READER COMMENTS

The accusation of contempt of religion for which Adel Imam is under trial is very strange. We may disagree with Adel Imam about some of his movies, but this does not deny the value of such a big star and the valuable movies and great artistic productions in which he has performed. When Adel Imam made fun of some of the religious extremists and terrorists, it is something that most people agree on. When I see the movie "Tuyour al-Zalam," i.e. “Birds of Darkness,” it seems as if I see the regime of Mubarak and the following incidents. As for the direct insult of Islam, we did not see Adel Imam doing such a thing. I am totally convinced that it is a made-up case to distract the public opinion and make people forget about the more serious issues. The case is dangerous in particular; it is not only about Adel Imam as a person. The idea in itself is dangerous because that means a person has the right to accuse somebody and put him on trial for contempt of religion or slander and insult to Islam for performing a work of art or expressing a certain idea or story.

Adel Imam has exceeded being an actor, a comedian, or a superstar and reached a much higher status given that he has become part of Egyptian popular folklore. In fact, Egyptians in almost all the streets are speaking about Adel Imam every day, whether about something that relates to him or an utterance which he has uttered in a movie or a play. The best evidence of what I have said is that the entire Arab World is using his famous words in their everyday life namely (I am poor) (Is my name written?!) (a country of certificates) (I am tired) and other such famous phrases, which entered the Egyptian and Arab dictionary. In fact, the cinematic fear of the rise of political Islam and holding parliamentary and representative councils is something that we tackled in this page on the first anniversary of the 25 January Egyptian Revolution. We have also shed light on the declarations of the leadership of the Salafist Nour Party and the Freedom and Justice Party. The latter were meant to be reassuring for the Egyptians filmmakers, but they became more annoying and raised the fear about the future of the Egyptian cinema. After that, the sentence against Adel Imam has come to confirm such fears and exceeded all the expectations in this respect. Indeed, when it comes to art, Salafists have an uncanny ability to spring successive surprises, and the coming will be greater as it is the case in the declarations of one of the Salafist representatives. The latter called for covering all the statues in Egypt because they offend public morality in addition to the sentence issued against Adel Imam. This case represents a risky phenomenon that opens the door to the lawyers who are seeking to achieve fame through raising a lot of cases under the pretext of defaming Islam. Indeed, everyone knows that the Egyptian Judiciary has got dozens of such outstanding cases.

The seriousness of the phenomenon is that abusing Islam is related to mocking the beards and garments, specifically in the play “The Leader”, which ran for more than six years all over the Arab world, which speaks about Zinhum (Adil Imam), who looks like the unspecified ruler of an Arab state, who dies suddenly, and his retinue asks this man to replace the president in order to protect their interests. The claim also included the film of “The Terrorist”, which dealt with a well-known reality represented in targeting tourists at the hands of the political groups and carrying out acts of sabotage. Probably, we should also prosecute all those who participated in these works, not only the film. Both the films of “Hasan and Marcus” and “Murgan Ahmad Murgan”, which were deemed by the lawyer as blasphemous, were also included in the claim. Who can forget the history of this man who fought the terrorism with his art in the 1990’s and introduced his film "The Terrorist" and his play “Sayyed the Waiter” in Asyut risking his life? Who can forget that this man was the best ambassador of Egypt in the Arab world personally and in the field of acting? When this man travels to any Arab state, he is received like kings and presidents? Who can forget his films, which gave precedence to the citizen at the expense of the regime? Is it not true that Adil Imaam screamed in Wahid Hamid’s novel “Where is the Parliament?” Is it not true that Adil Imam said, “We live in the time of the hybrid” in the Yaqobian Building? Is it not true that he said, “Who sees this country from above should see it from below because it is totally different” in “Birds of Darkness”? Is it not true that Adil Imaam attacked the rich for the benefit of the poor people in this country?

I do not know, because if they want me to laugh, I will laugh without stopping, because of the stances that have saddened us since the formation of the People’s Assembly, which failed in solving any problem until today other than trivial issues that has nothing to do with the interests of Egypt and its people. The trial of Adel Imam is funny in my opinion; because the People’s Assembly or the members of the parliament who demanded his trial did not find anyone in Egypt to be accused of despising the religions because of his comic films that made the people forget their cares. I do not see that any of his films attacks Islam in any way. He was only speaking about terrorism, extremism, and fanaticism. Islam is the religion of ease, but unfortunately, the case was introduced as if all that was achieved after the revolution is the trial of Adil Imam, while the killers, thieves, and robbers are still free. The trial became a farce and they will not achieve the renaissance, punish the killers, or even work on fighting the corruption among the people through the strange fatwas that are issued by these groups. The conditions of the people’s assembly represent a source disturbance, because the Egyptians can never be convicted by the use of such farces. This is a new useless act of the People’s Assembly and its members. Religion is not so and if they wanted to prosecute anyone, then they should have prosecuted Alyaa Al-Mahdi and her boyfriend Karim, who contradicted the religion of Islam, rather than prosecuting those who played some roles in the cinema that we cannot say whether they are allowed or not, in the absence of a fatwa that states this issue clearly. This proves that Egypt needs a strong and just president.

This actor is elder and it is impossible to keep him arrested in prison, because he is supposed to be rewarded and to serve as a role model for all Egyptians; the brave Egyptians must be united on express their support for him trough the internet, Facebook and Twitter> This actor was betrayed in his life and was imprisoned by a court in Egypt. However, this verdict is illegal because he did not committed a serious crime. I just want to ask what wrong did he do in movies or plays. Is there anything else that he committed? The idol of Arabs will survive this distress, God willing. I call on all Egyptians to defend the great Arab artist until the court exonerates him form all charges, because he is an important person to all Arabs. We love him and we want him to lead an honorable life like the rest of artists. I hope that he will be released very soon. I wish all success to him, God willing.

I watched some of the plays of this actor during which he mocked the Islamic religion, particularly his play “Sayyed the Waiter” at the scene of the marriage register, who came to document the marriage. Adel Imam started uttering nonsense that is considered disgusting to any honorable or zealous person who loves his religion. In some films, he also mocked long beards and the Niqab of the Muslim woman. He worked hard to spread vice among the Muslim societies in general and among the youth in particular. Such films and movies encourage the youth to commit vice and fornication, which is promoted by Adel Imaam, who is a corrupt and shameless person. This old man does not feel ashamed when he does so at this age! He should repent to Allah and keep away from the shameful and immoral behaviors, which are only suitable for the deviant and immoral people. if this had been in my hand, I would have sent him to prison for a year, not only 3 months, and I would have prevented him from acting in films or plays, because the sublime arts must be moral and constructive in order to improve the manners of the next generations through the human message that is included in the art.

We cannot bring Adel Imam to trial given that he is a good reputed actor in the artistic realm as well as at the personal level. In fact, his neighbors love him and speak well about him. He is a good man in every sense of the word given that he has neither harmed any person nor mocked religion. Thus, I would like to harshly condemn the Egyptian Judiciary which is still subject to much criticism since the era of the former regime until now. In addition, we would like to tell the Leader Adel Imam: don’t be worried since all Egyptians are with you and Allah will grant you victory.

The trial of Adel Imam for insulting religion is not fair at all because he did not harm religion and all he wrote were texts that were intended to criticize the terrorist movements that exploit the religious aspect in their terrorist operations. How can we judge him for the treatment of many of issues? In the movies of Adel Imam that are shown, he chooses their topics carefully. They are most often targeted films and, indeed, his movies have addressed a host of issues. In the film about the terrorist, for example, he criticized sharply and in an ironic way the methods of the terrorist cells and showed the extent of the crimes that they carry out against the community and how they wanted to assassinate the security leaders who are only doing their duty towards protecting their homelands, and how they assassinate everyone who criticizes them. He told us the degree of the faith of every person in his job and these bodies do not have the right to criticize anyone or to expiate him for a word against him or towards them and explained how they wanted to kill him. For that he learned what they are and wanted to leave them and prove to the world that most of the recruits in those movements are being pressured by the leader of their group. The works of Adel Imam solved many problems, both social and political. If he deserved to be tried because he was expressing his point of view and as long as he never hurts the Islamic religion, then why shall we prosecute him even though he did not kill his people? Why hold him accountable while we did not hold accountable the caricature graphics offensive to the Prophet, peace be upon him, which the Danish painter painted. Why did we not hold accountable he who wanted to burn the Quran, and why are we keeping silent on the killing of Muslims all over the place? We have reached the level of searching for the most insignificant things and we put barriers to it. The trial of Adel Imam will not be fair and he does not deserve it, as all of his films were approved by the state agencies. And if they were wrong, it would be better criticized by religious scholars. But they have not done that. Thus, the Egyptian judiciary should consider the reports provided against him with impartiality and present them to the clergy, and take their opinion about them so as not to oppress him because he did not commit any crime.

This is enough for the Muslim Brotherhood! I swear by God, they will make the country fall.

First, we all know that the great artist Adel Imam is one of the leaders of Arab Art. He is one of the artists that I did not think the artistic Arab scene could produce, a person who has the qualities of the great and giant artist, Adel Imam, because I see him as a boom in the history of the Arab art. He has contributed a lot to Arab art and the giants of the Arab art world should not be treated in such a way. Adel Imam has provided the Arab community with many purposeful works that contributed to its building and in raising the awareness of the Arab citizens, and filing a lawsuit against him at this particular time is an act that I do not accept and that none of the followers of this great artist would accept. The trial of Adel Imam has a lot of targeting of the Arab art and of the works that criticize some of the negatives that we can treat in works of art. This is what was done by the artist Adel Imam. No more targeting of the refined Arab art and no more targeting of the successful Arab artist, because the trial of Adel Imam, as I see it, is targeting the success of Arab art, and in particular the legendary artist Adel Imam. For decades, Adel Imam has been producing works that were characterized as daring, which had a great and significant impact on the Arab street. I do not think they will forget the artist Adel Imam one day or his works of art, whether these were plays or works he made for television and for the Arab viewers. An artist with this fame and popularity cannot be treated this way.

Let's not forget that Adel Imam is an actor who does not commit to the scripts. Ever since he started his acting career, he has been like that. For example, "Madrasat al-Moshagbeen" was a play that insulted education and teachers, "Shahid Mashfsh Haga" violated the traditions and ethics, and "Sayed al-Shaghal" violated the manners, history and religion. There are even worse examples, so we have to stop him. Art is beautiful and comedy is necessary. There is nothing wrong with being creative in acting, but it has to be within the proper limits. We don't deny that those plays succeeded and they had some good and expressive topics. But, we need to avoid any insults or violation of ethics. Freedom is not violation and shamelessness.

It seems that Egypt is heading towards an Inquisition Era under the reign of obscurantist groups who are trying to have complete control over all forms of life in Egypt. But they will never be able to devour the cake completely alone. The awareness of our people will reveal the true face of those gangs who strive to achieve their personal objectives, and to hell with the people.

May God protect our country!

Before saying anything, I would like to express with all pride my complete solidarity with the great artist, the beloved of the audiences, Leader Adel Imam against this unjust ruling. With all regret, I say that this investigation ruling (which refers to Inquisition rulings in the dark ages) is against, art, creativity and the right to freedom as symbolized by artist Adel Imam, the pioneer of Arab cinema and theater. He is an artistic icon. He is an international artist who has a distinguished position and great popularity. He is an artistic value and a national treasure not only to Egypt but to the Arab and Islamic world as well.

We are all with the leader Adel Imam. We support him and we love him very much. We love him because he is with us in our houses and hearts as well as in our conversations and laughs. In fact, Adel Imam has made us cry and laugh many times. The leader actor or the actor leader Adel Imam has also taught us or rather taught generations through his human artistic message. This wonderful master artist who has exposed the tyrants, dictatorships and their executioners has exposed their lies and their pretenses of patriotism and false Arabism. In fact, he has exposed them, their corruption, their falsehood and the fakeness of their slogans with much courage. In addition, this genius and daring actor loved his country and people and combated terrorism and terrorists. He has also combated their evil and hostility against society and the State. Adel Imam has exposed their legitimate and illegitimate tricks, their exploitation of religion, their trade in religion and their manipulation of people’s feelings. Furthermore, he has faced the attempt to stigmatize the nation and make communities ignorant and pull them backward into the dark ages. This worthy master artist has tried through his artistic message to raise the awareness of communities and advance them. He has also fought faithfully and honorably in order to thwart the project making people ignorant as well as the project of cultural and intellectual binding and fettering of Arab Muslim people through his fine art and distinguished performance. Therefore, thanks to his unique artistic career and rich honorable history in wonderful works and a lot of movies and nice pieces of drama, the works of Adel Imam will undoubtedly remain timeless given that they are daring, great and distinguished works which have been ingrained in the minds and hearts of millions of the people who love the leader Adel Imam very much.

I can confirm the opposite of the expectations and hopes of all the enemies of freedom, awareness, art and creativity. This dogmatic governance has brought about the opposite given that it has increased people’s love, infatuation, adherence and assistance of the Leader and beloved actor Adel Imam, the artist of the people and the glorious great artistic icon. This has also revealed or let’s say proven the falsification and the systematic deception of many of the dogmatic and Takfiri people. This has also reflected their great fear of the honesty, courage and positive impact of the leader actor Adel Imam, his successful acts and the truth of his expectations about the extent of falsehood of many people who are endorsing political Islam. The latter are operating under the umbrella of Islam and employing it to serve their political and personal interests and to impose their dogmatic ideology and logic on the country and society.