Reflections: August 2013

Egypt in Turmoil - Latest News

LATEST FROM EGYPT

17th Aug 2013

Al-Fath Mosque - Cairo

Security forces have stormed a mosque in Cairo to remove supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi who had illegally barricaded themselves inside.

Egyptian security forces surrounded the Al-Fatah mosque, and broke through barricades of furniture pushed up against the doors.

An exchange of gunfire broke out between soldiers and the Muslim Brotherhood holed up inside after hours of peaceful negotiation failed to reach a resolution (proving that Muslim brotherhood protesters are armed, and not 'peaceful protesters', as the Brotherhood repeatedly maintains)

Local television footage showed gunmen firing from inside, moments after tear gas canisters were reportedly fired into the mosque prayer room.

Protesters had refused to leave the premises, fearful that they would attacked by enraged local residents.

The Muslim Brotherhood staged a number of marches in various Governorates throughout Egypt, including Tanta, Fayoum, Port Said, Alexandria, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Al-Arish, and Minya, attacking goverment and security buildings.

In all cases local residents co-operated with police and security forces in beating back the rioters.

It appears that the average citizen in Egypt is losing patience with the Brotherhood looters and rioters, realising that the continuation of civil unrest is destroying the already weakened economy.

Forty Christian Churches have been looted and 'torched', and twenty three have been badly damaged by the Muslim Brotherhood since the start of recent demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the interim government announced that it was considering 'dissolving' the Muslim Brotherhood.

Al-Fath Mosque - Cairo

A large Islamic complex on an area of 2000 square meters , which can accommodate 5000 worshippers.

Its minaret is 130 m high . It includes : a main library another one for rare islamic manuscripts, lecture halls, , an Islamic museum and an outpatient clinic.

19 Aug 2013

The head of Egypt's armed forces has said that his message to the supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi is that "there is room for everyone".

Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi urged them to help "rebuild the democratic path" and "integrate in the political process".

But he also warned the military would not be silent in the face of violence.

Later, at least 36 detained members of the Muslim Brotherhood were killed when they tried to escape during their transfer to a prison outside Cairo.

Initially, the interior ministry said they died in an exchange of fire after some of them took a military officer hostage and the convoy of prison vehicles, transporting a total of 612 detainees to Abu Zaabal prison in Qalyubia province, was attacked by unidentified gunmen.

But later the ministry said the prisoners died from the effects of inhaling tear gas, which was fired when the escaping detainees took a police officer hostage.

He was freed, but was badly injured, it added.

The interior ministry separately said so-called "people's committees", which have been set up by residents of some areas to provide security, would be banned because some had been used for vigilante activities.

Meanwhile it was reported that 79 people were killed and 549 wounded in violence across the country on Saturday.

That raised the nationwide death toll since Wednesday, when security forces forcibly cleared two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, to more than 830, including 70 police and soldiers.

Gen Sisi deposed Mr Morsi on 3 July, saying the military could not ignore the millions of people who had been demanding the resignation of Egypt's first democratically elected president.

Before security forces launched the operation to disperse the Cairo sit-ins, the armed forces chief asked millions of people to take to the streets to give him a "mandate" to fight "violence and terrorism", an apparent reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement to which Mr Morsi belongs.

In a speech to army and police officers on Sunday, Gen Sisi warned that the military would not allow further violence after the latest unrest.

"We will not stand by silently watching the destruction of the country and the people or the torching the nation and terrorising the citizens."

But the general also appeared to strike a conciliatory tone towards his opponents, urging them to join in the political process.

"There is room for everyone in Egypt, and we are cautious about every drop of Egyptian blood."

The Brotherhood has called for daily demonstrations since security forces cleared its protest camps in Cairo on Wednesday and declared a state of emergency.

More than 600 people were killed during the operations, including dozens of security forces personnel, and at least another 173 died on Friday during a so-called "day of rage" called by the Brotherhood .

Also on Sunday, the interim government met to discuss the unrest.

حازم عبد العزيز الببلاوى
Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi

Afterwards, Information Minister Dorreya Sharaf el-Din said the cabinet wished to express its regret the loss of life, but would continue to confront "terrorism" firmly.

The cabinet is also believed to have discussed Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi's proposal for the legal dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood.

حازم عبد العزيز الببلاوى‎ (born 17 October 1936) is an Egyptian economist and politician who has been interim Prime Minister of Egypt since 2013. Previously he served as deputy prime minister and minister of finance in 2011. After the July 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi and his government, Beblawi was named interim prime minister. Beblawi was born in Cairo, Egypt on 17 October 1936. He studied law at Cairo University and graduated in 1957. He obtained a postgraduate degree in economics from the University of Grenoble in 1961. He also holds a PhD in economics, which he received from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne in 1964.

The 85-year-old Islamist movement was banned by Egypt's military rulers in 1954, but registered itself as a supposedly non-governmental organisation in March in response to a court case bought by opponents who contested its legal status.

The Brotherhood also has a legally registered political wing, the 'Freedom and Justice Party', which was set up in June 2011 as a "non-theocratic" group after the uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak from power, - however it should be noted that no group derived from the Muslim Brotherhood can be correctly described as 'non-theocratic'.

Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy

At a news conference on Sunday, the interim Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy, showed video clips showing armed protesters firing on security forces in Cairo.

He said, significantly, that the government was faced with an attempt to "shake the foundation of the state".

Nabil Fahmy (born 5 January 1951) is an Egyptian diplomat and politician, and the current foreign minister in the interim government of Egypt. Nabil Fahmy was born in New York on 5 January 1951. His father, Ismail Fahmy, was Anwar Sadat's foreign minister from 1973 to 1977.
He holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics, and a master's degree in management, both of which he received from the American University in Cairo in 1974 and 1976, respectively.

More than 1,000 Brotherhood members have been detained in raids since Wednesday, with officials saying bombs, weapons and ammunition have been seized.

Some 300 were held in several cities on Sunday, including Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut and Suez, security sources said.

20 Aug 2013

Mohamed Badie is Arrested

محمد بديع
Mohamed Badie

The 'supreme guide' of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, has been arrested in Cairo.

محمد بديع‎ (Muhammad Badie - born 1943) is the 'Supreme Guide' of the Muslim Brotherhood. He has headed the Egyptian branch of the international Muslim Brotherhood organization since 2010. Before becoming general guide, Badie had been a member of the group's governing council, the 'Guidance Bureau', since 1996. Badi'e was born in the industrial city of Mahalla al-Kubra on 7 August 1943. He received a degree in veterinary medicine at Cairo in 1965. In 1965, Badie was arrested for his political activities, along with Muslim Brotherhood leader Sayyed Qutb, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He served 9 years and was released in 1974 by President Anwar Sadat. Badie became a member of the Brotherhood’s al-Mahalla al-Kubra administrative office the following year and was eventually named chief of that branch. From 1986 to 1990, he served as a member of the Brotherhood’s administrative office in Beni Suef. In 1993, he became a member of the group’s 'Guidance Office'. In 1998, he was imprisoned for 75 days as a result of his participation in the 'Islamic Dawa Society' in Beni Suef. In 2010, Badie was named 'supreme guide' of the Muslim Brotherhood, replacing Muhammad Mahdi Akef.
In July 2013, a travel ban was put on Badie as well as Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and Badie's deputy Khairat el-Shater.

The arrest came as authorities pursued a crackdown on the Brotherhood, the group behind the political party of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, which has sparked deadly protests and international condemnation.

Badie was arrested in an apartment near Rabaa al-Adawiya square, where more than 200 Morsi supporters were killed on Wednesday as police cleared their protest camp.

Both public and private television channels showed pictures of Badie, 70, being escorted away by police.

Senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, including Badie, are wanted for questioning, accused of inciting the deaths of protesters.

Prosecutors have set an August 25 date for the trial of six top Brotherhood leaders for "incitement to murder."

The arrest came days after Badie's son was killed in protests against Morsi's ouster.

Egypt's interior ministry has said it has arrested more than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood "elements" during the unrest.

Mohammad Al Baradei is to Face Trial

Egyptian Nobel Peace Prize winner محمد مصطفى البرادعى - (Mohammad Al Baradei) is to face trial on September 19 over his resignation as vice president, after a deadly crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

The case against him was brought by the head of criminal law in Helwan University, who argues that Al Baradei was appointed vice president as a representative of the opposition, and was obliged to refer his resignation to them.

محمد مصطفى البرادعى
Mohamed Mustafa El Baradei

Al Baradei left Cairo for Vienna (?) on Sunday.

محمد مصطفى البرادعى - (Mohamed Mustafa El Baradei - born 17 June 1942) is an Egyptian law scholar and diplomat who was the acting Vice President of Egypt from 14 July 2013 to 14 August 2013. He was the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an intergovernmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations, from 1997 to 2009. He and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. El Baradei was also an important figure in recent politics in Egypt, particularly the 2011 revolution, which ousted President Hosni Mubarak, and in the 2013 protests and military action that toppled President Mohamed Morsi.

According to Egyptian authorities, hundreds of people were killed in last Wednesday’s assaults on two Cairo protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in the country’s worst violence in decades.

The Muslim Brotherhood has put the death toll at over 2,000 (?).

The Egyptian armed forces on Tuesday arrested 11 people, including two Palestinians, in Sinai over attacks on the police and army premises.

The forces raided several criminal hideouts early Tuesday morning and arrested them.

The operation came one day after suspected militants ambushed two buses carrying security forces in Egypt’s northern Sinai, killing at least 25 soldiers.

The security condition deteriorated in Sinai since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and became worse after his successor Mohammad Mursi’s government was toppled, which triggered violence between security forces and Mursi’s supporters.

President Mubarak May Be Freed

The new prosecutor-general dropped charges of embezzlement against President Hosni Mubarak, which means a minor charge of accepting illegal gifts from a state-owned newspaper is left as the only outstanding accusation on which he can remain in jail.

President Mubarak still faces charges of complicity in the shooting dead of more than 800 protesters in the 2011 revolution which ended his rule, but the term limit on his remand on custody has expired in that case.

Ashraf El Kholy Speaks in London

Speaking in Egypt's embassy, Ashraf El Kholy compared the one-year rule of Morsi to the Islamist takeover of the Iranian state after the 1979 revolution and said that, like Fascism, the Muslim Brotherhood ideology sought to dominate Egyptian society.

"Morsi was elected president and held office for one year but in that time he tried to make everything Muslim Brotherhood controlled. Egyptian culture over 5,000 years is a mix of religions and civilisations in which the Islamic religion is one ingredient of the Egyptian character. The Muslim Brotherhood are like a Fascist group that demand that everything changes, and people everything to their way."

21 Aug 2013

Muslim Brotherhood Appoint a New Supreme Guide

The Muslim Brotherhood has appointed a new supreme guide after Mohammed Badie, its previous leader, was arrested by Egyptian police tipped off as to his hiding place.

The interior ministry triumphantly released pictures of a disconsolate-looking Mr Badie, 70, sitting on a sofa beside a table as the police prepared to take him away in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

But the Brotherhood declared that Mr Badie was just "one individual" (apparently not the 'Supreme Guide' ?), and that his arrest would make no difference (?) to their campaign against the new military-backed rulers.

Mahmoud Ezzat

Mahmoud Ezzat, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, will assume the role of 'supreme guide' of the group on a temporary basis, after the security forces arrested so-called 'supreme guide' Mohamed Badie.

Mahmoud Ezzat is a doctor, with a Doctorate in medicine from Zagazig University (1985), master’s degree in medicine (1980), B.S. in medicine (1975), diploma from Institute of Islamic Studies (1998), and was born in 1944. After becoming acquainted with the Brotherhood as a boy, Ezzat began studying with the group in 1962. He was imprisoned along with Supreme Guide Muhammad Badie from 1965 to 1974 and has been a member of the MB Guidance Office since 1981. He is married to the daughter of former supreme guide Mahdi Akef.

At a press conference, the Brotherhood-led "National Coalition for Legitimacy" (yet another politico-religious group) said there would now be a campaign of civil disobedience and a boycott of state-linked companies and media - which will of course be yet another blow to an already collapsing economy.

Mr Ezzat is one of a number of deputy leaders of the Brotherhood.

He is part of a faction led by the most powerful deputy, and the organisation's chief strategist, Khairat al-Shater, who is already under arrest.

محمد خيرت سعد الشاطر
Mohammed Khairat Saad el-Shater

محمد خيرت سعد الشاطر ‎- Mohammed Khairat Saad el-Shater (born 4 May 1950) is an Egyptian engineer, businessman and Islamist political activist. A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, el-Shater was the initial candidate of movement's 'Freedom and Justice Party' during the 2012 Egyptian presidential election before being disqualified by the election commission. Previously, he was the deputy chairman of the Brotherhood. Born in Dakahlia, el-Shater joined the youth wing of the ruling Arab Socialist Union Party at age 16, during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He studied engineering at the Alexandria University.

After serving in the military for two years, el-Shater studied for a Master's degree and worked as a lecturer at the Mansoura University. After president Anwar Sadat's assassination in 1981, el-Shater was exiled as an Islamist dissident, and left for England. After returning in the mid-1980s, he became an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1995, he became head of the Brotherhood's Greater Cairo branch. He is considered a main financier and chief strategist of the Brotherhood. Even though he is the nominal number two in the Brotherhood's hierarchy, some consider him its actual leader.

El-Shater was arrested on 5 July 2013. On 14 July 2013 Egypt's new prosecutor general Hisham Barakat ordered his assets to be frozen.

22 Aug 2013

The Release of President Mubarak

Release of President Mubarak

An Egypt court ordered the release former President Hosni Mubarak on bail on his last corruption case.

President Mubarak still faces a retrial on charges of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 unrest which toppled him, but the term limit for remand in custody has expired.

In this corruption case, Mubarak and his two sons were charged with misusing power and accepting gifts via his information minister.

President Mubarak's lawyer, Farid al-Deeb, has stated that President Mubarak will pay back the money equivalent to the worth of the gifts, and that he is confident that the ex-president will be released.

"President Mubarak will be freed (on bail) unless he is charged with other crimes," legal expert Aly Mashallah said, adding the prosecution is the sole authority to determine his final release.

Release of President Mubarak

He asserted Mubarak will be released on Thursday or Friday as the prosecution decision won't take more than two days.

As the decision was issued by the consultative chamber of the Appeals court, the prosecution cannot appeal against it, an official judicial source confirmed.

On Monday, Cairo Criminal court ordered to acquit President Mubarak on looting funds allocated for maintaining the presidential palaces.

On Saturday, an Egyptian court postponed the retrial of the former president over charges of protester death to August 25th, amid ongoing riots triggered between Islamists and security forces after the ousting of his successor Mohamed Morsi.

23 Aug 2013

Mass protests called by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood mostly failed to materialise on Friday, as the movement reels from the army crackdown on followers of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

'Friday of Martyrs' - Cairo

Troops and police had taken relatively low-key security measures before the "Friday of Martyrs" processions that were to have begun from 28 mosques in the capital after weekly prayers.
But midday prayers were cancelled at some mosques, and few major protests unfolded in Cairo.
There were no reports of violence, but the Brotherhood's website said one person had been killed in the Nile Delta town of Tanta in clashes with security forces.
Brotherhood supporters also turned out in Alexandria, several Delta towns, the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, the north Sinai town of Rafah, and Assiut in the south, with minor skirmishes reported in some places.
"We are not afraid; it's victory or death," said Mohamed Abdel Azim, a retired oil engineer who was among about 100 people marching slowly from a mosque near Cairo University.
Despite his defiant words, the mood of the protesters seemed subdued, perhaps a sign that the crackdown and the round-up of Brotherhood leaders has chilled the rank-and-file.
The Brotherhood, hounded by Egypt's new army-backed rulers, had called for demonstrations across the country against the crackdown, testing the resilience of its battered support base.
Security forces kept a watchful eye, but did not flood the streets, even near Cairo's central Fateh mosque, where gun battles killed scores of people last Friday and Saturday.
The mosque's metal gates and big front door were locked and chained. Prayers were cancelled.
Two armoured vehicles were parked down the street, where people shopped at a busy market.
Only one riot police truck stood by near Rabaa al-Adawiya square in northeastern Cairo, home to the Brotherhood's biggest protest vigil until police and troops stormed in, killing hundreds of people, bulldozing barricades and burning tents.

The New Nasser - وناصر جديد

This is the revolution’s understanding of religions: love, fraternity, equality.

With equality we can create a strong homeland that knows no sectarianism, only patriotism…

We as a government, and I as president, carry responsibility for everyone in this country,

whatever their religion, whatever their origins...

Gamal Abd El Nasser

Nasser’s speech came almost two decades after Egypt’s Free Officers Movement overthrew the monarchy, launching the July Revolution of 1952.
Sixty years later, many have connected the July Revolution with this year’s popular uprising in Egypt, which brought down another failed regime, and launched the January Revolution of 2011.
Some draw parallels between the emphases of both on ‘dignity, freedom, and social justice'.

There has been a determined drive by much of Egypt's media to present Sisi as an independent, even anti-American, figure, and in this respect here has also been an effort to link him with Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's popular Arab nationalist president of the 50s and 60s.
That is partly because Nasser repressed the Muslim Brotherhood - along with communists.
But it also reflects the fact that Nasser's reputation as a genuinely independent and progressive leader, who stood up to the West and Israel, is still strong in Egypt and across the region.
The two men can be seen together all over central Cairo, on banners, flags and on posters on sale to tourists and locals.

One is moustachioed, square-jawed, with short greying hair and an enigmatic smile; the other is clean-shaven, open-faced, most often in dress uniform, a clutch of medals on his left breast.
The first man is the pan-Arab nationalist former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, hammer of the Muslim Brotherhood, who died in 1970.
The second is General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, head of Egypt’s armed forces and, since the July coup that ousted the Brotherhood-backed President, Mohamed Morsy, the supreme power in the country.
In the coffee shops of Cairo, where political discussions have bounced off peeling walls since Nasser’s death, a vigorous debate is taking place over whether Gen.
Sisi has deliberately risen in the former’s likeness - and what parallels between the two men’s careers may mean for post-revolutionary Egypt.
While General Sisi has pledged stability as a central plank of the military-led government he will shepherd towards elections in nine months’ time, he has also tapped into themes that Nasser used to enshrine his legacy as one of modern Egypt’s most celebrated figures.

Gamal Abdel Nasser Mosque - Cairo

Despite the fact that 40 years have passed since his death, whenever there are bad times, people always conjure up Nasser's image.
Sissi has not got the same hold on the Egyptian consciousness - not yet.
In his public appearances since the July 3, 2013 coup, Gen. Sisi has mirrored Nasser’s key messages of nationalism, scepticism of western intentions, Arab dignity and strong leadership.
The latter has been seized on by a broad swath of the public that has struggled in the chaos of the revolution that brought down Hosni Mubarak’s presidency in January 2011.
There is a craving for a strong leader.
Nasser is still revered here, and there is this belief that only a strongman can sort out the mess that is Egypt.

While Nasser was credited in the Middle East as a figure who did much for Arab unity, he was also criticised, in most cases unjustifiably, for leading through a cult of personality and for doing little to develop civil institutions, or advance human rights.
The parallels between him and Gen. Sisi run deep.
Nasser had a background as an officer and became President with military support in 1956, after planning the revolution that had ousted Egypt’s last monarch, King Farouk, four years earlier.
General Sisi also has a revolution under his belt. And, while not currently an elected official, he is being talked about as a presidential candidate after the interim government ends.
A deep nostalgia for Gamal Abdel Nasser is the result of the Egyptian people’s awareness that the Army has embraced the people’s wishes, and made sure that the revolution could take place.
The question remains, however, to what degree can the new system of government fulfil the needs of the people, and will he be able to hold on to his image as a 'saviour'.

It is important here to make a distinction between General Sisi as a person, and the military institution he represents.
He has a good chance to prove himself now, and there is a sense that he represents the Egyptian national identity that the Brotherhood wanted to steal away.
Amr Moussa, Arab League former head and former Foreign Minister, said the groundswell of support for General Sisi drew a distinction between the stances taken by Nasser and his legacy.
It is not just a call for a return to Nasser, but also a return to nationalistic stands and attitudes.
The armed forces embrace these stands, and they are personified through General Sisi.
Ther is, therefor, a resurgence of the Nasserite movement, combined with a yearning for a sense of nationalism and support for the military.
It is unlikely that the armed forces and its chief are interested in playing politics immediately.
Six to nine months of transition in order to approve a constitution, and a return to civilian rule will be the order of the day.
However, even among General Sisi supporters there are those who doubt that he or the military will extricate themselves completely from playing a decisive role in civil affairs after new presidential and parliamentary polls.
And the deadly showdown with the Brotherhood shows no sign of being conciliated.

The Arab world is now riven by the menace of sectarianism, and the possible breakup of the region into smaller states.
It's afflicted by polarisation between secularism and Islamism, the wealth and influence of reactionary Gulf autocracies, and the constant military intervention and presence of Western powers.
A 21st-century Nasser, able to straddle the religious and secular camps, could be the unifying force to confront those challenges.
Nasser, the man the Brotherhood wanted to forget, is now very much part of the new Egyptian psyche.
It’s up to General Sisi, however, whether he leads by example, or just basks in the glory of the great Gamal Abd el Nasser.

Egypt in Turmoil - مصر في حالة اضطراب

What is going on - and who to believe ?

al-ʾIkḫwān al-Muslimūn
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2013

'To understand Egypt you must know her history.' - Gamal Abd el Nasser

For a people who spend a lot of time saying 'salam alaykum' to one another these people seem, at least at the moment, to be far from peaceful.

السلام عليكم) is an Arabic greeting often used by Muslims around the world. It nearly translates to "peace be upon you".

So what is going on ? Why are so many people in Egypt apparently 'at each others throats ?

Well to start with we need to understand who the protagonists are in this violent conflict.

We can start with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Al-ʾIkḫwān al-Muslimūn

جماعة الإخوان المسلمين‎, الإخوان المسلمون - (The Society of the Muslim Brothers - al-ʾIkḫwān al-Muslimūn) is the Arab world's oldest, most influential and one of the largest Islamic movements, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic mass movement whose worldview is based on the simplistic belief that “Islam is the solution”, and on the stated aim of establishing a world order (a caliphate) based on Islamic religious law (Shariah) by forcibly destroying Western culture.

Hassan al-Banna

Founded in Egypt in 1928 as a Pan-Islamic, religious, political, and social movement by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna, by the end of World War II the Muslim Brotherhood had an estimated two million members.

Its ideas had gained supporters throughout the Arab world and influenced other Islamist groups with its "model of political activism - much of it violent".

The Brotherhood's stated goal is to install the Qur'an and Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ...ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state."

This is, of course, contrary to its supposed championing of democracy, which is simply a sham, used to obtain support from gullible Western governments.

The movement is known for engaging in extreme political violence, claiming responsibility for the installation of Hamas.

Muslim Brotherhood members are suspected to have assassinated political opponents like Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha.

The Muslim Brotherhood started as a religious social organization; preaching Islam, teaching the illiterate, setting up hospitals and even launching commercial enterprises.

As it continued to rise in influence, starting in 1936, it began to oppose British rule in Egypt , and the Brotherhood was responsible for many violent killings during this period.

After the Arab defeat in the First Arab-Israeli war, the Egyptian government dissolved the organisation and arrested its members.

Gamal Abd El Nasser

The Brotherhood, (for reasons better known to itself) supported the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, but after an attempted assassination of Egypt's president it was once again banned and repressed.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been suppressed in other countries as well, most notably in Syria in 1982.

The Muslim Brotherhood is financed by contributions from its members, who are required to allocate a portion of their income to the movement.
Many of these contributions are from members who work in Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich countries.

The Brotherhood's credo was and is, "Allah is our objective; the Quran is our law, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations."

One should particularly note the two last sentiments - jihad is our way and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations. - marking this organisation out as a perverted 'death cult' and the events in August 2013 make this abundantly clear.

However, the Brotherhood has declared that it is in favour of democracy and freedom.

This, of course, is nonsense.

The Holy Quran

The extreme Islamic teaching that they 'secretly' follow states that all sovereignty is derived from Allah, and that His Word, as contained in the القرآن‎ (Holy Quran), effectively enshrines all the laws that are required for the establishment of a righteous society.

القرآن‎ (Quran) literally meaning "the recitation", also romanised Qurʼan or Koran) is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be the verbatim word of الله‎ (God - Allah). Muslims believe the Quran to be verbally revealed through angel Gabriel (Jibril) from God to Muhammad gradually over a period of approximately 23 years beginning on 22 December 609 CE, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death. Shortly after Muhammad's death the Quran was collected by his companions using written Quranic materials, and everything that had been memorized (?) of the Quran.

The only task for the ruler is to enforce the laws to be found in the Holy Quran, so there is no need for any form of law-making assembly (Majlis).

The only reason that a سلطان‎ (ruler) may be removed from his position of authority is if the majority of citizens believe that the ruler in not correctly enforcing the laws to be found in the Holy Quran.

Sultan (Arabic: سلطان‎ Sulṭān,) is a noble title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "authority", "rulership" and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة sulṭah, meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who claimed almost full sovereignty in practical terms.

Such a view of political authority is hardly compatible with current views regarding freedom and democracy.

Rashid Rida

Muhammad Abduh

The founder of the ʾIkḫwān, Hassan Al-Banna, was influenced by Islamic reformers Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida, with the group itself being influenced by both Sufism and Salafism.

Rida preceded Abul Ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb, and later Islamists in declaring adherence to Sharia law as essential for Islam and Muslims, saying:
'those Muslim rulers who introduce novel laws today and forsake the Shari'a enjoined upon them by God ... They thus abolish supposed distasteful penalties such as cutting off the hands of thieves or stoning adulterers and prostitutes. They replace them with man-made laws and penalties. He who does that has undeniably become an infidel.'

In the group's belief, the Quran and Sunnah constitute a perfect way of life and social and political organization that God has set out for man (see above).

سنة - Sunnah is the way of life prescribed as normative for Muslims on the basis of the teachings and practices of Islamic prophet Muhammad and interpretations of the Quran. The word sunnah is derived from the root (سن [sa-n-na] Arabic), meaning smooth and easy flow (of water) or direct flow path. The word literally means a clear and well trodden path. In the discussion of the sources of religion, sunnah denotes the practices of Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar.

Islamic governments must be based on this system, and eventually unified in a Caliphate.

The Caliph (Arabic: خليفة‎ ḫalīfah/khalīfah) is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by Shari'ah Law - which is derived from the Holy Quran. The word derives from the Arabic خليفة Khalīfah, which means vice-regent - in other word,s vice-regent to Allah. Following Muhammad's death in 632, the early leaders of the Muslim nation were called Khalifat Rasul Allah, the political successors to the messenger of God (referring to Muhammad).

The Muslim Brotherhood's goal, as stated by Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, was to reclaim Islam's manifest destiny, an empire, stretching from Spain to Indonesia.

It preaches that Islam enjoins man to strive for social justice, the eradication of poverty and corruption, and political freedom to the extent allowed by the laws of Islam - which is, of course, - no freedom at all.

The Brotherhood strongly opposes Western colonialism, and Western culture and civilisation, and helped overthrow the pro-western monarchies in Egypt and other Muslim countries during the early 20th century.

On the issue of women and gender, the Muslim Brotherhood interprets Islam conservatively.
It calls for "a campaign against ostentation in dress and loose behavior", "segregation of male and female students", a separate curriculum for girls, and "the prohibition of dancing and other such pastimes ... "

The ʾIkḫwān is violently opposed to homosexuality or any same-sex activity.
The ʾIkḫwān is opposed to the involvement of Coptic Christians in the higher levels of the government.
The movement is also anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a movement, not a political party, but members have created political parties in several countries, such as the Islamic Action Front in Jordan and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank and the newly created 'Freedom and Justice Party' in Egypt.
These parties are staffed by Brotherhood members.
There are breakaway groups from the movement, including the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and Al Takfir Wal Hijra.

Beginnings

Ismailia - 1920s

Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Ismailia in March 1928 along with six workers of the Suez Canal Company, as a Pan-Islamic, religious, political, and social movement.

The Suez Canal Company helped Banna build the mosque in Ismailia that would serve as the Brotherhood's headquarters.

According to al-Banna, contemporary Islam had lost its social dominance, because most Muslims had been corrupted by Western influences.

Sharia law based on the Qur'an and the Sunnah were seen as laws passed down by God (see above) that should be applied to all parts of life, including the organization of the government, and the handling of everyday problems.

As such the ʾIkḫwān is a totalitarian organisation, and a Muslim form of fascism.

The ʾIkḫwān founded social institutions such as hospitals, pharmacies, schools, etc.

Al-Banna held highly conservative views on issues such as women's rights, opposing equal rights for women, but supporting the establishment of justice towards women.

The Brotherhood grew rapidly going from 800 members in 1936, to 200,000 by 1938, 500,000 in 1948.

Post War

In November 1948, following several bombings and assassination attempts, the Egyptian government arrested 32 leaders of the Brotherhood's "secret apparatus", and banned the Brotherhood.
At this time the Brotherhood was estimated to have 2000 branches and 500,000 members or sympathizers.

Cairo Fire - 1952

Malik Farouk

In succeeding months Egypt's prime minister was assassinated by a Brotherhood member, and following that Al-Banna himself was assassinated in what is thought to be a cycle of retaliation.

In 1952, members of the Muslim Brotherhood were accused of taking part in the Cairo Fire, that destroyed some "750 buildings" in downtown Cairo – mainly night clubs, theatres, hotels, and restaurants frequented by British and other foreigners.
In 1952 Egypt's monarchy was overthrown by nationalist military officers, supported by the Brotherhood, however the Brotherhood opposed the secularist constitution of the coup leaders, and in 1954 they attempted to assassinate رئيس جمهورية مصر العربية‎ Egypt's President (Gamal Abdel Nasser), (this attempt was unsuccessful).

Anwar Sadat

Muhammad Naguib

Non royal rulers of Egypt - The first President of Egypt was Muhammad Naguib, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, who took office on 18 June 1953, the day on which Egypt was declared a republic. Since then the office has been held by four further people: Gamal Abd el Nasser, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, and Mohamed Morsi. In addition, Sufi Abu Taleb acted as President between Sadat's assassination and the election of his successor, and Adly Mansour is currently acting as President after Morsi's overthrow. Following Mubarak's resignation, the position of President of Egypt was officially vacated and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, led by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, assumed executive control of the state.

The Brotherhood was again banned, and this time thousands of its members were imprisoned.

Imprisoned Brothers were gradually released after Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt in 1970, and were sometimes enlisted to help fight Sadat's leftist opposition.

Brethren were allowed to publish the magazine 'Da'wa', though the organization remained illegal.

دعوة‎ (Da‘wah‎) means the proselytizing or preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being the active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite" (whose triconsonantal root is د ع ى). Muslim Brotherhood has focused on a methodology of building grassroots institutions and funding welfare projects.

During this time, more radical Qutb-inspired Islamist groups blossomed, and after he signing a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, became confirmed enemies of Sadat.

President Anwar Sadat Assassinated

President Sadat and Hosni Mubarak
moments before the Assassination

Sadat was assassinated by a violent Islamist group Tanzim al-Jihad on October 6, 1981, shortly before he had Brotherhood leaders (and many other opposition leaders) arrested.

President Hosni Mubarak

The Assassination of Anwar Sadat occurred on 6 October 1981. Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt, was assassinated during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal.
A fatwā approving the assassination had been obtained from Omar Abdel-Rahman, a cleric later convicted in the US for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The assassination was undertaken by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. In conjunction with the assassination, an insurrection was organized in Asyut in Upper Egypt. Rebels took control of the city for a few days and 68 policemen and soldiers were killed in the fighting. Government control was not restored until paratroopers from Cairo arrived. Sadat was buried in the Unknown Soldier Memorial, located in the Nasr City district of Cairo. Islambouli and the other assassins were tried, found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed by firing squad in April 1982.
At first, Sadat was succeeded by Sufi Abu Taleb, who remained as the Acting President of Egypt until October 14, 1981, when Sadat's former Vice President, Hosni Mubarak, became the new Egyptian President.

Again with a new president, (Hosni Mubarak), Brotherhood leaders (Supreme Guide Umar al-Tilmisani and others) were released from prison.

محمد حسني السيد مبارك‎ (Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak - born 4 May 1928) is a former Egyptian President, leader and military commander.

He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.

Mubarak cracked down hard against radical Islamists, but offered an "olive branch" to the supposedly 'more moderate' Brethren.

The brethren reciprocated, going so far as to endorse Mubarak’s candidacy for president in 1987 (?).

The Brotherhood dominated the student associations of Egypt, and was famous for its network of social services in neighborhoods and villages, however, the government did not approve of the Brotherhood's renewed influence (it was still technically illegal), and resorted to repressive measures starting in 1992.

In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the Muslim Brotherhood won 17 parliamentary seats.

In 2005, it won 88 seats (20% of the total compared to 14 seats for the legally approved opposition parties) to form the largest opposition bloc.

It lost almost all but one of these seats in the much-less-free 2010 election, which was marred by massive arrests of both Brethren and polling place observers

Under Egypt's emergency law Brethren could only stand as independents, but were easily identified since they campaigned under the slogan - 'Islam Is the Solution'.

During and after the 2005 election the Brethren launched what some have called a "charm offensive."
Its leadership talked about its `responsibility to lead reform and change in Egypt.`

Coptic Pope Shenoda

It addressed the `Coptic issue`, insinuating that the Brethren would do away with Egypt's decade's old church building-permit system that Coptic Christians felt was discriminatory.
Seeing this campaign as a direct threat to its position as an indispensable ally of the west against radical Islamism, the Egyptian government rightly introduced an amendment to the constitution that removed the reference to Islam as `the religion of the state,` and would have allowed women and Christians to run for the presidency.
Brotherhood MPs responded by walking out of parliament rather than voting on the bill.
In addition, the movement has also reportedly played into the government's hands provoking non-Islamist Egyptians by staging a militia-style march by masked Brotherhood students at Cairo's Al Azhar University,complete with uniforms and martial arts drills, reminding many of the Brotherhood's era of 'secret cells'.

Two years later the Egyptian government amended the constitution, skewing future representation against independent candidates for parliament, which are the only candidates the Brotherhood can field.

The state delayed local council elections from 2006 to 2008, disqualifying most Muslim Brotherhood candidates.

The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the election.

The government incarcerated thousands of rank-and-file Muslim Brotherhood members in a wave of arrests and military trials.

After the Revolution

Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution, and fall of Hosni Mubarak, the group was legalized.

The Brotherhood supported the constitutional referendum in March 2011 which was also supported by the Egyptian army, and opposed by Egyptian liberals.

On 30 April 2011, it launched a new party called the 'Freedom and Justice Party'.

Ahmed Shafiq

Mohamed Morsi

In the First Egyptian elections after Mubarak, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi, won the election with 51.73% of the vote – over his competitor Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak's rule.

In late November 2012, offices of the Muslim Brotherhood were burned in response to Mohamed Morsi's move to outlaw challenges to his presidential authority.

On 3 July 2013 Mohamed Morsi was arrested and detained by the military following a period of widespread protests of millions of Egyptian citizens demanding the resignation of Morsi due to his failure to unite the country or lead effectively.

Thousands protested demanding the continuation of Morsi as Egypt's president.

Clashes between the protests resulted in at least 500 deaths to date.

Sayyid Qutb - the Evil Genius of the ʾIkḫwān

سيد قطب‎;
Sayyid Qutb

سيد قطب‎; - Sayyid Qutb ( also Said, Syed, Seyyid, Sayid, or Sayed; Koteb, Qutub, Kotb, or Kutb) (9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966) was an Egyptian author, Islamic theorist, poet. Complete with his 'Hitler mustache' he was also extreme mysoginist and 'closet homosexual' - and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 60s.

Sayyid Qutb, like all members of the Brotherhood, was a staunch Anti-Semite. In 1950 he published a book "Our Struggle against the Jews", which forms a central part of today's Islamist Antisemitism.

In 1966 he was convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and was executed by hanging.

Ma'alim fi al-Tariq

Author of 24 books, including novels, literary arts critique and works on education, he is best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books 'Social Justice' and the infamous 'Ma'alim fi al-Tariq' (Milestones).

His supposed 'magnum opus', 'Fi Zilal al-Quran' (In the shade of the Qur'an), is a 30-volume commentary on the Qur'an.

During most of his life, Qutb's inner circle mainly consisted of influential politicians, intellectuals, poets and literary figures, both of his age and of the preceding generation.

Even though most of his observations and criticism were leveled at the Muslim world, Qutb is also known for his intense disapproval, one might almost say hatred, of the society and cultures of Europe and the United States, which he saw as obsessed with materialism, violence, and sexual pleasures.

Qutb published an article entitled "The America that I Have Seen." He was critical of many things he had observed in the United States (in the 1940s) : its materialism, individual freedoms, economic system, racism, brutal boxing matches, "poor" haircuts (?) - superficiality in conversations and friendships, restrictions on divorce, enthusiasm for sports, lack of artistic feeling, "animal-like" mixing of the sexes (which "went on even in churches").

Qutb noted with disapproval the sexuality of American women:

'the American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs - and she shows all this and does not hide it.'
He also commented on the American taste in arts:
'The American is primitive in his artistic taste, both in what he enjoys as art and in his own artistic works. “Jazz” music is his music of choice. This is that music that the Negroes invented to satisfy their primitive inclinations, as well as their desire to be noisy on the one hand and to excite bestial tendencies on the other. The American’s intoxication in “jazz” music does not reach its full completion until the music is accompanied by singing that is just as coarse and obnoxious as the music itself. Meanwhile, the noise of the instruments and the voices mounts, and it rings in the ears to an unbearable degree… The agitation of the multitude increases, and the voices of approval mount, and their palms ring out in vehement, continuous applause that all but deafens the ears.'

Qutb concluded that major aspects of American life were primitive and "shocking", a people who were "numb to faith in religion, faith in art, and faith in spiritual values altogether".

His experience in the U.S. is believed to have formed in part the impetus for his rejection of Western values and his move towards Islamism upon returning to Egypt.

Muslim Brotherhood Extremist Islamists

Qutb is undoubtedly a key originator of Islamist ideology, and an inspiration for violent groups such as Al Qaeda - this is the legacy of the Muslim Brotherhood.
His political views were expressed in his prison-written Islamic manifesto 'Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq' (Milestones), where he advocated a political system that is the opposite of dictatorship—i.e. one with no government (?).
Qutb's also stated that "physical power" and jihad had to be used to overthrow governments, and attack societies, "institutions and traditions" of the Muslim—but according to Qutb jahili—world.

جاهلية‎ (Jahiliyyah "ignorance") is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God". The root of the term jahiliyyah is the I-form verb jahala "to be ignorant or stupid, to act stupidly".
Use of the term for modern Muslim society is usually associated with Qutb - namely that reappearance of Jahiliyya is a result of the lack of Sharia law, without which Islam cannot exist; that true Islam is a complete system with no room for any element of Jahiliyya; that all aspects of Jahiliyya ("manners, ideas and concepts, rules and regulations, values and criteria") are "evil and corrupt".
Non-Muslim societies are also termed jahili (Arabic: جاهلي‎ ǧāhilī ). The state of Jahiliyya requires the overthrow of the secular state and replacing it with Islamist sharia law.

Al-Azhar - Cairo

The ulema of Al-Azhar University school took the unusual step following his death of putting Sayyid Qutb on their index of heresy, declaring him a "deviant" (munharif).

Osama bin Laden

Qutb influenced Islamist insurgent/terror groups in Egypt and elsewhere.
His influence on Al Qaeda was felt through his writing, his followers, and especially through his brother, Muhammad Qutb, who moved to Saudi Arabia following his release from prison in Egypt and became a professor of Islamic Studies and edited, published and promoted his brother Sayyid's work.
Osama bin Laden was a close friend of Sayyid's brother, Muhammad Qutb.
Bin Laden regularly attended weekly public lectures by Muhammad Qutb, at King Abdulaziz University.

___________________________________________________

The Egyptian Armed Forces

'To understand Egypt you must know her history.' - Gamal Abd el Nasser

The second group in the conflict are the Egyptian Army.

Omanli Armasi
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2013

Muhammad Ali Pasha

Following his seizure of power in Egypt, and declaration of himself as Khedive of the country, Muhammad Ali Pasha set about establishing a bona fide Egyptian military.

Prior to his rule, Egypt had been governed by the Ottoman Empire, and while he still technically owed fealty to the Ottoman Porte (Government), Muhammad Ali sought to gain full independence for Egypt.

To further this aim, he brought in European weapons and expertise, and built an army that defeated the Ottoman Sultan, wresting control from the Porte of the Levant, and Hejaz - so Egypt had an empire, and was a 'colonial power, even if only in a very limited way.

The Egyptian Army was involved in the following wars during Muhammad Ali's reign:

Greek War of Independence, Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833), Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–1841)

In addition, he utilised his army to conquer Sudan, and unite it with Egypt, and Egypt was involved in the long-running 1881-99 Mahdist War in the Sudan.

Tel El Kebir as the
British saw it

The Battle of Tel El Kebir

In 1882 Great Britain defeated the Egyptian Army at Tel El Kebir, in September, and took control of the country.

The Battle of الكبير - Tel el-Kebir was between the Egyptian army led by أحمد عرابى (Ahmed Urabi), and the British military fought near Tel-el-Kebir. After discontented Egyptian officers under Urabi rebelled in 1882, the United Kingdom reacted to protect its financial and expansionist interests in the country, and in particular the Suez Canal - the perenial concern of the British with their overiding concern for the Indian Empire.

أحمد عرابى - (Colonel Ahmed Orabi or Ahmed Urabi - April 1, 1841 – September 21, 1911).

He was an Egyptian army general, and nationalist who led a revolt in 1879 against Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, and the increasing European domination of the country. The revolt was ultimately crushed in 1882 when the United Kingdom invaded at the request of Tewfik, thereby commencing the 40 year British occupation of Egypt. Orabi was the first Egyptian national political and military leader to rise from the fellahin (common or farming people).

The purpose of the invasion had been to restore political stability to Egypt (sound familiar ?) under a government of the Khedive and international controls which were in place to streamline Egyptian financing since 1876.

Map of the Ottoman Empire

The term Khedive (from classical Persian, khodây, "lord") is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha (Turkish: Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Paşa, General Muhammad Ali of Kavala), the Wāli (Governor) of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The initially self-declared title was officially recognized by the Ottoman government in 1867, and used subsequently by Ismail Pasha, and his dynastic successors until 1914.

It is unlikely that the British expected a long-term occupation from the outset; however, Lord Cromer, Britain's Chief Representative in Egypt at the time, viewed Egypt's financial reforms as part of a long-term objective.

Egyptian Soldiers at the Citadel - Cairo

Cromer took the view that political stability needed financial stability, and embarked on a programme of long term investment in Egypt's productive resources, above all in the cotton economy, the mainstay of the country's export earnings.

With finances and capital away from the Egyptian and Royal controls and placed instead in European and Coptic control during British occupation and later control, Egypt developed into a regional commercial and trading destination. Immigrants from less stable parts of the region including Greeks, Jews and Armenians, began to flow into Egypt.

During this time the Egyptian Army was under the control of the Khedival government, but also under the influence of the British, adopting British traditions and methods.

In 1914 as a result of the declaration of war with the Ottoman Empire, of which Egypt was still nominally a part, Britain declared a Protectorate over Egypt, and deposed the Khedive, replacing him with a family member who was made Sultan of Egypt by the British.

British occupation ended nominally with the Great Britain's 1922 declaration of Egyptian independence, but British military domination of the Egypt lasted until 1936.

فؤاد الأول‎ - King Fuad I

In deference to the growing nationalism, and at the suggestion of the High Commissioner, Lord Allenby, Great Britain unilaterally declared Egyptian independence on 28 February 1922, abolishing the protectorate, and establishing an independent Kingdom of Egypt - المملكه المصريه.

The first King of Egypt was فؤاد الأول‎ (Fuad I - Fu’ād al-Awwal; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936).
Sarwat Pasha became prime minister.

Fuad was first Sultan and later King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, Kordofan, and Darfur. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, he became Sultan of Egypt and Sudan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Sultan Hussein Kamel. He substituted the title of King for Sultan when the United Kingdom recognised Egyptian independence in 1922. His name is sometimes spelled Fouad.

King Farouk I

Malik Farouk Inspects the Egyptian Army

British influence, however, continued to dominate Egypt's political life and fostered fiscal, administrative, and governmental reforms.

Britain retained control of the Canal Zone, Sudan and Egypt's external protection.

King Fuad died in 1936, and Farouk inherited the throne at the age of sixteen.

Alarmed by Italy's recent invasion of Ethiopia, he signed the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, requiring Britain to withdraw all troops from Egypt, except at the Suez Canal (agreed to be evacuated by 1949), however, the Egyptian Army continued to be strongly influenced by both British and Turkish military traditions.

The Egyptian Army on Guard
at the Abdin Palace

Egypt, it should be remembered, was for much of its history strongly influenced by the customs and traditions of the Ottoman Empire.

It should be remembered that the eventual inheritors of the effects of the Ottoman Tanzimat were the Ottoman military, and this inheritance was passed on to all the military successors to the Ottomans in the various territories ruled by the Turks - including Egypt.

تنظيمات (Tanzimât) refers to the reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimât reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against nationalist movements and aggressive powers. The reforms attempted to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks more thoroughly into Ottoman society and included the reorganization of the army and a regular method of recruiting, levying the army, and fixing the duration of military service (1843–44).

It is for this reason that most of the regimes that followed the demise of the Ottoman Empire were eventually controlled by a modernising, westernised, secular (non-religious) military - and this was the case with Egypt.

General Muhammad Naguib

The Egyptian Free Ocfficers
Nasser, Sadat and Hakim Amer

After the defeat of the Egyptian army in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a revolutionary organisation was created secretly by the Egyptian officers under the name of 'Free Officers'.
This Free Officers group, led by محمد نجيب‎ - Muhammad Naguib and جمال عبد الناصر حسين - Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew King Farouk in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Naguib's full name was Mohamed Naguib Yousef Qotp Elkashlan; he was born on 20 February 1901 in Khartoum, Sudan, which was united with Egypt at the time. He was the eldest of nine children of an Egyptian, Youssef Naguib, and a Sudanese woman Zohra Ahmed Othman. His family"Elkashlan" was popular in Egypt at that time of its Scientific personalities like Saad Elkashlan and Abdulsamad Elkashlan. He came from a long line of army officers, as his father was serving in the Egyptian army in Sudan.

The Free Officers then forced the British troops based in the Suez Canal to leave Egypt in what became known later as Anglo - Egyptian Treaty (1954), marking the end of Britain's military presence in Egypt.
Nasser soon ousted Naguib and appointed himself president, taking the title رئیس‎ Rais.

رئیس is a title used by the rulers of Arab states in the Middle East and South Asia. Swahili speakers in East Africa may also use it for president. It is translated as president in Arabic, and wealthy in Persian. In Urdu, the word 'Rais' is also used as the opposite or antonym of Nouveau riche, or a person who has acquired considerable wealth within his or her generation. From Persian this word came into Urdu and means a person belonging to the aristocracy.
The adjective 'Azam' great, is also added to mean 'the great rais'.

Nasser and Field Marshal Hakim Amer

During the Cold War, the army actively fought in the Suez Crisis, known in Egypt and the Arab World as the 'Tripartite Aggression', the 'North Yemen Civil War' from 1962 to 1967, the 1967 'Six Day War', the 1969-1970 'War of Attrition', the 1973 'October War', and the 1977 'Libyan-Egyptian War'.

محمد عبد الحكيم عامر‎ (Mohamed Abdel Hakim Amer - 11 December 1919 – 14 September 1967) was an Egyptian general and political leader. Amer was born in Astal, Samallot, in the Al Minya Governorate. Amer played a leading role in the military coup that overthrew King Farouk in 1952 and which brought General Muhammad Naguib and Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser to power.

Since the 1980s the army has built closer and closer ties with the United States, as evidenced in the bi-annual 'Operation Bright Star' exercises.
Today conscripts without a college degree serve three years as enlisted soldiers.
Conscripts with a General Secondary School Degree serve two years as enlisted soldiers.
Conscripts with a college degree serve 14 months as enlisted or 27 months as a reserve officer.
On 31 January 2011, during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the 9th, 2nd, and 7th Divisions of the Army were ordered into Cairo to help restore order.
The Egyptian Army still uses an British style ceremonial outfit, and a desert camouflage overall implemented in 2012.
The Egyptian Armed Forces are the largest in Africa, and the Middle East, and is the 11th largest in the world, consisting of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy, Egyptian Air Force and Egyptian Air Defense Command.

قوات الأمن العام و الأمن المركزي

In addition to the Army there is the Egyptian Border Guard Forces, the Egyptian National Guard, which comes under the control of the Ministry of Defence, and قوات الأمن العام و الأمن المركزي - Quwwāt al-Amn al- Amm wa Quwwāt al-Amn al-Markazī - General Security and Central Security Forces.
In 1969, a decision was made to create the Central Security Forces from well trained and equipped police forces on large scale, covering the whole country under the command of the Ministry of Interior (Egypt), to conduct special police operations in response to operational needs.

General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the senior uniformed officer, is General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi.
Unlike the armed forces of many other countries, the Armed Forces of Egypt are also influential in business, engaging in road and housing construction, consumer goods, resort management, and vast tracts of real estate. Much military information is not made publicly available, including budget information, the names of the general officers and the military’s size (which is considered a state secret).
It is reliably estimated, however, that as much as 40% of the Egyptian economy is controlled by the Egyptian military.

Al‑Nour Party

The third group in the conflict are the Salafists

حزب النور‎ - (Ḥizb Al‑Nūr) ("Party of The Light") is one of the political parties created in Egypt after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.
It has an ultra-conservative Islamist ideology, which believes in implementing strict Sharia law.
It has been described as the political arm of the 'Al-Da‘wa Al-Salafiyya' - (Salafi Call Society), and by far the most prominent of the several new Salafi parties in Egypt, which it has surpassed by virtue of its long organizational and administrative experience and its supposedly "charismatic leaders".

The roots of the 'Salafi Call Society' go back to 1977, when the Muslim Brothers dominated the Islamic Group at Alexandria University. In reaction, students with Salafi convictions formed the “Salafi School,” arguing against the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology and domination of Islamist activism.
By mid-1985, the Salafi School was calling itself the “Salafi Call Society.” It had its own educational institution, the 'al-Furqan Institute', a magazine entitled 'Sawt al-Da‘wa' (the Voice of the Call), and a complex social-services network. The Zakat Committee (Islamic tithe) was in charge of funding and administering orphanages, support of widows, relief work, and free health clinics and other community facilities.

un-Islamic, though they were concerned with politics from an Islamic point of view relating to daily Egyptian life

ياسر البرهامى
Yasser El Borhamy

The Salafis in the past had refused to take part in politics because they believed that the democratic system that existed at the time was
After the revolution, the Salafis decided to take part in politics in order to protect the Islamic identity of Egypt, based on the fundamentals of Islam, the Quran and Sunnah.
Leading Salafi preacher ياسر البرهامى - Yasser El Borhamy switched to the political participation side after Mubarak's ouster, saying "Islam must become involved of all aspects of life, even the political, and the Islamic movement must unite".
In the 2011–12 Egypt parliamentary elections, the Islamist Bloc led by Al‑Nour party received 7,534,266 votes out of a total 27,065,135 correct votes (27.8%).
The Islamist Bloc, of which Al Nour was a member, gained 127 of the 498 parliamentary seats contested, second-place after the Muslim Brotherhood's 'Freedom and Justice Party'.
Al‑Nour party itself won 111 of the 127 seats.
From January 2013 the party gradually distanced itself from Mohammad Morsi's Brotherhood government, and came to join the opposition (?) in the July 2013 coup which ousted Morsi.

Al‑Nour Party is an ultra-conservative Islamist party, maintaining a strict version of Islam, known as the Salafi methodology.
Salafis believe they are practising Islam as it was practiced by the Prophet Muhammad, his companions, and the first generations.
Their main source of governance is strictly based on the Quran and the Sunnah.
The religious foundation and structure of Al-Nour party is based almost entirely on the Salafi interpretation of Islam.
Al-Nour believes the principles of Islamic Sharia should be the main source of legislation, however, the party promises that it will allow Christians to have their own separate laws for their internal matters - although it would be interesting to see if this promise was kept if they ever attained power.
Although initially an political ally of the Muslim brotherhood's 'Freedom and Justice Party', the al-Nour Party soon came to join the mainly secular opposition, and were an active force in the 2012-2013 Egyptian protests that resulted in the 2013 ousting of President Morsi.
Following what Al-Nour described as a "massacre" on the dawn of 8th July, when pro-Morsi demonstrators were attacked and at least 54 were left dead, Al-Nour in protest withdrew from talks to choose an interim prime minister.
Nevertheless al-Nour has not expressed support for the return of Mohammad Morsi to power.
The party has advised the interim government on ministerial candidates.

Coptic Christians

And then, of course, there are the Coptic Christians.

Coptic Cross

Coptic Flag

اقباط - The Copts are the native Christians of Egypt

They are a major ethno- religious

group in Egypt and the largest Christian group in Egypt.

Pope Saint Cyril VI
of Alexandria
Kyrillos VI

Christianity was the religion of the vast majority from 400–800 A.D., and the majority after the Muslim conquest until the mid-10th century, and remains the faith of a significant minority population.

Historically they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian, spoken in the Roman era, but it has been near-extinct, and mostly limited to liturgical use since the 18th century.

Coptic Clergy

They now speak Arabic.

Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian community in the Middle East, as well as the largest religious minority in the region, accounting for an estimated 10% of the Egyptian population.Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian community in the Middle East, as well as the largest religious minority in the region, accounting for an estimated 10% of the Egyptian population.

Most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

The remainder of around 800,000 are divided between the Coptic Catholic, and various Coptic Protestant groups.

Coptic Service in Cairo

Under Muslim rule, Christians were second-class citizens, who paid special taxes, and had no access to political power.

The Copts were cut off from the main stream of Christianity, but they were allowed to practice their religion relatively unmolested.

Their position improved dramatically under the rule of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century.

He abolished the Jizya (a tax on non-Muslims), and allowed Egyptians (Copts as well as Muslims) to enroll in the army.

Pope Cyril IV, 1854–61, reformed the church and encouraged broader Coptic participation in Egyptian affairs.

Khedive Isma'il Pasha, in power 1863-79, further promoted the Copts.

He appointed them judges to Egyptian courts and awarded them political rights and representation in government. They flourished in business affairs.

Copts participated in the Egyptian national movement for independence, and occupied many influential positions.

Some prominent Coptic thinkers from this period are Salama Moussa, Louis Awad and Secretary General of the Wafd Party Makram Ebeid.

Gamal Abdel Nasser, in power 1952-70, declared Egypt an Arab country for the first time, ignored the Christians, evicted Europeans, fought Britain, France and Israel, curried favour with the Soviet Union, and nationalized property and industry.

Much of the land he confiscated was owned by Copts and given to Muslims.

The Copts were severely affected by Nasser's nationalization policies because, though they represented about 10–20% of the population, they were so economically prosperous that they held more than 50% of the country's wealth.

In addition, Nasser's pan-Arab policies undermined the Copts' strong attachment to and sense of identity about their Egyptian pre-Arab, and certainly non-Arab, identity; permits to construct churches were delayed, Christian religious courts were closed, and the regime confiscated land and Church properties from Copts.

As a result, many Copts left their country for Australia, North America, or Europe.

Anwar Sadat, in power 1970-81, was a more favorable to the Copts, but in reaction to his more moderate policies the Muslim Brotherhood gained strength, and the Copts began emigrating to the West.

Hosni Mubarak, in power 1981-2011, provided some protection, but after his fall the Muslim Brotherhood launched murderous assaults on the Copts, who increasingly immigrated.

Pope Shenouda III

Bishop Tawadros

The last head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, died 17 March 2012.

On 4 November 2012, Bishop Tawadros was chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians.

His name was selected from a glass bowl containing the three short-listed candidates by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral.

In August 2013, several Coptic churches have been attacked, with at least nine of them set aflame, by Sunni Muslims.

Not surprisingly, Copts do not support the Muslim Brotherhood or the Salafi 'Nur Party'.

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