IUMS severely condemns massacres committed by police and army in Egypt, calls for halting genocide
All praise be to Allah and peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, God’s Messenger, upon his family, companions and followers;
As the voices of reasonable people in Egypt who cared for the safety of Egyptians and the Egyptian state called for dialogue and an honorable reconciliation to escape the bottleneck brought about by the coup against the constitutional legitimacy and democracy in Egypt, the world woke up at dawn today to a new massacre committed by the Egyptian Interior Ministry backed by army troops and thugs. The most atrocious crime throughout Egypt’s history was committed as the two peaceful encampments in El-Nahda and Rabea Al-Adaweya were stormed with live ammunition, teargas and cartridge with unprecedented intensity. Aircrafts were also used to snipe anyone pointing a camera and documenting the truth, poisonous, fiery gases were used against strikers, a universally unfamiliar manner to deal with these peaceful sit-ins. The operation came after these encampments continued for nearly fifty days in peaceful protests that gave a magnificent example of perseverance, discipline, and patience. The assault was carried out despite the legitimacy of the calls for restoring elected authorities and protecting the freedom and dignity earned by the Egyptian people by the blood of its martyrs and suffering of the glorious Jan 25 revolution victims.
They were protests guaranteed under all the world’s laws, constitutions, human rights conventions, freedoms, and international norms. They were protests praised and hailed by international delegations for their peacefulness and civilized nature starting from the African high level panel (referred to as Wise Men Committee), to the American and European delegations. With the exception of a minute group rejected by the Egyptian society in ballots, all honorable politicians, media personalities, men of law, opinion leaders, and civil society members among the Egyptian people praised and backed the legitimate demands of these protests. Yet this minority formed their alliance with greedy members of army officers in a clear betrayal for the pledges made of allegiance and protection for the security of the country, its stability, and democratic path attained by untainted blood and huge sacrifices following decades under a regime of tyranny, defeat, and backwardness.
Egypt’s history, or rather the history of humanity, will not forgive those soaked in blood and violations of honor, revering on banquets of hypocrisy of media and political figures who were until recently hollering and screaming slogans of freedom, democracy and human rights. Then these same figures reenact their hypocritical roles to justify the coup against legitimacy and crackdown on freedoms and overstepping human rights with such hateful fanaticism that spews stinky hatred and venom. It has come to the point that some of them – as satellite channels aired images of martyrs, shreds and rivers of blood before their eyes – would say that they only see tear gas and water cannons as if the noble blood of Egyptian men, women, children, innocent youth and their sacred souls turned in the hateful, spiteful, fanatic eyes of these beholders into mere gas and water.
The International Union of Muslim Scholars has long called for wisdom, reason, placing public interest above other considerations and resorting to dialogue as a civilized method of solving crises. It has long warned the use of violence, reminded of the sanctity of blood, and pleaded all sides in Egypt to shoulder their responsibility and makes sacrifices in order to salvage the people of Egypt, the cultural status of Egypt and its historical role by adopting a dialogue that stems from the legitimate revolutionary gains, constitutional invariables, and democratic achievements that were the fruit of the glorious Jan 25 revolution.
The IUMS, as it follows with pain and concern the assault of the Interior Ministry forces on the plazas of encampment and peaceful marches, declares what follows:
1- Calls all Egyptians in all their positions at this decisive moment of history, and calls all reasonable and free people in the world to take immediate initiatives to halt the massacres against civilian campers through peaceful struggle and protests.
2- Particularly urges the currently existing authorities in Egypt and honorable Egyptians among the Ministry of Interior and the Egyptian army, both individuals and officers, to immediately and without delay end the acts of killing and aggression committed against those innocent civilians under any claims.
3- Calls the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the African Union, the UN and other international organizations and human rights agencies to make speedy and serious steps to end the blood bath and violations of sanctities and freedoms committed by the perpetrators of the coup d’état in Egypt.
4- Calls rights organizations and freedom-defending activists in the world to file criminal cases before international courts to prosecute the perpetrators of the coup in Egypt who were involved in the killing of innocent people and violating freedoms and human dignity as well as their illegitimate government, media instigators, and the fake preachers of democracy.
5- The IUMS highly values the noble, amazing stances of all honorable people in Egypt of independent personalities, youth groups, and civil society organizations who stood by the truth, justice, and sound of conscience, especially the Conscience Front, Ultras Nahdawi and others who attempted to defend the constitutional legitimacy and protect the democratic gains.
6- The union is extremely regretful of the stances that failed the Egyptian people and their democratic gains in this ordeal facing the coup agents, especially from those expected to be the defenders of truth, freedom and legitimacy like the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar and other Islamic figures that the Egyptian people and Muslim conscience still hope that they return to truth and sensibility and side with the oppressed, the supporters of the Islamic legality, and constitutional, democratic legitimacy.
7- The union calls all Egyptians to step out of their homes together with their spouses, and mature, perceptive children to join the protesters, to double their numbers and avoid failing to join them unless they have an excuse that prevents them.
Such protest is an individual duty for them and is necessary to prove the strength of these protesters who will only face what God ordains on them, as no one will die before their preordained time.
The union calls the sincere citizens of Arab and Muslim countries who believe in the unity of the Muslim nation and the necessity of their solidarity in ordeals to join their brothers in Egypt by making Friday August 16th, a day of anger over the devastating massacres in which Egyptian blood was spilled unrightfully but only for declaring Allah as their one and only God and demanding freedom, democracy, and a constitutional life.
The union certainly believes that no matter the volume of oppression, the force of injustice, and the pain of the wounds, falsehood can never defeat the truth as Allah Almighty related a reminding example: {Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with ‘Aad? (7) With Iram - who had lofty pillars, (8) The likes of whom had never been created in the land? (9) And with Thamud, who carved out the rocks in the valley? (10) And with Pharaoh, owner of the stakes? (11) All of whom oppressed within the Lands (12) And increased therein the corruption. So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment. (14) Indeed, your Lord is in observation.} [Quran 89: 6-14]
{And Allah has full power over His affairs but most among mankind know it not}
Doha on: Shawwal 7th, 2013
Dated: August 8th, 2013
Dr. Ali Al-Qaradaghi Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
IUMS Secretary General IUMS President