were several attacks, amongst them the incident on 8^th July 2013, where sharpshooters killed off Mursi’s supporters one by one while they were in the Fajr prayer. This is truly syaitonirrojim!!
 
But the massacre that took place on the 14th of August was mind-boggling in its violence. Not only were people murdered, the mosque was set on fire, the dead bodies of martyrs were burned and some were squashed alive by bulldozers! Total fatalities were quoted differently by different sources, but estimates run to more than 2,200 lives. This is unimaginable cruelty that was compunded by the fact that it was done by the Egyptians to their own people. Some even described the military’s action as a plot by Israelis and the US, on a level or even more despicable than Bashar as-Assad’s killing of his own people and the Israeli occupation in Palestine. Their actions have violated all acceptable human values.
 
The world’s reaction is, as usual, predictable. Heads of state are only capable of condemning the cruel act of as-Sisi and his dogs. Even the US administration, whose hands are smeared through its role in the conspiracy to overthrow Mursi, hypocritically joined the world in condemning the act. Pffttt.
 

Fact #11
What was the real reason behind President Mursi’s overthrow? Or what were the justifications used by Tamarrud and the military to bring down President Mursi?
 

[Credit]

They claimed that President Mursi failed to keep his promises when he was first appointed as the President of Egypt. He had failed to revive the dire economic situation, in addition to other political, economic and social grievances. These include a lack of job opportunities, police brutality and many others.

These were their justifications.

In reality, it is unreasonable to expect President Mursi to resuscitate Egypt from the trauma of the decades-long Mubarak regime after only one year in power. He would need Harry Potter’s wand or magic spells to turn Egypt into a prosperous, peaceful country in the blink of an eye.
 
Nevertheless, President Mursi’s biggest ‘sins’ that caused dissatisfaction amongst his opponents are:

1. Increased the productivity of wheat production from 20% to 60%
2. Developed industrial factories producing electronic goods, arms and cars that provide job opportunities and reduce Egypt’s dependence on imports.
3. Provided freedom to the media, to a point where they were not ashamed to slander him almost every day. Regardless, he handled it with patience. Because he was cool like that. (if it happened in Mubarak’s time, the editor would have gone straight to jail)
4. Memorized the whole Quran and became imam at the masjid.
5. Refused to live in the presidential palace and refused private bodyguards.
6. Supported the fight of the Palestinians, Syrians, and Rohingyans; opened up the Rafah border to help Palestinians. 
7. Reduced military influence in government.
8. And many others….

These were the real factors why he was brought down. President Mursi was overthrown because he upheld Islam in his rule. It is fair, just, trustworthy, clean and wise. How can taghut (one who exceeds the limit, worship anything but Allah) and jahilliyah (stupidity or ignorance) sit by the sidelines while such a leader is in power? If they let Mursi and the MB continue unimpeded in bringing about change, they know Islam will rise again. Therefore, they started their evil plans to bring Mursi down.
 
So there.
 
So now you know a thing or two about what is going on in Egypt? As I mentioned earlier, a post this brief might not give a comprehensive understanding on the turmoil that is happening in Egypt. But I believe it is enough for you get a rough picture of the current situation.
 
The on-going crisis must not be taken lightly by any of us. Egypt is a blessed land that needs to be defended. It’s the entry point to liberate al-Quds. And it’s not impossible that it might be the starting point to Islamic victory that is just within reach!
 
I am totally confident, that whatever our Egyptian brothers are facing right now is part of Allah’s test, to eradicate any existing elements of jahiliyyah and taghut, before Allah lifts them to a higher level. What our brothers and sisters are facing in Egypt is a trailer from Allah before he grants us supreme victory!
 
Allahu Akbar!
 
We in Malaysia, keep on sending our prayers for our brothers’ and sisters’ safety and victory in Egypt. Share and spread truthful news and facts about what is currently going on. Educate our society to be aware about what is happening.
 
Because Egypt is not just a country in the Middle East, nor the Egyptians just a group of Arabic people. Egypt is not just a country that holds the legacy of Pharaoh, Haman, and Qarun.
 
It’s not impossible the crisis in Egypt will be prolonged and lead to civil war. Nauzubillah. If that happens, it would be much worse and even more atrocious than what happened in Syria. At least in Syria it’s a clear dispute between Shiite and Sunni, but in Egypt, it’s between brothers of the same belief.

The defeat of Egypt is our defeat too. But if Egypt is victorious, the light of Islam will be shining bright, Insya Allah!
 

You have shown to the world how strong and steadfast you are. You have already won, my brothers and sisters! [Credit]

Narrated by Abu Hurairah: Allah’s Messenger said, 

“He who removes from a believer one of his difficulties of this world, Allah will remove one of his troubles on the Day of Judgement; and he who finds relief for a hard-pressed person, Allah will make things easy for him on the Day of Judgement; he who covers up (the faults) of a Muslim, Allah will cover up (his faults) in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah supports His slave as long as the slave is supportive of his brother; and he who treads the path in search of knowledge, Allah makes that path easy, leading to Paradise for him.”  

[Muslim]

So where does that leave us? Do we turn a blind eye, keep silent and refuse to hear? While our brothers and sisters are being victimized, slaughtered and brutalized by the evil taghut..?
 
Go ahead. And don’t forget to prepare a good excuse to defend ourselves in front of Allah at Mahsyar later. Hoho…
 
-gabbana-  

Alhamdulillah, I am much indebted to my dear akhi, who was ever willingly to translate my original article into English. Jazakallahu khairan katheera. As well, my special thanks to the rest of you who went through all the troubles to actually translate it as well. May the blessings of Allah be with you.

With this English version, I hope the truth can be spread more expansively. People out there, need to know the truth. A lot of makciks and pakciks out there, surprisingly a lot, have been deprived of the facts and what is really taking place in Egypt. It is my sincerest hope, with this piece of writing, at least people are more aware and keen to know the reality that our fellow brothers and sisters in Egypt are facing.I welcome any comments, views or even criticisms on this particular piece of writing, so that I can improve it and be beneficial to the ummah.

Much have happened since I first wrote this article. The condition in Egypt has become even worse. My heart shatters every time, whenever I get updates from the land of Pharaohs. The thought of my brothers and sisters being slaughtered every single day and yet, I couldn't do much from here, is really heart-wrenching. I feel helpless. Useless sometimes. Sigh. 

But Insha-Allah, this is nothing but the clear sign of victory. Islam will rise again. What is happening in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and the rest of the Muslim world, is just the beginning for our imminent victory. 

Continue to make supplications for them. Shoot as much du'as as we can. Spread the truth. And continue to strengthen our tarbiyah and others, so that one day, one fine day, Islam will stand up high and proud on our shoulders.

Keep calm my brothers and sisters, and have faith. InshaAllah.

Smile.