Since publishing this post about that crazy man who want to demolish the pyramids and Sphinx I received several reactions attacking me for publishing this post from both Islamists and non Islamists.
The main objection : Why would you publish something like this in your blog and spread it like that when this man only represents himself and a narrow segment from the society or rather Islamists ??
I am sorry , this man does not represent himself alone but rather represents a whole. Similar views were expressed by none other Salafist Calling leading member and co-founder of its political arm , the famous Al Nour party.
Abdel Moneim El Shahat wanted to cover the ancient monuments with wax !! “Video”
Al Nour Party and Salafist calling as well El Shahat are popular enough among millions of Salafists in Egypt.
Of course this will lead us to wonder about Al Nour party’s position from all this. I bet they will have double standards on this , they do not have a problem in respecting foreign anthems while they do not pay respect to our national anthem.
Now for those Islamists who can not tolerate this , they have to face the fact that their Sheikhs and scholars hate ancient Egypt because they look to ancient Egyptians as infidels who stood against Prophet Moses !!
Wagdy Ghonim, the foulmouthed Pro-Muslim brotherhood preacher had always slammed ancient Egyptians in his tapes and videos. This clip was aired on Al Nas TV channel , one of the most top Salafist Channels in Egypt.
Ghonim got a huge fan base among Islamists already.
I remember also the famous fatwa of Sheikh Hassan to sell ancient artifacts. Sheikh Hassan is also the owner of Al Nas TV channel as well one of the leading members of the Salafist calling in Egypt.
Are these enough for you to admit that we got a problem in how these radicals think regarding our history and our legacy !?
Second Objection : This is a Wael Al Abrashi’s show and he is attention seeker.
Well it is not about Wael Al Abrashi or his hot hair , Al Abrashi did not tell Morgan El Gohary or El Shahat to say what he wants. This is how they think. We have to deal with that.
Third Objection : This is a secondary issue !!
This is not a secondary issue , it is nation’s history. Iraq’s history has been destroyed and Syria’s history is being destroyed. I will not let this happen to Egypt’s history as well !!
Taliban blew up Buddha statues , their supporters can do this in Egypt.
I can not ignore anything and yes I believe that these groups are back to the surface to scare us in order to make the public miss Mubarak’s solid security fist. Still whoever is moving the strings in the backstage , he is playing with fire that can burn the whole nation down. This is why I am extremely worried.
Luckily I am not worried alone as the Tourism coalition in Egypt has threatened to sue President Morsi for the lack of reaction after Morgan’s alarming statements.
Dear Zeinobia,
ReplyDeletei totally agree with you to report on that. It is not a singular opinion, i have heard some other people talking like this myself. That is a problem that has to be covered and needs discussion and an appropriate reaction. The majority of proud Egyptians has to watch these people closely and voice their disagreement.
If you have small radical groups there is no use in ignoring them. You have to confront them as a society as a whole.
Completely agree and I am glad Zeinobia is highlighting this menace and long may she continue to do so because it is only by confronting this menace to Egypt head on will we save Egypt from these ignorant fanatics. nZeinobia do not be put off by the fanatics replies. Treat them as you would the Israeli threat because it is even infinitely MORE dangerous in my opinion. This threat is on the inside and has to be written and talked about and rejected by all sane people in Egypt as we watch their mad fanatic friends rip apart Timbuktu monuments and lets be honest. This rhetoric is coming from Saudi Arabia. All this madness from their also insane Mufti is very damaging and distorting to Islam and they target the ignorant, the illiterate so you need to keep highlighting the core of the problem Saudi Arabia. Egyptian society needs to tackle these radicals head on and demand they be jailed and half to be honest need to be locked away in mental hospitals as far as I am concerned because they are clearly mentally ill. These nikabi women and beards MUST be rejected IF Egypt is to survive and not fall into anarchy.
Delete@Z,
ReplyDeleteYou stand correct for exposing these extremists and their sick opinions to your readers just as many other Egyptian news publications did.
Keep up the good work!
agreed and she needs to keep on the case and highlight this every chance she gets
DeleteI was like them against publishing such crap in ur respectable blog.. as I thought that such sheikhs are bunsh of idiots and wannabes who want to be famous by promoting bizarre ideas
ReplyDeletetill I saw this post... from a doctor who is well educated.. a plastic surgeon .. a frnd to my frnds saying
أنا مش عارف ايه الضجة الي انتو عاملينها علشان السلفيين عايزين يهدوا الأصنام بتاعة الفراعنة
الكفرة الي كانوا بيحاربوا الأنبياء و بيعذبوهم
و اذا كان على السياحة.... فيها ايه طول عمر فلوس السياحة مش بتدخل جيب الشعب
مش بدل ما حد يعبدها في المستقبل و نتحاسب احنا؟
I cannot remember the exact words coz he blocked me after commenting on his status
anyways... I realized that crشzy sheikh is not alone
people are getting rid of all religions getting rid of the control of the superbeings for god sake!! and they r still afraid of worshiping statuses!!
أقول ايه بس يا ربي!!!
IS HE STILL A LIVE?
ReplyDeleteHow can we stay silent and ignore such dangerous and irresponsible statements. No, definitely we will not, therefore, Kudos to Zeinobia and to all who are vociferous about any kind of attack to history and its relics. Or do you want us to create holes and emptiness not only in rocks as the picture of Buddah of Bamiyan in Afghanistan show, but also emptiness and holes in human-kind collective memory and history, a deep abyssal and hollow memory as hollow as these radicals' minds. If the answer is yes, then keep silent and don't pay attention.
ReplyDeleteHow can we stay silent and ignore such dangerous and irresponsible statements. No, definitely we will not, therefore, Kudos to Zeinobia and to all who are vociferous about any kind of attack to history and its relics. Or do you want us to create holes and emptiness not only in rocks as the picture of Buddah of Bamiyan in Afghanistan show, but also emptiness and holes in human-kind collective memory and history, a deep abyssal and hollow memory as hollow as these radicals' minds. If the answer is yes, then keep silent and don't pay attention.
ReplyDeleteZeinobia, you did well and we all should do the same. Voice our worries and concerns. I took your lead and have mentioned you and added my contribution here. I would love it if you could give me comments on my blog as well. We need to reach as many people and nations as we can. This is not an Egyptian issue, it's a humanity issue. How can we erase man-kind made history and relics, and leave in their places hollows. Hollows as hollowed and empty as the small-minds of the bigots who are asking for the demolition. Great jog, Zeinobia :)
ReplyDeleteI know Moses said, not to bow down before or create graven images, and I suppose Mohammed the same. However, the Pyramids are not an image of a god. Good for you to fight for the rights of Egypian history and treasures. The people are the true treasure, but surely history requires us to protect the "images" of who cam before us too.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDear Zeinobia,
ReplyDeletePlease forgive me if my last comments were harsh. I follow your posts for a long time now, even before you start your blog. To me your posts had some kind of class to them, they were more like the BBC or the Economist of the Egyptian blogs.
But in my opinion the issue at hand is clearly not real. Sure, one can find several incidents of similar merits. But do they really constitute a trend, or are they likely the product of failing media, and loss of professionalism, that have become the norm in Egyptian journalism. People like Mr. Ibrashi have been digging for years and years in the dumpsters, looking for the weirdest and most odd things to cover.
Take a look at Mr Howaidy's piece today and see what I mean:
http://shorouknews.com/columns/view.aspx?cdate=14112012&id=1cb20fb5-1626-4c7e-845c-03fe317f9cf9
P.S. For all who called me an Islamist, grow up!
You have to read latest fahmy's article:
ReplyDeletehttp://fahmyhoweidy.blogspot.com/2012/11/blog-post_14.html