Post by maruf on Sept 9, 2004 12:01:11 GMT -5
From my last trip to the land where Islaam once ruled, I would have to say that this travel log is very similar to what I found and experienced, although mine was worse in the sense that there is great fear and apprehension to mention Khilafah by the people and the Western influence is very dominant among the youth.
The statement of what the Husband said to his wife who wants khilafah is a bit common in some, they do not believe khilafah could ever return and certainly do not put the effort to help it, out of disbelief and out of fear.
was-salaam
Br. Ma'ruf
Travel log - Egypt
uploaded 05 Sep 2004
As night falls the Sahara lights up. Looking from the window of an Airbus 420, the desert stretches into the distance with thousands of street lamps and lanterns in hundreds of villages and homes mirroring the starry sky. As the plane descends to the military airbase now being used as a makeshift commercial airport for Alexandria, I have a sense of excitement. What will be found in this, so many times great, land?
Landing in a military base, it’s hard to believe that they have heard of the “war on terror!” Passengers walked off the plane and out into the open air with a brief passport check and an occasional look into a bag. Passing through the airport, there were about 20 young men waiting to carry the bags of only 40 passengers. The tip expected hadn’t changed in the last 15 years of my visiting there and equated to about a quarter of a Euro. With two flights arriving there each day, it’s a mystery how any of them could support themselves, let alone their families.
Egypt is a country of stark opposites. While Islam forms the societal environment and the basis of many thoughts, every corruption can be found in almost every part of the country.
In Alexandria, year by year the proportion of women choosing to wear Islamic dress has increased until now it is relatively rare to see women not wearing a khimar. The building of mosques has continued and almost every salat is well attended. An outbreak in the learning of Islamic knowledge has taken hold amongst all generations. Lessons in mosques are winning wide attendance, scholars are becoming celebrities and people are looking for answers in Islam particularly in their personal lives.
Simultaneously, the youth look westward to Europe and America. They also look eastward to the Gulf and to China. The abundance of people in this ancient land far exceeds the jobs, and money, available to them. Every person knows that a decent wage and a secure life, while achievable in Egypt, is much more accessible elsewhere. So the youth, while they love their homes, long to flee them.
"The problem with Egyptians is that they can’t live in Egypt, but hate to live outside Egypt,” a middle aged man mused over a late night coffee in a built up Alexandrian district. “If they stay, their lives are made miserable, and if they leave, they miss home.” That’s if they can leave of course.
The westward gaze does not end with jobs, security and the avoidance of corruption. It also rests upon the liberal nature and modernity of Western societies. This liberalism and modernity comes to Egypt in the form of resorts at Sharm El Sheikh and the tourist centres of Cairo. Alcohol, rarely seen in most of the country, flows freely in these resorts and the conservative dress of Egyptian society makes way for topless beaches and indecency. Such is the contrast that can be found within Egypt today.
The youth, for their part, find themselves at the centre of a tug of war. On the one hand, Islam and its truth is a common thought that forms a strong unavoidable undercurrent. And the youth do not seek to avoid it.
At the same time liberalism, democracy and a desire for modernity seem to tug from the opposite direction.
As for the youth, they cannot take either path in Egypt today. Islam is a dangerous pass time. It is fine to pray, fast, and hold good character which many do. It is even acceptable to study and learn from the accepted scholars, on an academic level. What is not acceptable in Egyptian society today is to take this knowledge and piety, and seek to modify the Egyptian Republic according to it. Therefore, this piety and knowledge becomes an exercise in futility because either it is abandoned in practice, in favour of the accepted secular Egyptian laws, or it is called for, which risks imprisonment and reprisals against family and friends.
Taking the other side, ignoring Islamic maxims is equally unacceptable. Conservative as the society is, ignoring Islam and its principles would ostracise a person from his or her community.
With the wave of Islamic sentiment racing across Egypt in recent years, a precarious situation has arisen. As the youth learn more about their way of life, the gulf between Islamic methodology and current reality becomes more apparent. However, any attempt to modify this situation is seen as leading to certain self-destruction.
On top of all of this, there is a palpable sense of injustice over the recent events in Iraq and Palestine. This only further pushes people towards Islam as they ponder over the solutions for the current predicaments.
Put together, Egyptian youth are in an unenviable position. Angry at the continuous bombardment against Muslim targets, plagued by economic insecurity, increasingly educated about Islam with no way to express themselves or change the situation, the youth have one clear and widely adopted solution. That is, not to think about it. Denial is the number one solution. Every other path is seen as leading to nothing but insanity.
The youth in Egypt today are in metaphorical chains. Islamic concepts such as unity, the obligation of hukm shar’i and the unacceptability of foreign occupation in Iraq and Palestine are widely held, and form the dominant public opinion. They are also nothing more than theory and are separated from practise. Meanwhile, other thoughts confuse these correctly held opinions. While it is widely accepted that the Muslim Ummah should be unified and that this will give it strength, this is complicated with the belief that unity is not possible.
“The Arabs never won a single battle on the basis of them being Arab,” an Alexandrian doctor reasoned. “The Arabs were only ever successful under Islam.”
“How can we be unified with the other Arabs,” interjected a mechanical engineer. “They are not true Muslims. The Gulf Arabs only care about their money. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) gave them money and took away their brains. The Jordanians were treacherous to the Palestinians and the Iraqis. The Iraqis are occupied and are mainly Shia and the Syrians have no power to do anything. Turkey wants to be European more than it wants Islam. If Egypt acts, it will act alone and America will crush her.”
Thus, the Egyptian youth choose to say nothing and to do nothing. They shun thoughts of the reality and what it should be and prefer to concentrate on their personal lives.
“You can criticize anyone except Mubarak and his sons,” one young man said over a shisha on the beach. “That is the freedom of speech that we have here.”
None of this is to say that the people do not long for something else. Khilafah is rarely talked about but there are few who deny the theory of its being preferable, even obligatory. “Ya Rabb,” one young sister said. “Khilafah would be true unity, the true way of Islam.”
“But it is impossible,” added her husband, a Cardiologist from upper Egypt. Such comments are unfortunately a recurring theme in discussions about the Khilafah.
To a person, I did not find one who did not agree that Khilafah would be the best thing for the Muslims of the world. But how could it be achieved? Many could not see a way, in Egypt at least.
What should be realised is that the Khilafah is a political system that is within the reach of Egypt and many other nations. However, it requires a fundamental shift in the mentality of the people. Rather than fear, apprehension and avoidance, courage and strength is required of the people en mass. Rather than academia devoid of practice, the people must now employ their knowledge and seek to have it implemented. They must call on their scholars, community and military leaders, to support that which they all know to be right and together, they can make a change in Egypt for the betterment of the whole world.
The people of Egypt should know that there are many in the Gulf, in Jordan, in Al Sham, in Turkey, in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent as well as Europe and America who would support them in every step that they take towards the establishment of Islam on the Earth and that Allah would support them in all efforts that they make towards it. Our beloved Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam), Muhammed, established a state based on the revelation from Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) when no such state existed and it is his example that we must follow in a quest to emulate his success.
Let not reality be the basis of your thought. Rather let it be the subject of your thought in terms of how to change it.
Let not your objectives be restricted by the restrictions of those that should not have the right to restrict. Rather let them be moulded by the obligations Islam has placed upon you and a firm belief in the art of possibility.
Let not fear be a cause of inaction. Rather consider fear to be a sign that reality must be changed.
May Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) protect the Muslims, his deen and help us to enlighten mankind with the justice of His guidance.
Things will change. The only question is when and by whose hands.
Source: KCom Journal
The statement of what the Husband said to his wife who wants khilafah is a bit common in some, they do not believe khilafah could ever return and certainly do not put the effort to help it, out of disbelief and out of fear.
was-salaam
Br. Ma'ruf
Travel log - Egypt
uploaded 05 Sep 2004
As night falls the Sahara lights up. Looking from the window of an Airbus 420, the desert stretches into the distance with thousands of street lamps and lanterns in hundreds of villages and homes mirroring the starry sky. As the plane descends to the military airbase now being used as a makeshift commercial airport for Alexandria, I have a sense of excitement. What will be found in this, so many times great, land?
Landing in a military base, it’s hard to believe that they have heard of the “war on terror!” Passengers walked off the plane and out into the open air with a brief passport check and an occasional look into a bag. Passing through the airport, there were about 20 young men waiting to carry the bags of only 40 passengers. The tip expected hadn’t changed in the last 15 years of my visiting there and equated to about a quarter of a Euro. With two flights arriving there each day, it’s a mystery how any of them could support themselves, let alone their families.
Egypt is a country of stark opposites. While Islam forms the societal environment and the basis of many thoughts, every corruption can be found in almost every part of the country.
In Alexandria, year by year the proportion of women choosing to wear Islamic dress has increased until now it is relatively rare to see women not wearing a khimar. The building of mosques has continued and almost every salat is well attended. An outbreak in the learning of Islamic knowledge has taken hold amongst all generations. Lessons in mosques are winning wide attendance, scholars are becoming celebrities and people are looking for answers in Islam particularly in their personal lives.
Simultaneously, the youth look westward to Europe and America. They also look eastward to the Gulf and to China. The abundance of people in this ancient land far exceeds the jobs, and money, available to them. Every person knows that a decent wage and a secure life, while achievable in Egypt, is much more accessible elsewhere. So the youth, while they love their homes, long to flee them.
"The problem with Egyptians is that they can’t live in Egypt, but hate to live outside Egypt,” a middle aged man mused over a late night coffee in a built up Alexandrian district. “If they stay, their lives are made miserable, and if they leave, they miss home.” That’s if they can leave of course.
The westward gaze does not end with jobs, security and the avoidance of corruption. It also rests upon the liberal nature and modernity of Western societies. This liberalism and modernity comes to Egypt in the form of resorts at Sharm El Sheikh and the tourist centres of Cairo. Alcohol, rarely seen in most of the country, flows freely in these resorts and the conservative dress of Egyptian society makes way for topless beaches and indecency. Such is the contrast that can be found within Egypt today.
The youth, for their part, find themselves at the centre of a tug of war. On the one hand, Islam and its truth is a common thought that forms a strong unavoidable undercurrent. And the youth do not seek to avoid it.
At the same time liberalism, democracy and a desire for modernity seem to tug from the opposite direction.
As for the youth, they cannot take either path in Egypt today. Islam is a dangerous pass time. It is fine to pray, fast, and hold good character which many do. It is even acceptable to study and learn from the accepted scholars, on an academic level. What is not acceptable in Egyptian society today is to take this knowledge and piety, and seek to modify the Egyptian Republic according to it. Therefore, this piety and knowledge becomes an exercise in futility because either it is abandoned in practice, in favour of the accepted secular Egyptian laws, or it is called for, which risks imprisonment and reprisals against family and friends.
Taking the other side, ignoring Islamic maxims is equally unacceptable. Conservative as the society is, ignoring Islam and its principles would ostracise a person from his or her community.
With the wave of Islamic sentiment racing across Egypt in recent years, a precarious situation has arisen. As the youth learn more about their way of life, the gulf between Islamic methodology and current reality becomes more apparent. However, any attempt to modify this situation is seen as leading to certain self-destruction.
On top of all of this, there is a palpable sense of injustice over the recent events in Iraq and Palestine. This only further pushes people towards Islam as they ponder over the solutions for the current predicaments.
Put together, Egyptian youth are in an unenviable position. Angry at the continuous bombardment against Muslim targets, plagued by economic insecurity, increasingly educated about Islam with no way to express themselves or change the situation, the youth have one clear and widely adopted solution. That is, not to think about it. Denial is the number one solution. Every other path is seen as leading to nothing but insanity.
The youth in Egypt today are in metaphorical chains. Islamic concepts such as unity, the obligation of hukm shar’i and the unacceptability of foreign occupation in Iraq and Palestine are widely held, and form the dominant public opinion. They are also nothing more than theory and are separated from practise. Meanwhile, other thoughts confuse these correctly held opinions. While it is widely accepted that the Muslim Ummah should be unified and that this will give it strength, this is complicated with the belief that unity is not possible.
“The Arabs never won a single battle on the basis of them being Arab,” an Alexandrian doctor reasoned. “The Arabs were only ever successful under Islam.”
“How can we be unified with the other Arabs,” interjected a mechanical engineer. “They are not true Muslims. The Gulf Arabs only care about their money. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) gave them money and took away their brains. The Jordanians were treacherous to the Palestinians and the Iraqis. The Iraqis are occupied and are mainly Shia and the Syrians have no power to do anything. Turkey wants to be European more than it wants Islam. If Egypt acts, it will act alone and America will crush her.”
Thus, the Egyptian youth choose to say nothing and to do nothing. They shun thoughts of the reality and what it should be and prefer to concentrate on their personal lives.
“You can criticize anyone except Mubarak and his sons,” one young man said over a shisha on the beach. “That is the freedom of speech that we have here.”
None of this is to say that the people do not long for something else. Khilafah is rarely talked about but there are few who deny the theory of its being preferable, even obligatory. “Ya Rabb,” one young sister said. “Khilafah would be true unity, the true way of Islam.”
“But it is impossible,” added her husband, a Cardiologist from upper Egypt. Such comments are unfortunately a recurring theme in discussions about the Khilafah.
To a person, I did not find one who did not agree that Khilafah would be the best thing for the Muslims of the world. But how could it be achieved? Many could not see a way, in Egypt at least.
What should be realised is that the Khilafah is a political system that is within the reach of Egypt and many other nations. However, it requires a fundamental shift in the mentality of the people. Rather than fear, apprehension and avoidance, courage and strength is required of the people en mass. Rather than academia devoid of practice, the people must now employ their knowledge and seek to have it implemented. They must call on their scholars, community and military leaders, to support that which they all know to be right and together, they can make a change in Egypt for the betterment of the whole world.
The people of Egypt should know that there are many in the Gulf, in Jordan, in Al Sham, in Turkey, in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent as well as Europe and America who would support them in every step that they take towards the establishment of Islam on the Earth and that Allah would support them in all efforts that they make towards it. Our beloved Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam), Muhammed, established a state based on the revelation from Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) when no such state existed and it is his example that we must follow in a quest to emulate his success.
Let not reality be the basis of your thought. Rather let it be the subject of your thought in terms of how to change it.
Let not your objectives be restricted by the restrictions of those that should not have the right to restrict. Rather let them be moulded by the obligations Islam has placed upon you and a firm belief in the art of possibility.
Let not fear be a cause of inaction. Rather consider fear to be a sign that reality must be changed.
May Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) protect the Muslims, his deen and help us to enlighten mankind with the justice of His guidance.
Things will change. The only question is when and by whose hands.
Source: KCom Journal