Freedom Bulwark | Evil triumphs when good people do nothing

Is there a democratic awakening in Egypt?

                     It would be very hard to predicate the final political and religious outcome of a future constitution in Egypt. Consequently the establishment of legislative and executive branches in the Egyptian government could not be crystallized in the light of so many different ideologies. The cancellation of the emergency laws, which has been already confirmed by massive public polls, unveiled that democracy has its shortcomings when compared with its superior advantages. All underground and previously illegal organizations are now free to surface and practice its ideologies. Some espouse extreme religious ideologies while others believe in true anti-religious free democracies. The Salafies still believe in creating a government based on the Sharia, which, if succeeded, will drag Egypt to the dark ages practiced 1400 years ago, while the proponents of true democracy are advocating the establishment of a civil democratic government that should separate Religion from the political establishment. There are, of course, those who are advocating both systems by demanding a civil democracy with Sharia as a judicial reference, an obvious contradiction to democratic values. Furthermore the same groups are advocating the implementation of UN human rights which again negates very important items in the Sharia that prohibits the equality of women to men in certain practices such as in the legal system and inheritance laws. It is obvious to many observers that including the Sharia item and the human rights item in the same future constitution is designed to appeal to the general public by pulling the carpet from under the Salafies in any future elections. Let us not forget here that freedom under true democratic civil government was the main demand of the successful revolution.

        In a surprise move which tipped the balance toward true democracy and against the Salafies, Al-Azhar, the most powerful Islamic source on Sharia, held very successful meetings with intellectuals and pro-revolutionaries and came up with what is called as Al-Azhar document which advocates civil democracy which will be also adopted by Al-Azhar itself in electing the Al-Azhar officials, a move which was considered as an unprecedented move in the history of Al-Azhar ! Augmented greatly by such a relatively liberal move, the Moslem Brotherhood, which is considered the most powerful Moslem organization in the world, not only endorsed Al-Azhar Document, but went further by establishing a new organization that advocates civil democratic principles whose vice-president was a Christian. Some critics accused the brotherhood of deception in selecting the Christian vice-president to appeal to the Christian Coptics, but such an accusation does not hold any credibility when we realize that appealing to the majority Moslems would be more profitable in any future elections than catering to the Coptic votes. Furthermore one cannot ignore the public declaration made by the powerful Armed Forces Council supporting a civil government to be established by the principles of true democracy. Being the most powerful and influential government in the Middle East, all what transpires in Egypt will become a paradigm to many other countries in the area.

      These entire developments in Egypt could be explained by the realization that the Sharia which was prevailing in the past could no longer govern Moslems in the 21^st Century.