The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 led to the end of Muhammad Ali Dynasty in Egypt and Sudan. Every end will have a new beginning, which lead to Mohamed Naguib becoming the first President of Egypt for a short period of 1 year 5 months from 18th June 1953 to 14thNovember 1954. He was succeeded by Gamal Abdel Nasser who was the second President of Egypt for a span of 14 years from 23rd June 1956 to 28thSeptember 1970. He was succeeded by Anwar Sadat who was the third President of Egypt for a period of 11 years from 15th October 1970 to 6thOctober 1981. He was followed by Hosni Mubarak who as the fourth President of Egypt for a record period of 30 years from 14thOctober 1981 to 11thFebruary 2011. All the first four Presidents of Egypt established a pattern of military and dictatorial rule in Egypt, which lasted for a period of 58 years.
January 2011 witnessed protests against Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorial regime and his government, for a period of 15 days, from 25 January to 11 February 2011. It erupted in Cairo and spread all around Egypt calling for Hosni Mubarak’s resignation. Due to the massive protest, he announced he would not contest the presidential election due in September but this did not satisfy most protesters, who expected Mubarak to depart immediately and he had to step down due to huge public pressure.
Following the revolution that ousted President Mubarak, the Parliamentary Election of Egypt was held. When Khairat El-Shater was disqualified to fight the Presidential Election on the grounds that he had been released from prison the year before, Mohammad Morsi emerged as the new Muslim Brotherhood’s leader and was the presidential candidate of Freedom and Justice Party. Due to which he was also nicknamed ‘spare tyre’ in Arabic. He fought the first round of elections and secured 235 out of 508 seats with 37.5 % votes. Later he won the Presidential run-off elections with 51.7% of the vote. Mohammad Morsi went on to become the fifth President of Egypt and thus Egypt had their first truly democratically elected and the most educated President.
Mohammad Morsi was a Hafiz-e-Qur’an. Previously, he had served as Assistant Professor at California State University, Northridge from 1982 to 1985. Morsi, an expert on precision metal surfaces, also worked with NASA in early 1980s, helping to develop Space Shuttle engines. In 1985, Morsi quit his job at CSUN and returned to Egypt, becoming a professor at Zagazig University, where he was appointed head of the engineering department. Morsi was a lecturer at Zagazig University’s engineering department until 2010.
After becoming President, his wife Naglaa Ali Mahmoud was called ‘First Lady’. Responding to this, she said she did not want to be referred to as ‘First Lady’ but rather as ‘First Servant’ (of the Egyptian public). Mohammad Morsi also has 5 children.
All eyes were on his leadership and his Government Policy. After becoming President, the TIME Magazine had a cover story on him with the title ‘THE MOST IMPORTANT MAN IN THE MIDDLE EAST’. Under his leadership the new constitution was drafted by a constituent assembly with representation from various groups. The new constitution was then submitted to the people for vote. After people approved of the new constitution with 64% votes, it was signed into a law. He would also openly declare in his speeches that the Qur’an would be the constitution.
With respect to the Christians in Egypt, he said that “They are certainly just as Egyptian as I am, and have as much a right to this homeland as I do.” He said freedom of religion is a right granted by Allah and Shari’ah commands Muslims to respect the rights of non-Muslim compatriots.
When Mohammad Morsi came to power, the enemies of Islam were not happy seeing him in power as he stood for peace, justice and freedom. Strong efforts were made and huge amount of money was spent to cause problems in his administration by influencing and controlling the deep state with the help of various bureaucrats. Artificial scarcity of fuel was also created so that the public would panic and would fear a rise in prices. People were asked to come out and protest with the help of various local bodies in order to destabilise the Government. All these issues led to various economic issues. Finally General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi with the help of military removed Mohammad Morsi from office through a coup.
Mohammad Morsi along with various top leaders of Muslim Brotherhood was arrested. Various false allegations were levelled against him, stating that he was involved in the violence outside the Presidential Palace in December 2012, acquitted of murder in the deaths of protesters, worked with Hamas (Muslim Organisation in Palestine) and shared state secretes with Hamas and Qatar. With these false chargers, the Egyptian prosecutors sought the death penalty, which was later overturned as he had been in prison for the past six years.
On 17 June 2019 Mohammad Morsi collapsed during a court hearing and later died. Reports suggested that it was a full-fledge planned murder. He had serious health issues, including diabetes and liver and kidney disease. His health had deteriorated significantly since his imprisonment as he was not provided with adequate medical care and compounded by the poor conditions in jail were the cause of his death. His death in custody is also a representative of Egypt’s inability to treat prisoners in accordance with both Egyptian and international laws. His contribution to Egypt and Islam was recognised worldwide, his death was mourned and Muslims offered absentee funeral prayer (Salat al-Gha’ib) across the world.
Mohammad Morsi was a man who was successful in every sphere of his life. Professionally he did so well that he was with NASA in the early 1980s, helping to develop Space Shuttle engines. Personally he was a very humble person and had a religious wife and five children. He was an active member of Muslim Brotherhood as well. When he was made the Presidential candidate of ‘Freedom and Justice Party’, he went on to win the election with meticulous planning and hard work. After becoming the President of Egypt he gave his 100% to serve the people of Egypt and follow the command of Allah. He must have died but his life and achievements will always be alive as an inspiration to the people of Egypt and Muslims across the world.
Mohammad Morsi will always remain an inspiration for Muslims across the world. His patience in the jail should remind us about the patience of Prophet Yusuf and Prophet Ayub. His administration would remind us about the administration of Prophet Dawood and Prophet Sulaiman. His sacrifice reminds us about the sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim. Finally, his struggle to make the Qur’an the constitution of Egypt reminds us about the struggle of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him), Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali who ruled the state by the law of the Qur’an. He was a man who was a living example of the Prophets and the Caliphs of Islam.
Let us convert this situation into an opportunity. The death of Mohammad Morsi should be used as an opportunity to introduce Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimoon) and all other Islamic Movements, which are working around the world, to the Muslim community. This is also an opportunity to introduce various personalities like Hassan al-Banna, Syed Qutub, Maulana Maudoodi and others who have contributed significantly towards the growth and development of Islamic Movement across the world and encourage people to be a part of Allah’s cause.
Incidents like this should not demoralise but should motivate and inspire us to struggle and strive in the way of Allah with much more zeal and enthusiasm. One day, if we encounter a similar situation, we should be ready to sacrifice our life in the way of Allah. Mohammad Morsi might have died but his Massive Mission would continue. One Morsi died, but we need to ensure that many more Morsis will be born to take the Mission of Islam forward.