READER COMMENTS

I strongly reject the word ‘Islamic’, because they do not have a monopoly over Islam, as we are all Muslims. Hence, I am apprehensive of these movements gaining control, as this will become a dictatorial system, and the people will not allow this to happen. The people are the cause of the success that these movements have had in spreading all over Somalia because they feared them. However, some splits have started to appear within the ranks of these movements. The security condition in Somalia is not what it should be, and the proof of that is the continuation of terrorist activities which are taking their toll on the lives of thousands of unarmed civilians, and we have not seen any progress toward the eradication of the specter of these movements. The Somali government should look for new technologies in order to train the security forces and carry out joint programs on the highest levels with the neighboring African countries in order to raise the competence of its security forces, even if they have modern and advanced weapons.

The people are the source of authority. The will of the people has to be higher than the will of the military and the political powers wrestling over authority. The people are marginalized; the struggle is happening in daylight and is not resolved. The people will resolve this struggle by overthrowing the powers that look for gains at the expense of the people. The revolution and the will of the people are stolen in public by the military and the political powers. The Constituent Assembly is formed by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis. It should have included specialists and researchers in constitutional law representing all the classes of the people. It should represent the people based on scientific measures. The constitution should be discussed in the Parliament and then a referendum or direct vote should be conducted for the preparation and explanation to the people to choose the most suitable for them.

It is the deal between the colored Brotherhood and the Military Council of shame. The clauses of the deal consist in the handling of the Egyptian Parliament, Institutions, Constitution, Judiciary and Police in return for the safe exit of the Council’s followers. Neither history nor honorable Egyptians will keep silent given that they have overthrown one of a more notorious and cruelest regimes than the Muslim Brotherhood. Let’s collaborate to overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood and boycott the Constitutional Committee. May the alliance of the birds of darkness fall. May the Military fall because they have sold something that they do not own for someone who does not deserve it. May the military rule fall…..

I am certain that the Egyptian parties will be up to the expected responsibility and perception. They have to realize that the Egyptian people have religious diversity. The Egyptian parties will balance these matters. I hope that the Islamic parties will work through and adapt a moderate policy, as we are advised by the kind Islamic religion, in order to win all groups. Accordingly, we will convey the true image of the Islamic Sharia, the beautiful image which some Islamic currents or terrorist organizations unfortunately have tried to defame. They made the whole world afraid of the Islamic ruling or the ascendance of the Islamic parties to power in the Arab World. If the Islamic parties take over or win in the elections, this does not mean a bad situation. On the contrary, all of us have to respect and value the votes of the Egyptian citizens because they know the issues of their country better than anyone else. They know to whom they gave their votes. I call all the representatives in the parliament to work as one team. They have to always remember that Allah is watching so they have to work for the interest of Egypt and its people. They have to be up to the responsibility that they are entrusted with. Everybody is looking at them and they have to change the way of thinking of some people who are afraid of the Islamic parties winning in Egypt. So, I support the choice of the Egyptian people. They are the first and last ones to decide. We hope that Egypt moves forward and develops again. The Egyptian Parliament needs such diversity. It needs both the Islamic and secular parties because diverse opinions will generate more progressive ideas that will achieve the change process that Egypt is currently witnessing. Diversity is the foundation of success in all matters and it has many positive impacts. Egypt will reap the fruits soon with God’s will.

The load is heavy and the one who finds himself in this should step forward and have a seat because the journey is going to be long and the one who sits on the throne must have enough courage and competence in order to see what he will present to the people before he thinks of introducing himself to this. The Islamic Party in Egypt should not monopolize power for itself, leave space for someone else, or start the journey of the sons of the Egyptian people with evil. However, there must be justice and there must be representatives and deputies for all sects and religions of the people of Egypt because the Egyptian people are not from one creed, religion or sect.

It is better for the Islamic Party to leave space for someone else so as not to expose himself to positions that might be against him from the beginning because acting selfishly will contribute in creating a lot of non-reassuring atmosphere and create chaos, confusion, anxiety, and fighting.

The Islamists had reached a very important stage. Indeed, they have obtained some key positions. The Egyptians elected those people who made many reforms in Egypt. Those parties obtained a lot of positions, especially in the parliamentary seats. Indeed the parliament is the most important now for Egyptians because MP’s control everything in the country. Egypt is going through a very bad situation. Therefore, the supremacy of the Islamists is a very positive thing for Egyptians. We must do our utmost to make Egypt a developed country. I call on Egyptians to help in settling down the situation in the country in order to recover as soon as possible. God Almighty safety, security and stability will prevail in Egypt. Amen.

The rise of the Islamic parties reinforces speculation about a comprehensive review of Egyptian foreign policy, where it became clear that the Islamic parties do not like the American policy in the region. It is not unlikely to make the parties reconsider the peace agreement with Israel and that the Islamist takeover of the parliament will give them a greater role in the social life of the Egyptians, and there will be shifts in foreign policy, especially towards Israel and the Palestinians. However, it must be remembered that the Muslim Brotherhood do not have a candidate for the presidential elections and this gives hope that the next president will be moderate and will preserve the national interest of Egypt in order to preserve the peace with Israel as well as the position of Egypt as a mediator between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and probably they will see that there is collusion between all the Arab regimes to deliver something of power to the Islamists. These systems had sacrificed some of its men to enable the Islamists to conduct the affairs of the country. We may go and declare that the Arab regimes seem complicit with the foreign external forces that control the world of politics to the satisfaction of the United States and Israel. This is not unlikely in light of the economic crisis that is about to beset the stability of the world. It is a crisis that can ruin the cohesion between the Islamic parties and the people who donated their voices. It is a crisis that will say that Islam is not the solution. The Islamic parties bear the responsibility for implicating Islam in a crisis created by others.

This issue should be taken into account. Islamic parties should do no injustice to anyone, because if they do so, they will deliberately blacken the image of Islam and, therefore, will put off a lot of people and lead the country towards the abyss again. Therefore, they should avoid such attitudes that contribute to the creation of strife, division, enmity and hatred among the Egyptian people, God forbid. It is necessary to be very cautious in order to prevent any disputes and infighting from happening because the country is now being led by politicians. Therefore, it is necessary to act wisely, patiently, reasonably and justly and to put all disputes aside for the interest of Egypt and its people, who endured a lot of suffering, pain, humiliation, poverty, hunger, corruption, unemployment and ignorance. Therefore, everyone should do his best to restore order and stability. They shouldn’t be thinking about holding office forever, because whoever thinks this way will be removed. Authority never lasts forever for anyone and whoever does his duty with honor and honesty will last and be always remembered by the people. There should be justice and equality; that is the sagacity which perpetuates ruling and enables it to last as long as possible because justice is the basis of governance. People have been in search of equity and equality, but they have not found them so far. Unfortunately, this is what happened to a lot of people who still suffer as a result of injustice, oppression and selfishness of their rulers.

The dominance of Islamic parties on most parliamentarian seats in Egypt indicates that Islamic parties want to completely control and govern Egypt by Islamic laws. They want to turn Egypt from a secular state to an Islamic one where Muslim Brotherhood groups will be in charge of everything and to reject the rest of parties and blocs.

I guess that the vote means that there are probably big changes coming in Egypt, and Egypt has witnessed so many radical changes in many things that the Islamic parties may see their role has ended and needs to be changed. At the same time I believe that the Egyptian people gave their votes freely and with full willingness to the Islamist parties, in order to represent them in this next phase for the sake of Egypt and to work on improving the situation of Egypt. I think that the Islamic parties will have control over the majority of seats in the Egyptian parliament as representatives of the people, but they will remain dependent on the principle of consultation in decision-making even though they are the majority, because consultation must remain present because of the rest of the parties. This is on the one hand, and on the other hand I do not want it to mean that the Islamic parties are those who have control over the parliament, meaning that al-Qaeda or the extremist ideology becomes the one which dominates the matter, because this is not in the interest of Egypt because Egypt is a country of various religions, ethnicities and so on.

The recent elections in Egypt were fair and free, despite some insignificant negative aspects, which did not affect the fairness or integrity of the elections. In my opinion, these elections were successful, as acknowledged by the whole world. The Egyptian elections were held amidst an environment full of hope, optimism, and aspiration to the bright future of all the Egyptians. The elections in many of the developed states that have a great democratic history witness many problems too, and may face criticism and objections, even on the part of the voters themselves, who may not accept the results that appear after the votes have been counted. However, we did not see such things in the Egyptian elections. Quite the contrary, all parties, and the political powers that entered the elections, as well as the different Egyptian classes, did not object to the results of the elections. The Egyptian street was happy and with and optimistic about the results of the elections. This provides further evidence that the elections in Egypt were normal and good. I believe that they were among the best electoral rounds in the modern history of Egypt, because this is the first time the Egyptian citizen feels that his voice will be respected and that it will be counted for the candidate who meets his expectations and demands in his country. Of course, this is a positive development.

The participation of Islamic forces in political life after the revolution was a surprise to all spectra of the society, including Muslims, especially Salafis. We find that the referendum of March 2011 on the constitutional amendments held by the military council was the first indication of the rise of Islamic forces, which voted in favor of the amendments against secular forces that mobilized public opinion to reject these amendments. This took the referendum out of its political context and plunged it into a conflict between Islamic forces and secular currents. This was an exam for the Islamic forces to test out their position and weight on the land of Egypt, after the former regime had stripped them of their legal and political legitimacy.

Based on the election results, which showed the domination of the Islamic parties and the Muslim Brotherhood movement in parliament in Egypt, I think that the Egyptian people want the Islamic parties to play a leading role in the country in the coming stage. Certainly, this is what will happen. Everyone wants to have the opportunity. Of course there is no opposition as to the victory of the Islamic parties, which won the majority of the seats in the Egyptian parliament. All people have witnessed that the elections were free and fair. There was no influence and no interference from any party or movement, although there were a great many parties and many secular parties participated in these elections. However, they did not succeed, as was the case with the Islamist parties. It was the people’s choice. These movements were banned and were not allowed to play any role in the previous era.