Al-Sisi's dreams of divine intervention

Information has surfaced that Egypt’s Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has had several dreams which “revealed” that he would one day be President of Egypt. This revelation was exposed through a “leaked” interview in which Al-Sisi claimed that he has frequent dreams, many of which have come true. He claims to have had premonitions, some from as long as 35 years ago, and that he stopped talking about these dreams in 2006.

In this “leaked” interview with the journalist Yasir Rizq from Al-Masry Al-Yaum, after he was assured that it would not be made public at the time of interview, he talked about four of these dreams.

Dream One:

Al-Sisi: “35 years ago I saw myself holding a sword with ‘la ilaha illa Allah’ [There is no God but Allah] written on it in red.”

For a field marshal or any man in the armed forces who has spent his life in the forces, observing the sword is not abnormal. The field marshal’s first dream about the sword with the Islamic declaration of faith could be related to his career in the forces and his devotion to it.

The declaration of faith on the sword may relate to how he perceives himself as a devout Muslim. It is easy to attract and win over the simple Egyptian person by resonating to them the depiction of oneself as a religious hero. It implies that he sees himself waging a holy war in Egypt.

Analysts have interpreted Al-Sisi’s dream meaning the holder of the sword will be in charge or lead a force that will kill those who believe in that very declaration. The latter occurred when, on August 14 last year, Al-Sisi carried out the biggest massacre in recent history, killed thousands of peaceful protesters who stood in Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in Cairo calling for democracy and the return of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

Dream Two:

Al-Sisi: “On my hand I found I was wearing a watch. The watch had a very big green star on it. It was an Omega watch. People were asking me ‘Why you [who has this watch]?’ and I tell them this watch is in my name, its Omega and I am Abdel-Fattah. So I put together Omega, the world with Abdel-Fattah.”

Omega watches are a well-known luxury Swiss watch, reserved for the elite of most societies. For Al-Sisi it appears to be an object that defines him and raises his status, as well as hinting at a man driven by materialistic rewards. Furthermore, by claiming he was in the possession of such a watch, he would be able to win over the simple Egyptian man.

The green star in the dream may be interpreted as the world. Collectively, Al-Sisi through this dream may be trying to tell the Egyptians that he is special and unique like this Omega watch.

Dream Three:

Al-Sisi: “In my third dream I am told ‘You will be given what we have never given to anyone before you’, to be President of the Republic [Egypt].”

The Egyptian presidency was given to four others before him, thus the presidency is not a unique endowment. In his narration, Al-Sisi doesn’t refer to a person or source but only a vague “they”, which may be perceived or understood to imply divine choice or intervention.

Dream Four:

Al-Sisi: “I was talking to Sadat [the former president of Egypt], he told me ‘I knew I was going to be the president of the Republic’ and I replied: ‘And I know I’m going to be the president of the Republic’.”

Sadat was accepted nationally and internationally during his era, the latter was particularly due to his relations with Israel. Moreover, Al-Sisi may relate more with Sadat’s personality than Gamal Abdul Nasser, who Al-Sisi idolises and also fought the Muslim Brotherhood intently and mercilessly.

Al-Sisi, like Sadat, has a slow mild tone when he speaks and has demonstrated his strong ties with Israel, who similarly hold Al-Sisi in high regard and were the first to congratulate and welcome the military coup on July 3, 2013.

This last dream was the final act in the series of dreams, where the scene was being gradually set in order for Al-Sisi to say that he will be the president. Collectively and in order, Al-Sisi may be trying to tell Egyptians that he is the hero, the special one, the divinely chosen one… he will be president.

Al-Sisi lacks the demeanor and physique of a hero, but his dreams resonate his wish and desire to be depicted as such. It would be easy to make simpletons believe such a conclusion considering how the dreams were relayed and worded.

Al-Sisi has demonstrated numerous times in public appearances that he is not a very confident person, both in terms of his speech, where he very often hesitant, searching for words and frequently repeats or contradicts himself; or in terms of his outer appearance where he often covers his eyes with black sunglasses or brings his military cap down over his forehead.

The dreams with the perception Al-Sisi wants to portray to the public, along with his stronghold on the Egyptian media which have infused Al-Sisi-fever across the country, force Egyptians to insist that Al-Sisi is made president and rules the land.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.