In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Your Excellences and Eminences,
Dear brothers and sisters
God’s peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you!
I am honored to stand before this congregation as a representative of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and its president, renowned scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi who was keen on attending but was not able to due to an emergency. I will have the pleasure to speak on behalf of the union, and pray that this conference will be a fruitful and effective beginning for practical steps to defend our nation, and the oppressed everywhere.
Brothers and sisters,
Our Muslim nation in this twenty first century is passing through a very critical stage, witnessing the return of dictatorship, military coups, killing, torture, the humiliation of humans, usurping their rights, killing them barbarically, burning them, and treat the dead in a degrading manner devoid of fear of the creator or shame before fellow creatures. This is what we have witnessed in the beloved Egypt, in Rabia, Al-Nahda, and other massacres as well as the holocausts in Sinai, Delja, and Kerdasa. In Syria, we observed atrocious, shameful massacres and slaughters that would [as the Arabic saying and Quranic expression goes] make a newborn grey-haired. Internationally banned weapons in all their types and forms were used, resulting in the death of around 200,000 martyrs, leaving hundreds of thousands either wounded or detained, destroying four thousand schools, causing five million refugees to be displaced outside the country, while another seven million refugees remain inside.
This, in addition to grave violations against our Burmese brothers in Myanmar, in Bangladesh and other countries of our Muslim world.
Even more seriously, the Zionist enemy has utilized these circumstances to its own benefit and reaped the fruits of all these troubles with the destruction of strong Arab armies in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt working to the best interest of the enemy. The destruction of chemical weapons is another wish of the enemy’s; the destruction of institutions, nations and the creation of destructive chaos are all to the benefit of the enemy.
In light of this situation, the god-knowing scholars of our nation must fulfill their duty clarified by Allah Almighty in the verses mentioning {[God praises] those who convey the messages of God and fear Him and do not fear anyone but God. And sufficient is God as Accountant.}. This duty is rather a duty for all the Muslim nation, particularly parliamentarians, rights activists, politicians, media professionals and people of similar influence. Hence, the call for this conference comes in the appropriate time and falls within the fulfillment of these obligatory duties, may Allah reward all those who contributed to this effort.
Ladies and gentlemen,
What has taken place in Egypt is not simply a military coup against the legitimate president but is a coup against all Islamic, human, democratic, and constitutional values and principles. It is a crime against the people’s right to freedom, justice, dignified living, willpower and choice. It is a coup against the January 2011 revolution of the great Egyptian people against oppression and tyranny, and against the rule of Hosni Mubarak that spread corruption in the land. This coup, however, restored Hosni Mubarak and his aides only in a more vehement form, as the killing, burning, arrests, humiliation, and destruction carried out under the coup exceed the measures carried under the military rule throughout sixty years or more.
Hence, the case of Egypt and attempts to copy the scenario in all Arab Spring countries are not only an Egyptian affair but are an Arab, Islamic and human issue. Based on this understanding, all Muslim Egyptians and others who share the same religious and human values must unite and work against this coup that has violated all sanctities of the living and the dead, of mosques and churches as well as people’s sanctities. Should this coup be allowed to dominate, everyone would most certainly come to regret it but only when it’s too late.
It is also an Arab issue, considering the great Egyptian role throughout history and the fact that the security of all countries is indivisible. In the past, pre-Islamic Arabs stood in the face of injustice, tyranny, and discrimination against the weak in the pact known as Helf Al-Fodool about which Prophet Muhammad said "If I were to be invited to it in Islam, I would accept it”.
It is also an Islamic cause since Islam urges Muslims to act like a unified body, should one organ suffer an illness, the rest would aches with sleeplessness and fever. Human dignity and rights are undoubtedly sacred in Islam as Allah Exalted Be He says {And We have certainly honored the children of Adam} so much that the killing of one innocent person is graver in God’s scale than the bringing down of the holy Kaaba one brick at a time.
Consequently, all Muslims should fulfill their duty of protecting the nation, fending off dangers and preventing violations anywhere as Prophet Muhammad says that "Muslims are equal in their blood, and their pledge [of protection] applies even from the lowest ranking among them”.
It is also a human cause since we, humans, are brothers to our greatest grandparents Adam and Eve and we all share a breath of God’s soul. This is why in the interpretation of the verse {And fear God, in whose name you ask one another, and the wombs.}, scholars say that the ‘wombs’ meaning the blood relations mentioned are those among humans.
A number of great human rights principles were firmly established throughout the world but were flagrantly violated in Syria, Egypt, Myanmar, Palestine and other places. Where is the role of honorable people in the world, then? And by honorable people we mean individuals, organizations, as well as human rights agencies and NGOs.
Brothers and sisters,
The security of the world is one, especially in our present era where the world has become a small town affected by all incidents in every spot. For that reason, all those concerned for humans must seek with all their effort to prevent assaults on humans, their humiliation, and the appropriation of their rights and freedoms. In so doing, they will serve themselves, their nations, and all humanity as the Quran reminds that according to Allah {And the earth He laid [out] for creatures.}.
We are all questionable before God, then before our nation and the coming generations about what we do in the face of the coup against legitimate authority, against democracy, and against principles and values. We will be asked about what we do to stop tyrannical dictators in Syria and Myanmar, and facing the usurping occupation in Palestine. This is the question we all have to answer in this life before we stand before our creator in the scene where God says {And stop them; indeed, they are to be questioned.”}.
Based on this, and in order for our blessed conference to be a practical and positive step forward, I make to you the following proposals:
First: forming an international committee to defend rights, freedoms, democracy, fight coups against the legitimacy and their promoters. The committee should include rights activists, parliamentarians, human rights organizations, and civil society organizations. It should also be an umbrella for specialized, branching committees and have an office in all countries where the possibility is available.
Second: a specialized intellectual committee to study Arab Spring revolutions that would be entitled to hold conferences and workshops for the purposes of evaluation, rationalization, and enlightenment.
Third: establishing an international fund for the victims of the coup that comprises the families of martyrs and detainees, and sees to the treatment of the wounded. The legal status of such fund would be arranged in all transparency, and we at the union are willing to contribute to such fund.
Fourth: an international media committee that encompasses honorable media figures in the whole world whose mission would be to clarify the truth, expose the coup and its crimes in Egypt as well the crimes of dictators and tyrants heading despotic regimes in Syria and Myanmar and the crimes of usurping occupation in Palestine.
Fifth: and finally, it has become apparent in Egypt after the coup that some liberals participated in backing the coup against the rule of Morsi for whatever reasons, yet some of them came to realize that the coup is in fact against all representations of freedom and democracy, and hence started to strongly reject the coup together with a number of honorable Christians. Sadly enough, a similar course was witnessed from some of those counted as part of the Islamist movement who were driven by inter-party spite and other reasons to act similarly to the brothers of Prophet Yusuf – peace be upon him – who said {Kill Joseph or cast him out to [another] land; the countenance [i.e., attention] of your father will [then] be only for you, and you will be after that a righteous people.”}. But as the truth revealed its face, some of them rectified their position while others remained in their blind aberration.
To all those who share with us principles of freedom, human dignity, democracy, pluralism in politics, and respect of legitimacy, we propose holding a conference to discuss our "unified destiny” with the aim of gathering around one stance and agreeing on the Islamic and national core principles.
True Islam is a mercy to the worlds, and is all made up of truth and justice. And as our scholars have said, "wherever the interest is, there lies God’s Shariah rule”, and wherever the constant, consensual rules of Shariah are, there lies the true interest.
So let’s all unite before regret befalls us, and before we should say that we were devoured when we let the oppressor prey on the first victim.
Noble brothers and sisters,
We demand our nation to maintain the spirit of resistance to falsehood, the spirit of sacrifice, learning from experiences, and self-criticism without self-mutilation. We remind of the necessity of developing thought, of renovating reform methods and religious discourse, and giving an opportunity to young leaders following their complete preparation, devoting more attention to honest media and institutional thought.
In the conclusion, and while we’re in this good country, the country of grandeur and beauty, Turkey, we can only express our abundant gratitude to this great country with its people, government, and presidency for sponsoring this conference, and for Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his honorable stances, may Allah protect him and grant him the rectitude of steps.
We thank the Vice President for his presence and generous word.
We further express our gratitude for international organizations and countries that showed honorable initial stances against the coup like Turkey, Qatar and all countries that stood against oppression, killing, discrimination, and occupation in Syria, Palestine, Myanmar and other countries. Our gratitude extends to outstanding media that spared no effort in clarifying the truth and standing against oppression like Aljazeera and free, honest, satellite channels as well as the organizers of this conference and the distinguished attendees.
May you constantly be in God’s care and protection!
God’s peace, mercy, and blessings be with you
Dr. Ali Mohyi Al-Deen Al-Qaradaghi
IUMS Secretary General