Oh Brotherhood.....

The clashes in Cairo are starting again and hundreds of people's lives are being sacrificed all because no one wants to listen. One cannot understand what is on that presidential seat that makes every man that ever sat on it incapable of getting off it by any reason other than death or international embarrassment. After January 25th, egyptians breathed a sigh of relief when the democratic process of electing a leader took place. Campaigns were set up, debates took place, flyers were passed out, bribes placed in all the right places and egyptians finally felt that for once the future of their country was in their hands. Lo and behold, we were faced with the problem that our long time allies faces, choosing between the lesser of two evils as does the US every four years. One candidate was from the old regime; a very well spoken politician who knows exactly what to say and when to say it, Ahmed Shafik was seen as the return of the anti-christ. Whilst the other side of the coin found a man who has no political abilities, no knowledge outside the sphere of his PhD, Mohamed Morsy was literally incapable of formulating a sentence when he sent his beloved message to egyptians abroad.

Dear God, what has this world come to? Please keep Egypt safe!

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we find ourselves back to square one, Morsy has secured his rear end to the presidential seat and is clearly not going anywhere anytime soon. It's as if they use crazy glue on that seat! History has a funny habit of repeating itself, and so here we are again in the midst of another frustrated revolution 2.0 hoping that he will get the point and vamoose! With the brotherhood backing him though, a religious group that has been preparing for the day it would take over Egypt since its indoctrination by Hassan El-Banna, I am very sceptical that he will get the point.

I'm on the fence when it comes to the brotherhood, although I'm not sure whether religion and politics should mix. They are an extremely organized group who know what they want and have the patience to strike at the right time and not in a haphazard manner. Thus, the reason for their success, unlike other factions of religion or politics, they plan and stick to it.

For the time being, one can only hope that the lives of innocent people will be spared, we need to take a moment and listen to one another and see how we can cooperate. It's funny because both the protestors and the brotherhood have somewhat the same goal in mind, the betterment of Egypt. So, why can't we work together?

A Tale of Two Countries.

The Arab Spring took many of the international world by storm, literally. Millions sat in baited breath as mass populations took to the streets in protest against their oppressing government, in countries that many in the West thought would never speak up. What began with Mohamed Bouazizi protesting against the injustices of his government and their mistreatment towards him flared across the Middle East and North Africa as millions of people followed suit and demanded a change. Among all the countries that participated in this great movement, two countries stood out among all the rest. Although I targeted them for different reasons, Egypt and Syria still remain an anomaly among all the Arab Spring participants. Let us take a look as to why this is.

Egypt began it's revolution on January 25th 2011 through the greatest use of social networking the world has ever seen. A Facebook event was created out of growing frustrations from local egyptians who were tired of the blatant corruption taking place in their beloved country. Safe to say that the government never really thought this movement would amount to what it amounted to, they began their takedown of the protesters through a series of violent attacks. I must stop and note that, as an egyptian myself, I've always said that we were a very particular people among the other arab nations. Not only is our geographic location and rich history the reason why so many tourists find themselves Egypt-bound all year around, we are also a very self-sustaining population. We truly have our own way of doing things that differs from the rest of our neighbours and that's what makes this uprising very different than the rest, the people themselves. Egyptians lived in Tahrir Square for two weeks until ex-President Mubarak stepped down from his post on February 11th 2011.

Now the other point that makes Egypt different than the other countries is the fact that Mubarak was formally tried after for his crimes against the people that once trusted him with their entire lives. Being president does not only mean a status symbol, as many have failed to understand, the position brings with it many responsibilities and towards a massive amount of people. Mubarak was eventually found guilty of premeditated murder of protestors among many other accusations for which he got a life sentence.

The other anomaly is still currently undergoing their revolution; Syria. The syrian uprising began shortly after the success of the egyptian people versus Mubarak. People took to the streets in hopes of ousting president Al-Asad because of a great deal of corruption and crimes against his people including murder and torture. He has yet to step down, he seems to think that he is not the problem and that the real issue lies in a grey zone that is outside his sphere of power and control, Sorry! Hundreds of people have lost their lives fighting for their freedom and yet he seems to feel that they are all wrong and that he is the rightful president of Syria. One can only hope and pray that he turns on his television set and realizes that his people will not listen to him anymore and will not stop until he is gone.

The reason why I felt I had to share this is because as an arab living in Canada, sometimes we need to stop and truly appreciate that which we have taken for granted. Across the Atlantic Ocean, egyptians and syrians sacrificed their lives for the ability to choose between more than one candidate in elections, to have freedom of speech and better living conditions. All of these are things that we have and yet we never will truly understand their value unless they are taken away from us one day. Take a moment and look around you at the life you're leading and instead of criticizing every mundane aspect of it, take it in and be thankful for the big picture. Be thankful for the simplicity with which we lead our lives and all the little things that fall through the cracks everyday. It is these little things that make the biggest difference in the end.

Divide & Conquer: The Great International Conspiracy

When all else fails, divide and conquer. 

Thus has been the thought process of many well-known tyrants and dictators. Simply place an idea in the masses, a seed strong enough to divide them, and sit back and watch as the destruction begins from within and the original goal of the group dissipates. 

Division among people has always taken place, borders are drawn and international waters are claimed, walls are built and bridges are burnt all because we were told not to like a certain people, religion or ideology. In this century, it seems we have gone back a multitude of years to a time when religion and ethnicity have become the dividing factor in our lives. 

An example of such: On my way home the other day, a lady sat in front of me on the bus reading the local newspaper. As she flipped through the pages skimming the latest celebrity gossip and other anecdotes, the article that caught her eye was about a statement the Iranian president had made recently and how absurd they are. I'm not a fan of Ahmedinejad and will not try to defend him at this point, my issue with this is the mention of Islam in vain. 

Divide and conquer. 

Now I know and fully understand that every time any terrorists undertook an attack they would mention the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and Allah and say that they were doing this to fight the infidels and to reap ultimate bliss in the Heavens above. This is the version of Islam I like to call theatrical and dramatic and completely false. If any one is to look into the religion, they will come to understand that these "Freedom Fighters" will most likely not benefit from much in the afterlife for many reasons. First of all, suicide is completely against Islam, we believe that our lives are in the hands of God and only He can decide when to take it. As muslims, we are asked to take up arms only when we are being attacked and not be the instigators. If a war does take place, we are told not to involve innocent people, this is not simply women and children but anyone who is not involved in the war. We are taught that if we are to approach people of a different religion that we must be kind to them, not aggressive, we should talk to them about Islam, provide them with the information they need and not push them in any way, especially violently. 

Instead a religion whose name is directly translated to Peace is being massacred in the media constantly by people who simply don't understand it. The teachings of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and of the Quran are being translated by people who don't care to understand the context and make it fit within the framework that they please. People are being spoon-fed false information by what they consider is a trustworthy source and are forming opinions on the wrong basis about an entire religion, it's mind-blowing.  

Again, divide and conquer.  

The factor that triggered all these thoughts in my head was that recently I had the honor of sitting in on an Orthodox Church congregation. Don't get me wrong, I've been to church congregations before and have read the Bible once as well but this particular time struck me a great deal. As I sat in the pieus and listened to the priest discussing heaven and hell and sins and good deeds, I couldn't help but find myself drawing many parallels between two of the three great religions of the earth today. 

He was discussing how God covers up our sins when we repent and how we must always be sure to repent and be sincere and never to go back to bad habits once we've done so. In return, God will cover up our sins because He does not wish to embarrass us by revealing our sins to others. He went further to discuss that we are creatures of fault and must fight our tendencies to stray from the right path and find our strength in God and trust Him with all our worldly affairs. I can safely say that Islamic teachings are exactly the same. I can challenge anyone to go and look at the right sources and they will see that these teachings were all mentioned in the Quran and in the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH).

United we stand, divided we fall.

If everyone was to simply stop for a moment and take a deeper look at what it is they were so adamantly deciding to hate, they would realize that our similarities are far greater than our differences. They would realize that there are so many similarities they will begin to question why they hated the other side in the first place. It doesn't matter by which name you or I call upon God, the point is we both do. We rejoice in happiness and cry in sadness and look to a higher power for help in both occasions, whether it's by reading verses of the Quran or the Bible or the Torah. When we are scared, we pray for help and safety, does it really matter that it's done in three different languages? The purpose is always one, please God help me, give me strength.

Stop looking to the media and television for information and start finding better sources and understand who lives on the other side of the border before you decide to hate them or even judge them. Understand that the divisions will cause us all to lose in the end, you can't defend yourself standing alone. If we come together and celebrate our similarities we will be invincible and only then will the world be a better place. Read a book, talk to the neighbours, open your minds and be as children are when they come together, curious and welcoming of one another.