Ayoon Wa Azan (Goodbye Egypt, Mother of the World)

The common feature in every Arab election is that the loser always blames his loss on election fraud. The first round of the presidential election in Egypt will take place tomorrow and the day after, and we will no doubt hear about election fraud during the voting and afterwards. In Egypt, the other common feature among presidential candidates is hostility to Israel. Indeed, they disagree over everything, or over nothing, but agree on this particular issue. I will not try to predict the winner despite the fact that I think he will most probably be an Islamist, but I want to say: Egyptian Islamists (and not all Islamists everywhere) are undemocratic. Having spent four days in Cairo last week, I was left with more concerns regarding the possible rule by one party. Dr. Hassan Abul Bukhari, a spokesperson for the Islamist Movement in general, said, “Islamist revolutionary factions have decided to take to the street and rebel again if Marshall Ahmed Shafik wins the election, even in free and fair elections”. He added, “We will never recognize him because he ran in the elections without any legal or constitutional basis, even though he is one of the major holdovers [of Mubarak’s era]”. In other words, this man is saying that he knows something the judges on the Election Commission do not know. Mohamed Morsi, President of the Freedom and Justice Party, and the candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood, said in front of Cairo University, “The Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path, and martyrdom in the service of God is our goal. We can enforce Islamic Sharia, and shall accept no alternative to it”. This is all very nice, but it is more befitting of a sermon in a mosque, rather than a political speech of a prominent candidate. Other speakers attacked the media, and the actor Wajdi Arabi called Egyptian journalists ‘priests and wizards of the temple’. Meanwhile, the Salafi preacher Sheikh Fawzi Al-Saeed accused liberal and leftwing journalists of blasphemy during a conference to support Mohamed Morsi, describing the media as immoral, sinful and wicked, and said that “God’s verdict on liberal and leftwing journalists is that they are leaders of godlessness because they have challenged your religion and you shall have to fight such godless people”. If these people come to power, then goodbye to Egypt, Mother of the World. Dr. Mohammed Badi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, even claimed that some media outlets are like Pharaoh’s magicians, and that Satan manipulates journalists. Subsequently, CEOs and editors of the national newspapers rejected this attack and said that it is “an attempt at taming the press”. By the way, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, the disqualified Salafi candidate, continues to lie. At the Mosque of Asad ibn Furat in Dokki, Ismail claimed that he has two documents that prove that his mother is not a U.S. citizen. But what is even worse than his lies and his threats against the authorities is that there are some who continue to believe him. It is no secret that the Muslim Brotherhood are bribing poor people to vote for them by giving them edible oil, sugar and rice throughout remote villages. Many legal and human rights activists filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, concerning complaints in the village of Abu Aziz in Minya of a large medical convoy organized by the Freedom and Justice Party, which has been giving medical checkups to the people of the village as well as male and female circumcision in violation of Egyptian laws. Ambassador Mervat Tallawy, President of the Supreme Council for Women, condemned this practice, and so did Hafez Abu Seada, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. Ms. Tallawy said, “Female circumcision represents a return to the slave age, and has nothing to do with Sharia or religion; it only serves to oppress women”. And if rice, oil, and circumcision did not do the job, then there are always fatwas. Sheikh Hashem Islam, a member of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar, issued a fatwa prohibiting voting for Mubarak era holdovers. Meanwhile, Mohamed Abdullah, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council, issued a fatwa requiring followers to support their candidate Mohamed Morsi as an Islamic duty. Sheikh Mohammed Mahlawi, preacher of the Mosque of al-Qaed Ibrahim said, “Egyptians must vote. This is an Islamic duty. There is a choice between two candidates, and choosing Mohamed Morsi is a religious duty and those who do not are committing a sin”. The liberal candidate Amr Moussa responded to everyone and rejected one-upmanship over Sharia, and extorting Muslims by invoking heaven and hell. I say: Electing an Islamist candidate as the next President of Egypt will be a disaster for democracy and civil peace. I then state that such a candidate is likely to win, but it is also likely that this will be followed by a military coup