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Prosecuting the iconic figures and creating the skittish gazelle

March 24, 2015 at 12:36 pm

“Teach the lion the skittishness of the gazelle, and erase the lion’s history”

Yes, Mohammad Iqbal; yes, to the poet of Islam. You wrote this as part of your poetry book Zarb-i-Kalim (The Rod of Moses) decades ago, and today I am borrowing it from you, as it expresses my feelings exactly.

There are people who want Muslims to be “a skittish gazelle”, absent from the scene, and their present to be disconnected from their past and their heritage. They want them to forget that they are the descendants of lions so that they might only see the monstrosities of our time and the half-men. This makes it easier to guide them and herd them like cattle.

Who among us does not know Uqba ibn Nafi, the builder of Kairouan, the Islamic hero who was entrusted by the Caliphs to carry the flag in opening-up the regions? During the rule of Muawiya, Nafi led the Muslim army in opening the Arab Maghreb to Islam.

Who of us does not know of Salahuddin Ayubi, the man who liberated Al-Aqsa Mosque after it was captured and occupied by the Crusaders for over 100 years, during which time the call to prayer was not heard in the Holy City of Jerusalem? This was after the Crusaders defeated the Ubaid Fatimids in Egypt.

However, today, my great ancestors, honourable heroes all, and our national icons are being prosecuted. Indeed, the legacies of these great individuals are accused of encouraging violence and bloodshed.

I, along with others who care about the nation and its identity, are appalled by the decision made by Ibrahim Mahlab’s Ministry of Education in Egypt, brought to power by the coup, to remove some of the Arabic lessons taught from primary school to secondary school under the pretext of omitting topics that “urge violence and extremism”. The most prominent lesson to be cut out is the story of Salahuddin, along with two chapters of Uqba ibn Nafi’s biography.

I have said this before and I will say it again: Egypt’s Al-Sisi aims to eliminate the Islamic identity of the state. He kills and arrests scholars, closes down mosques, calls for the reconsideration of Islamic texts, gets cosy with the icons of corruption, and allies himself with the Zionists. Now he wants to raise our children in isolation from the nation’s Islamic legacy and identity.

To the biased people I say that if the icons of struggle and conquest who freed slaves from worshipping other people and guided them to worship God alone; who freed the people from various religions and guided them to the justice of Islam; and who freed the people from the limits of this earth, guiding them to the limitless hereafter: if such are considered to encourage violence and extremism, while they are in fact the ones who liberated our sanctities and delivered justice and truth while preventing oppression and violence, then do not mention the heroics of Ahmose, his wheels of war and wars against the Hyksos. Do not tell your children the story of Tuthmosis III, his empire, expansion, and wars. Do not boast about Alexander the Great, his connection between the East and the West, and his construction of Alexandria, the bride of the Mediterranean Sea. Do not reminisce about the positive effects that Napoleon’s campaign had on Egypt, and do not mention that it was the prelude to the construction of modern Egypt. Do not, in fact, talk about any of these individuals, for they all killed, fought, conquered and gained glory from their swords and the blood of others.

I even encourage you to destroy Salahuddin’s Citadel, as its existence will certainly remind generations of people of this “extremist” man whose mention plants thoughts of violence in the minds of the upcoming generations.

The war on identity has become clear and can only be hidden to those who are blinded by stubbornness. Where is the Egypt which we love actually heading?

Uqba ibn Nafi was a companion of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and was born during the time of the Prophet, although some scholars, including Imam Al-Thahabi and Ibn Abd al-Barr, have said that he was not. They say this because he did not meet all the requirements of companionship prescribed in the Sharia. Nevertheless, at the very least, he is considered to be one of the followers who lived in the best of centuries, and lived amongst the companions and were raised by them.

The attempt to cut the link between the icon figures of the Prophet’s time and the emerging generations coincides with the attempts by biased journalists such as Ibrahim Eissa to weaken and undermine the icons from the best centuries.

As for Salahuddin, he is a historical icon. His presence in the consciousness of emerging generations links them to Jerusalem, as the liberation of Jerusalem was one of his main goals. That is why his story has to be removed from the school books by those who would distort our identity.

If we look at how the Palestinian issue has been dealt with by the coup government, we can see clearly that Egypt has abandoned its adoption of the Palestinian cause. Instead, Al-Sisi and his government have become a burden to the cause, with the relationships between the coup leader and the Israeli government described as a “Catholic marriage”, as one of the coup’s leading figures also described US-Egypt relations.

We realise that the presence of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the minds of Egyptians will hinder normalisation with Israel, which requires the erasure Salahuddin’s identity due to its close link to Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, even though this is an issue clear to all of our nation.

Those who seek to destroy our connections to our history and the icon figures who forged it want future generations to believe that jihad is an extremist, terrorist project. They believe that in order for people to be tolerant of others, they must accept the fait accompli imposed by the forces of evil, and must seek to coexist peacefully with their enemies and the usurpers of their land and rights.

Stay tuned, as I am, for the prosecution of more of our nation’s great past and iconic figures. We can complain only to The Almighty.

Translated from arabi21.com

 

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