On Friday, Apr 20, Ikhwan, and other good people of Egypt, came out on Tahrir Square, Cairo, a million strong to jump start their teetering Democracy Revolution. They were “demanding” the Egyptian Military Council SCAF keep its promise of handing over power to civilian representatives of the Egyptian People by the end of June, and return to barracks.
The Ikhwan – and the great Egyptian People – must beware of the enemy.
Ikhwan, and the good Egyptian People, must take all possible steps to protect their best people from being picked off – killed – by their enemies, domestic as well as foreign.
Besides, those who have enjoyed unrestrained power for close to a century don’t hand over power to their victims just for the asking. It is not human nature to do so. Pharaoh did not do it. The Kuffar of Quraish did not do it. Hitler and his hordes did not do it. Power is wrested from their hands, one finger at a time. That is what revolutions are all about.
Ask those who did the American Revolution – in 1776. And ask those who, soon thereafter, in 1789, did the French Revolution. Ask Thomas Paine. He was in both America and France. And he played an active role in both revolutions. Paine was perhaps the only man in all of human history to have played an active role in two colossal, global, epochal revolutions, one sharp on the heels of the other.
EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION
The peaceful Egyptian Democracy Revolution of Feb 25, 2011, is one such global, colossal, epochal revolution in the making, if its proponents can make it work. And if the main architects of this revolution such as the Ikhwan and the great Egyptian People will not fold supinely in the face of enemy machinations and deceit to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Ikhwan of Egypt are good people. They are also some of the most wronged people in the world. They are some of the most brutally and mercilessly oppressed people – Mazloom – on earth. They were, at least from 1940 till now, subjected to some of the worst torture, terror, abuse, persecution and atrocities ever devised by man.
Ask them how many hundreds of thousands of their men and women were in jail for how many thousand cumulative years of jail time. Just ask that question and get those numbers. And then – if you are a thinking, feeling, civilized human being – hang your head in shame and cry.
THEIR LOVE FOR EGYPT
And ask for what reason? Why were the Ikhwan persecuted in the inhuman and barbaric way they were? Why were the Ikhwan made to suffer the way they did? What was their crime? Was it their excessive love for Egypt?
Was it wanting to see Egypt and Egyptian People free? Was it wanting to help every Egyptian man, woman and child to be the best they can be? Was it wanting to remove illiteracy, poverty and disease from Egyptian society forever? Was it wanting to remove all manners of injustice, corruption and cruelty from the face of Egyptian soil and replace them with justice, fairness, care and compassion for all, Muslim as well as non-Muslim? Were these the crimes of the Ikhwan for which they were butchered and brutalised with the ferocity they were and for the length of time they were?
OR WAS ISLAM THEIR CRIME?
Or was their crime Islam, pure and simple? Did the crime of the Ikhwan consist of this overpowering hankering they had to take the most beautiful message of Islam to every human being everywhere?
Or was the crime of the Ikhwan their desire to see the great Egyptian People live in peace, harmony and prosperity under the blissful shadow of Islam and its most beautiful and life-giving teachings? So, what exactly was the Ikhwan’s crime?
But now the Ikhwan are free, finally. At least it would appear to be so. At least for the time being. And I for one can’t help rejoicing – and feeling great. And I say Alhamdulillah! Thank God Almighty, I say, the Ikhwan are free.
In the process of finally winning their own freedom, the Ikhwan helped the great Egyptian People win a great big revolutionary victory of their own against the barbaric Military Dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak and his corrupt Military Establishment. The Ikhwan helped to break the chains of bondage and oppression that bound the great Egyptian People for so long.
ENEMY IS HATCHING PLOTS
But their enemies have not given up. They are busy hatching plots. That is their nature. Their enemies are doing what the Qur’ān says people like that do: engage in great big conspiracies – Wa makaroo makran kubbaaraa. Conspiracies so big and sweeping that they would move mountains from their place: Wa in kaana makruhum li-tazoola minhul jibaal.
Among the plans and plots of their enemies are assassinations, quite likely, of people like Dr. Mohammad Beltaji, Dr. Mohammad Mursi, Mr. Khairat Shaater and other prominent, capable, dynamic, charismatic, effective stalwarts of the Ikhwan.
Killings and assassinations are the enemy’s stock in trade. They are the big-ticket items in the Devil’s Playbook. The entire history of Islam and Muslims – the Hijri Calendar – begins with the nefarious Assassination Plot against Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. And that Assassination Plot was skilfully presided over and shaped by none other than the Devil himself, who came to the meeting wearing the disguise of a venerable Shaikh from the Najd region in the Arabian Peninsula.
Muslims – good Muslims – did not really learn many practical lessons from this great big conspiracy to assassinate Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. They often let their best men fall at will. They were too busy practising and preaching Sabr (patience and forbearance) to themselves and to the surviving victims of enemy plots. As a result, Muslims – good Muslims in particular – have a very bad track record of protecting their best people. The Ikhwan could not protect Hasanal Banna then. They could not protect Dr. Imad Iffat now, even though he was more a man from Al-Azhar than Ikhwan. But the Ikhwan should not fail to protect the likes of Beltaji and Mursi and Shater and Askar – and others – in future.
TAKE IRON-CLAD PROTECTIVE STEPS
That means there should be an iron-clad protective cordon of the best men around their best people at all times. And those who have any reason to get close to these people must be thoroughly searched and carefully watched. Everything and every place must be meticulously swept for all manners of explosive devices. Their food and drink must be checked for poison.
Does anyone know if Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not poisoned or otherwise subjected to some health-altering, cancer-inducing chemical intervention, when he had to undergo stomach surgery twice in a row some months ago?
This is not to preach paranoia, even though a judicious dose of paranoia never hurt those in the public eye, especially those fighting for important public causes against entrenched powerful enemies.
This is merely an open invitation for unceasing and unfailing vigilance. For, that is what Islam is: ceaseless and tireless vigilance at all times. What do you think that noble Hadith is all about: Laa yuldaghul Mu’minu min juhrin waahindin marrataini – a believer never falls for the same trick twice? Meaning, while Muslims watch, the enemy often picks off their best brains, minds and souls. And then the Muslims blame everyone but themselves.
HADITH SHARIF ON THE SUBJECT
So what do you think that Hadith Sharif was all about that says a Mu’min was supposed to be “Kayyis” and “Fatin” – ever vigilant and sharp like a razor blade? While good Muslims are generally a trusting people – almost naively so – their enemies are anything but naïve. They are seasoned practitioners of their diabolical craft of intrigue and assassinations, and they are evil.
They have no scruples of any kind, moral or legal. And they are never short of resources or expertise or mercenaries to put their evil plots into action. And they work in cahoots with each other. Ba’duhum awuliyaa-u ba’d, says the Qur’ān.
The noble Hadith of Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, says: “Tie the camel first and then entrust him to God’s care and protection.” The good Muslims are generally careless, indifferent and unprepared. They are too often surprised by their enemies. And then when the worst happens, the good Muslims put it on Allah. It was all Allah’s will, they say.
Of course, everything comes from Allah. Of course, it is Allah’s will. Of course, those who are killed and assassinated unjustly and unfairly are Martyrs – and they will absolutely, positively go to Paradise. That is God’s promise to them. But that is not the point.
THE POINT IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE
The point is eternal vigilance, not a headlong rush to martyrdom. The point is what were you doing when the enemy was plotting and cooking conspiracies – as the Qur’ān so explicitly warns that he would and does? What protective measures did you take to prevent an assassination?
What ideas did you develop to anticipate an attack and forestall and foil it when it came about?
Those are all questions Allah will ask – the good Muslims.
Good Muslims must be highly security conscious and do everything in their power to protect themselves and their own best people. For, the job of the good Muslims is not to throw away their lives but to honour them, and to protect them, and to hold on to them as best as they can. And for as long as they can.
For, the lives of good Muslims are precious. They should only surrender them to the highest bidders – and that too after they have taken all necessary and possible steps to protect themselves. But the good Muslims forget that it is their job to be vigilant. And to be prepared at all times. And to take steps to protect themselves and their best people as much as they can. The Qur’an is clear on these matters.
So is the noble Hadith of Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. And so is every experience from life. For, life only toes the line laid down by the Qur’an on the one hand and by the Noble Hadith on the other hand.