The bright future is waiting for Egypt, especially after the disposal of the corrupt people and the end of theft of public money by those who monopolized power and governance for their personal benefit. The stability which Egypt and its people have started to witness is among the first bases of success. This will heavily impact the economic stability, which will witness a great recovery, after that country has witnessed the stability that starts to expand day after day. The Egyptian economy will stabilize more than it is now, after the election and the formation of the government which will be concerned with getting things back to normal in Egypt, which would make a lot of traders and investors get back. The internal stability will encourage a lot of investors and wealthy people to go to Egypt and get them back again to exercise their business. This will be positively reflected on the internal movement in Egypt and on the local market, and will also contribute to the operation of labor again and the orientation towards the opening of laboratories and factories. In addition, Egypt relies on some resources, especially in the tourism sector, which is one of the biggest industries and brings a lot of money to Egypt. The re-opening of these touristic destinations after the return of stability will encourage a lot of tourists to come to Egypt. It will improve the advancement of the situation of tourism again, and will help in the interaction of all sectors of life and ease the job creation. The import and export will enhance the stability of the Egyptian economy in a way that the Egyptian citizen, whose living conditions will get better, will notice. However, the activation of the tourism sector is one of the most important imperatives, in addition to giving attention to other sectors in order to improve their reality. The impact of all of these achievements will be deep and significant on the economy of Egypt, which, I expect, will significantly recover with the beginning of the phase of reconstruction and construction that will make the internal situation significantly witness much movement and activity. Thus, I think that the Egyptian economy will be fine and will witness a lot of improvement and recovery over time.

I swear I do not know what the people want, because everyone can speak about anything these days. We should let things go, hoping that the conditions of the country will get better. If this happened, then we would save a lot of effort.

Egypt is a big country that contains different religions and sects. If the government of Egypt becomes an Islamic one, some people may feel that their rights have been wasted and that their rights in their country have been stolen, and they may ask why others lead the country. The solution is to divide the country, as with Iraq and Lebanon. This solution is not a proper one, because it will divide the country and increase its problems, it will adopt this stance for that religion and this stance for the other religion, and so on. We do not want to see this matter in Egypt, and we did not see that before. Therefore, I wish that the secularists could be the more fortunate people who succeed in the elections and who will lead the country in this new stage, the stage of change. This is because they are people who deal equally with everyone, in terms of rights and laws, as the religion is for God and the country is for all, and this is the policy that the secularists will follow. Therefore, I think that it will be more successful and will keep the country away from entering the dilemma of division and the manipulation with the people’s minds and increasing the hatred through the intervention of the third parties and the terrorist movements which would like to ignite the strife in Egypt by any means possible. We want a secular regime which pays attention to the development, progress, building and helping all the people, and ending the crises that were left by the corrupt regime of Mubarak, and improving the living condition of the citizen, away from the other decisions. If they had been issued now, they would not have any effect; on the contrary, they would be a reason for increasing the country’s problems and maybe the disputes, like the dispute over alcohol, tourism decisions and the other matters. These are not as important as the real issues and crises that exist in the country and from which the Egyptian citizen is suffering.

This proposal by the Salafi leaders is, of course, proposed in order to save the Egyptian youth, so they will not be involved in the vice and the forbidden matters. It also aims to save the country from erosion in standards, which are different from our Islamic standards and our original Arab morals that we adopt. I think that it is not important to have fun and go to the beach to drink alcoholic beverages or to wear the swimming suit and the bikini. This matter prevents a lot of conservative people and families from enjoying these atmospheres and going there, because the scenes make us feel embarrassed. This is what the Salafi movement is opposed to. I think that we all support them, as it is not important for the swimming to be done in this immoral way. Tourism means going out with the members of your family in these beautiful places and enjoying wonderful moments with them. As for the alcohol, we are in a country that contains different religions. There may be those whose religion allows them to drink alcohol in the public places and in front of the people without any respect. It is possible to buy and go to a special place in order to drink alcohol at his home or with his friends, but not in the public places. I call upon God to settle the situation in Egypt and for Egypt to become better than before, and for it not to remain dependent on the income of the foreign tourists, in order to live from their money. We are an ancient country; we just need the proper support and the establishment of the projects and a little development of the country, and Egypt will be in the forefront, God willing.

Egypt is a country that has a kind of freedom, and it also has different tourist systems from the rest of the Arab countries. This characterizes Egypt in terms of tourism. The tourism on the shores of Sharm El-Sheikh, Alexandria and the other tourist places is rather similar to the European tourism. I do not think that the idea that the Islamists or the Salafi movement will take over rule in Egypt will be successful. I think that this matter does not agree with what the Salafis seek to spread in Egypt, or with their beliefs, ideas, thoughts and their mystic thought which calls for the community to be conservative, and their view of the woman and the forbidden matters. Therefore, I think that if the Salafis took over the rule in the coming period, tourism would certainly decline in Egypt, because they will issue decisions that will have a negative impact. And if they do issue them, I think that the European tourists will not come to these tourist places, as they will miss the fun that they were enjoying and the atmosphere which is similar to the tourism in their own countries. But it is different, because it is in Egypt, and because it is in a different atmosphere, so they used to find great enjoyment in this matter. Tourism in Egypt is a very important matter, and everybody should know how to deal with this situation and issue decisions which preserve the tourism and increase the number of tourists, instead of eliminating them, because, as I mentioned before, it is one of the matters that the income of country depends on. It provides the hard currency and it eliminates a large number of the unemployed people, through finding job opportunities there in these tourist villages and resorts.

Honestly, I don’t know the future of Egypt which is a great country that supports art and tourism. In case the Islamists come to power, represented in the Muslim Brotherhood, then everything will be banned. They want to take us back to the Stone Age. With all due respect to their ideas and sincerity, Egypt is a country of many classes and religions. So, one side or opinion should not control the rest because there is no compulsion in religion. Frankly, I am concerned about the future of Egypt if the Islamists take over. I know that not all their decisions and leadership will be negative but I feel that Egypt should not be ruled and led by the Islamists. Egypt is the cradle of civilization, it is an open country for everybody to come and enjoy the weather and tourism. This does not only apply to the general public, even artists and stars consider Egypt as their station to take off shows and business. In addition, the movement of the Egyptian cinema is the most active one all over the Arab World because of the different issues it tackles and the controversial subjects it focuses on. I think such aspects will diminish under the leadership of the Salafis (a follower of a Sunni Islamic movement) in Egypt if they take over the country in the next election.

I hope that Egypt will remain a beautiful country where you can find cafes. I hope that we will always enjoy our time on the banks of the river and in the beautiful tourist areas. In fact, Egypt is the mother of humanity. Egypt has always harbored the arts and everything beautiful. We do not want to see Egypt become an isolated country, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, where the societies are not open to other cultures. Indeed, Egypt is a country which is endowed with a long history and a rich civilization and culture. I hope the secularists and Islamists will not distort the history and the reputation of this country when they get into power. They should not alter the authentic traits of Egypt and change the country as they wish. In fact, the secularists are calling for greater openness; this could increase corruption and lead to horrible results. On the other hand, the Islamists must not evaluate things through their own prism. They should neither forbid nor legitimize things as they wish. In so doing, they would strip Egypt of its beauty. I hope that the person who will lead the country will be a moderate man. He should be a mixture of secularism and Islamism. In fact, we want to see Egypt keep its beauty. The change should be political only. It should help improve the conditions of the people. The Egyptians did not call for the prohibition and legitimization of some matters. The protesters did not demand the opening or the closing of some cafes. Their demands were rather clear. They called on the authorities to provide a decent life for the people, to help the poor and to resolve the economic crisis. In addition, they asked the authorities to resolve the problems of housing, work and unemployment, and to seek the interests of the categories and sects of society. In other words, the people had no objection to the current conditions of the country, because this could happen in any nation in the world. We want to maintain the nature of our country. We would like to see Egypt keep to its long history, glory and fame. As I have mentioned earlier, we need a moderate leader who is not plagued by exaggerated inclinations or any other kind of extremism. He should not strive to impose his doctrine or fight the other parties.

I think that this proposal is rather unreasonable, because drinking alcohol is a matter of personal freedom. Besides, only tourists wear bikinis. This is perfectly normal, because tourists come for tourism. They want to enjoy the sunny sky and the water, which is also a human right. I think there is no compulsion in religion. Therefore, I neither support nor reject the bikini, wine or drinking, because Islam is a religion of forgiveness and rights. It is not appropriate to force people to become Muslims. Otherwise, no religion other than Islam would survive to the present time. We should respect their religion. On the other hand, I think that the proposal of the Salafis to prohibit bikinis and alcohol will have a great impact on the national tourism. Meanwhile, tourism is one of the pillars of the economy. In fact, we depend on tourism in improving the conditions of the Egyptian people. We should promote tourism in order to serve the national interests and the majority of Egyptian people. Indeed, we should not adopt the proposal of Salafis and extremists and eradicate the sector of tourism. They would do better to tackle the issues of corruption and the theft of public funds. They should also establish projects that could promote the Egyptian economy. We will support their proposals only when they manage to establish a resilient economy in a country where the population amounts to seventy-five million. They should control the situation first. Then they will become eligible to impose their proposals.

I wish that each one would focus only on what he knows. The politician should focus on politics and the cleric should focus on what will preserve the religion of the people. We do not want anyone who will change our customs and traditions. We ask God to help Egypt survive after these currents get into power. The one who wants to pray knows the way to the mosque and does not need anyone to show it to him.