A Message of Hope and Glad Tidings to Our People in Egypt Part 5

By the Mujahid Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahiri, May Allah Protect Him

In the name of Allah, and all praise be to Allah. May peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family, his companions, and those who followed him. O, Muslim brothers everywhere, Asalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu. Thereafter: This is our fifth episode of the series entitled, A Message of Hope and Glad Tidings to Our People in Egypt, and in the third and fourth episodes, I talked about the courageous and noble popular revolution in Egypt and Tunisia. In them, I greeted the honorable people of Egypt and Tunisia, who liberated themselves from the two corrupt and corruptive tyrants, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak. In them, I also asked that the honorable, free Egyptian people who are determined to bring victory to their creed and Ummah be aware of the various attempts to divert their course or steal its fruits, and that they should continue the struggle, efforts, Jihad, and persistence to end corruption and establish a just system that rules by the Shariah, spreads justice, implements the Shura, and materializes the true meanings of independence, political freedom, and social justice. I continue my talk today, and I say: First, I would like to salute the honorable and free who are jealous of their religion, country, sanctities, and dignity among the people of our Ummah, who rose and continue to rise against injustice, oppression, tyranny, and the subordination of Muslims to the foreign arrogant infidels who have launched the modern Crusade against our Ummah and Islam, under the facade of a war on terror. We salute these honorable and free ones, who ousted two of the most corrupt regimes ruling our countries, that of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and today, are seeking to oust the corrupt and corrupting regime of the tyrant Gaddafi in the defiant, Mujahid, and patient land of Libya. I ask Allah to have mercy on their martyrs, heal their wounded, release their captives, and reward them in the best way for what they offered and still offer with sacrifices in aid of 1

their religion, their Ummah, and to regain their dignity and glory. And I ask Allah to help and empower them, until our countries are free, and the banners of Islam, glory, and dignity flutter above them. And I would also like - before discussing this honorable, noble, defiant, and powerful uprising that is taking place throughout our Ummah - to congratulate the Muslim Ummah for the start of the American retreat from the resolute land of Afghanistan. The American forces have started to hand over the various provinces to the miserable Afghan army, as we heard from the statement of the American Secretary of Defense in Kabul in the first week of March, in which he stated that the conditions seem favorable enough to start the withdrawing of American forces from Afghanistan by next July. After him, General Petraeus declared his commitment to start the withdrawal of troops next July. This is a convincing confession from the Americans of defeat, for as the Americans have begun to retreat, the Mujahideen forces of the Islamic Emirate under the command of the Ameer-ulMumineen, the Mujahid Mullah Muhammad Umar - may Allah protect him - are advancing from one victory to another and are expanding their areas influence day after day. The annihilation of the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq acts as strength and support for our people who are uprising against the corrupt and corruptive idolatrous tyrants, as our Ummah is fighting one battle against the invaders of the modern Crusade against their agents, our corrupt and corrupting rulers. The abandonment of America's allies one by one is the fallout of its retreating from its pride and arrogance after receiving the blows in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. And the Mujahideen are pledging to their precious Ummah to continue directing blows at America and its allies in the modern Crusade until our Ummah obtains its freedom and sovereignty and is united under the banner of the Caliphate, by the permission, help, and support of Allah. My Muslim brothers, I ask your permission today to continue my talk, which might be long, because the events are occurring and changing rapidly, and I hope that our Muslim brothers realize that our speeches might be delayed a little or have longer intervals between them because of the fierce war in which the Mujahideen are clashing with the Americans. And I hope that our precious Ummah realizes that our speeches reach them full of blood, wounds, and shackles of captives, because in order to make the words of the Mujahideen reach their precious Ummah, people get martyred, wounded, and captured, but the Mujahideen offer these sacrifices with contentment and self-pleasure in order for the truth to reach their Ummah and in order to expose the lies, show the tricks, explain the facts, and clarify the data. And I want to divide my speech today into sections: The First Section: On the events in the steadfast and resistant Libya. And the Second: On the events in uprising Egypt. And the Third: On the events in leading Tunisia. 2

And the Fourth: On some messages.

As for the First Section: On the events in the steadfast and resistant Libya. I want first of all to greet our people in beloved, resistant, and patient Libya that was patient with repression, torture, oppression, lies, and harm for more than forty years. So, may Allah greet the descendants of Umar al-Mukhtar, may the mercy of Allah be upon him, who rose to challenge with their bare chests the arrogance and mightiness of the tyrant Gaddafi and his crimes. And I ask Allah to have mercy on their martyrs, to heal their wounded, to release their captives, and to grant them success in helping their religion, their Ummah, and in preserving their sanctities and dignity, and to bless them with His strong victory and near relief. The blood of hundreds of martyrs who were killed by the Gaddafi regime in your blessed uprising will never be in vain by the permission of Allah, and before them the blood of hundreds whom he killed, and the suffering of thousands whom he imprisoned and tortured. [Poetry]

I refused, with the sword lying above the head, and I found in the spirit the generosity of the free, even in the face of injustice, To Allah, O Umar al-Mukhtar in his wisdom, for you to encounter those whom you found to be unjustly treated In moments we will be loyal to you, and the sayings are our equipment, and we will fulfill the brave people who attack, They were patient before hardships, with good hardships, and they had tasted horrible things And perhaps the ones who face the most difficulty are those who keep their frustration bottled in,

whereas the most comfortable among them are those who died And they have called you sinners, and how many people have called innocent people sinners They went as good companions, and Allah compensated you, For you have trodden on the path of goodness, achieving the hope of an illusory hope No ruler can be without your conscience watching over them, and you do not sponsor someone who is ruled Your bones are crushed if you do not fulfill your aims, but yet your spirit remains defiant.

I want here to incite my brothers the people of Egypt, especially the tribes of the western desert, to help and support their brothers in Libya with money, medicine, food, and weapons, and treat their wounds and fight with them against this tyrant who is corrupting religion and life. Our people in Egypt and the tribes of the western desert should save their brothers in Libya, because the Arab countries let them down and the Arab League found it sufficient to request the intervention of the Security Council to impose a no-fly zone above Libya. So, why didn't the procrastinating Arabs intervene to save the Libyan people? And where are the Arab armies? Is their role exclusive only to repressing their peoples while deputizing outside forces to intervene in Libya? We must make our brothers in Libya self-sufficient so that the West will not use their tragedies as a justification to intervene in Libya and occupy it and control its affairs. I also want to warn my Muslim brothers in Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and the rest of the Muslim lands that if the Americans and NATO forces enter Libya, their neighbors should rise in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and the rest of Muslims to fight both the mercenaries of Gaddafi and the crusader NATO. Gaddafi declared over and over again that the continuation of his regime is a guarantee to the stability of the West, and his statement on the ninth of March that the stability of Libya with which he means the stability of his regime in Libya is a guarantee to the stability of the West and Europe and what is called Israel according to his claim. I also call upon our people in Libya to have patience, perseverance, and to stay put until their goal is fulfilled of establishing a Muslim state in Libya that is ruled by Shariah and accepts counseling from everyone, spreads justice, helps the oppressed, and seeks to liberate Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and every occupied stretch of Muslim lands. O free, honorable people of Libya, your ancestors fought for the sake of Allah in order to dedicate all the religions to Allah, so, follow in their footsteps and go on their path and become the best descendants for the best ancestors. And I warn our people in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia, and everywhere from the crocodile tears that America is shedding today for the tragedies of the Libyans, because America is 4

the last one who should talk about freedom, human rights, justice, and the protection of civilians. Why didn't America make a move against Gaddafi before the uprising of the Libyan people? Didn't America use to hand over detainees to Gaddafi in its war on Islam in the name of terror to be tortured, harassed, and killed? And amongst them is the martyr as we consider him Al-Sheikh Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, and amongst them the leaders of the Islamic Fighting Group. And why has America and the West kept silent about the massacre of the Abu Salim prison, where more than 1200 martyrs were killed? And why didn't they freeze the accounts and investments of Gaddafi and his family before? The America that is accusing Gaddafi of killing civilians is the one that killed and is still killing civilians everywhere, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Iraq and Afghanistan. And its latest incident is the killing of sixty civilians, including women and children, in Ghaziabad village in Kunar province in February. And what is worse than killing them is the statement of the Petraeus spokesman that the people of the village are the ones who burned the bodies and tore them apart. Then, nearly a week after that incident, the American planes in Kunar killed nine children, and Petraeus and Obama offered apologies to Karzai, which is a ridiculous play between wolves and foxes. And the America that is accusing Gaddafi of using mercenaries is the one that employed tens of thousands of mercenaries like Blackwater and its affiliates in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. And the America that is accusing Gaddafi of torturing his people is the one that tortured thousands of detainees in Abu Ghraib and is still torturing them in Guantanamo, Bagram, and its secret prisons.

And the second section from my speech is about the events in uprising Egypt. I repeat the greeting to the popular anger in Egypt, which rose against oppression and oppressors, and congratulations to the Egyptian people and to all the Arab and Muslim people, not only that, but to all the free people in the world, for the departure of the arrogant, haughty tyrant Hosni Mubarak. And I ask Allah to reward in the best way the free, honorable people who respect their religion, Ummah, and sanctities in beloved Egypt, and to have mercy on their martyrs, to heal their wounded, and to release their captives. The revolution of the Egyptian people succeeded in ousting the tyrant, and then what? And this is the dangerous question and big challenge. Our people and brothers in Egypt, many people throughout history have revolted, but many of their revolutions also ended in what these people did not want, and sometimes the opposite of what they wanted. 5

Because revolutions get stolen frequently and turn into despotic brutal regimes: the French revolution was turned into an empire by Napoleon, and the Russian revolution was seized by the Bolsheviks after the German government prepared for the entrance of Lenin into Russia on a German train to seize control of the country in return for withdrawing from the First World War. Then Russia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe were subdued by him and by his successors for a period that was one of the worst periods of repression in human history. And the coup of 1952 in which the Muslim Brotherhood participated and the people supported and were happy about it turned into a despotic, repressive regime that humiliated the people for 60 years. Therefore, we must not take a narrow look at the situation in Egypt. We must take a wide look that encompasses the international and regional reality, because the location of Egypt is critical, and we can't isolate it from what is happening around it in the world. So, we can't understand the events that are happening now in Egypt far from the position of the West and America toward the Islamic world, because there is a modern Crusade that is being waged against our Ummah, and the expression Crusader war was not invented by al-Qaeda, but confirmed by many analysts, writers, and thinkers. Saad alDeen al-Shazli called the war on Iraq before al-Qaeda - the eighth Crusader war, and Saad al-Deen al-Shazli was not now or ever - a member of al-Qaeda, nor had any connection with it from near or far. And America the commander of the modern Crusade directed an organized change in Egypt that seeks to absorb the anger of the honorable Egyptian people who are rising against oppression and are making concessions gradually in front of the demands of the people and are protecting at the same time American interests and Israeli security. And America - by the way doesn't care about the shape of the regime in Egypt nor its nature in Egypt or other places. America doesn't care if the regime in Egypt is democratic or despotic, royal or republic, individual or by groups, presidential or parliamentarian. Not only that, but they don't even mind if the regime is Islamic in its claim, so long as it is based on the method of the Saud family, or the emir of the believers in Morocco, or the royal family that is a descendant of the Prophet - may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - as in Jordan, as long as they fulfill their interests. And a funny story about that, or, if you will, what would make us laugh and cry at the same time, is the story that General Schwarzkopf was in a press conference during the Gulf War, and next to him was setting Khalid Bin Sultan, and one of the journalists asked him about the military operations during Ramadan, and then Schwarzkopf pointed at Khalid Bin Sultan and said: We shall get a Fatwa. However, what is impossible for America to accept is for a regime to rise in Egypt or elsewhere that is considered to be extremist, and the translation of that American term very briefly means: For the regime to be a Shura-based, Islamic one, in which the rulers gain their legitimacy from the Ummah, and are judged before it, and refuse to invade the 6

lands of the Muslims and steal their resources, and thwart Israeli ambitions. Therefore, America wants a regime that gives the people some freedoms, and I stress the word some, but which does not threaten its interests nor does it harm Israel's security. What happened in Egypt so far can be summarized as a popular revolution that ended in a military coup. The tyrant Hosni Mubarak handed over control to his men in the armed forces. And we should look at the facts as they are, and not be drawn by emotion, because the military council that is currently ruling is not trustworthy, judging by its history and by its behavior. Muhammad Hussein Tantawi is 76 years old, meaning that he has exceeded the age of retirement by 16 years, and yet Mubarak kept him in his position for nearly 20 years, because he was his man, whom he trusted in controlling the armed forces. So what is the characteristic that made Muhammad Hussein Tantawi unique over the rest of the leaders of the Egyptian armed forces and made Hosni Mubarak hold on to him and not let anyone else among the leaders be promoted to the same position for 20 years? And the first thing the council declared was its upholding of the regional and international treaties, including the peace treaty with Israel and the agreement on the crossings, upon which the siege of Gaza is founded, even though no one in Egypt demanded this. And the council could have said that this is the job of the coming council of the people, but instead it was sure to quickly declare its allegiance to the international order headed by America that pays assistance to Egypt in the amount of 3 billion dollars annually, 1.3 billion of which is for the Egyptian army. And this assistance was frankly said to be the price of peace with Israel, meaning the price of selling Palestine and besieging Gaza. Therefore, Obama and Mike Mullen, the American Chief of Staff, praised the leadership of the Egyptian army. And with the council's care to uphold the regional and international treaties, it didn't issue a single word about the siege of Gaza nor of selling gas to Israel, which the Egyptian judiciary had ruled to stop. And I wonder, and the honorable and free people wonder along with me: What is the position of the military council on the participation of the Egyptian army in the forces of the crusader coalition that is invading Afghanistan? What is the position of the military council on the passing of the fleets of the crusader alliance that is invading Afghanistan and Iraq through the Suez Canal? What is the position of the military council on the military and intelligence cooperation with the United States? And what is its position of making Egypt an international torture station for America in its war against Islam in the name of terrorism? And what is the position of the military council on the siege of Gaza, whose members of government called upon Muhammad Hussein Tantawi by name to lift the siege around it? And what is the position of the military council on the banning of the niqab in the university campuses and dormitories? And what is its position on the university security guards, whom the judiciary had ruled to forbid from entering 7

university campuses, and who had insulted female and male students with beating and cursing them? And what is the position of the military council on the thousands of prisoners among the victims of the military courts, and other victims of the Emergency Law and special courts. What is its position on those prisoners, many of whom had finished their sentences that were issued against them by the military and special courts, and yet remain imprisoned based on the Emergency Law that the regime used as a way to make the imprisoned compromise their principles. For its message was clear: Whoever does not give up on his principles and acknowledge the legitimacy of Mubarak and his regime will not leave his prison, and the great majority of those who revised their views had spent time in prison over and above the duration of their sentences. They are the victims of the injustice, domination, and oppression of Mubarak and the Emergency Law. This injustice and suppression that the media of Mubarak hailed under the name of revisions is an American policy that was executed by Mubarak's regime and welcomed by the United Nations. The leadership of the Egyptian armed forces is directly responsible - during the rule of Mubarak - for many tragedies of political prisoners, who were sentenced by the military courts to prison and execution. And it is also responsible for the tragedy of all the political prisoners after the rule of Mubarak. And the small number of victims of the military and special courts who were released by the military council are not enough. Instead, they are a small minority of thousands of unjustly treated prisoners in the prisons of the regime, and those must be released immediately, because their staying there is a continuation of the injustice and oppression of Mubarak on the Egyptian people. It is not enough for the military council to issue a pardon for political prisoners. Instead, it is the one that should ask their pardon for the crimes that the military committed against them and their families. And in this regard, I congratulate my brothers from among the imprisoned who were recently released, and I ask Allah to accept from them their sacrifices that were purely for His purpose and to grant them success in that their release be in the service of Islam and to support the Muslims and all the oppressed and unjustly treated. And I specifically congratulate the honorable and esteemed brothers, the esteemed Sheikh Abboud alZumar, and the esteemed Sheikh Tareq al-Zumar, and the esteemed Sheikh Muhammad al-Zawahiri, and I ask Allah to grant them success that their release be the start of a campaign of religious preaching and incitement to increase the awareness of the Ummah and prepare it to demand Islamic Shariah to govern in Egypt and not be governed. And I ask them not to forget the rest of their imprisoned and unjustly treated brothers in the prisons of the regime, and not to stop the work to release them, and to be - with Allah's assistance and help - always - as every loyal one amongst them hopes to be - the leaders in the defense of the rights of the Muslim Ummah in Egypt and in all the lands of the Muslims, and to support every unjustly treated person among the Muslims and others. 8

And the leadership of the armed forces is not only responsible for the tragedies of thousands of prisoners in Egypt, but it is also responsible for the tragedies of the thousands of Egyptians who are chased outside of Egypt because of the tyrant Mubarak and his injustice and poor treatment. It is their right to return to their country and for this injustice against them to stop. It is their right to return to their family and their parents and their homes, and that all the unjust sentences be dropped, those that were issued by the military and special courts against them, and for the Egyptian regime to stop playing the role of the pursuing cop for the sake of America. The military council must demand the American government to return the patient Mujahid scholar, the esteemed Sheikh Umar Abdul Rahman to his country after all the persecution he suffered, and all the suffering he went through. The regime of Hosni Mubarak colluded with the American government to persecute the esteemed Sheikh Umar Abdul Rahman, and the military council is requested to return him to his homeland, with his people and family, his loved ones, and his students. Also the military council should declare, honestly and clearly, a stop to the role of the Egyptian security forces in supporting America in its war against Islam in the name of terrorism, and to immediately stop the policy of using Egypt as an international torture station, and to reveal to the Egyptian people the details of America's usage of the prisons of Egypt as part of a series of secret American prisons, and to reveal the names of Egyptians and non-Egyptians who were tortured in Egypt for America's sake. And sadly, the military council has not released until now - most of the imprisoned, the victims of the military and special courts. Indeed, the military council confirmed the extension of the state of Emergency Law for six more months, so that America can arrange matters, and so that the council can arrest whomever it wishes to arrest without charge or trial. The military council has not moved until now, except under the pressure of the volcano of popular anger, and this tremendous anger must continue so that Egypt is purified of the remnants of the ruined regime. And here, I must specifically salute the honorable, free people, who destroyed the idol of the state security apparatus, broke into its headquarters, forced the military council to declare its freezing and to indict many of its leaders for persecution, and put its leadership under house arrest. This victory, like others in the Egyptian revolution, would not have happened were it not for the pressure of popular anger, that should continue, until Egypt is purified of the corruption of Mubarak's era and a good, pure regime is established that will restore Egypt - as it once was - as a leader of the Islamic and Arabic world and a supporter of the oppressed and the weak. The attack on the headquarters of state security apparatus is a heroic act that will be mentioned with pride in the history of Egypt. And this heroism must continue until the 9

unjustly treated political prisoners are released. And families of the prisoners and the free and honorable people in Egypt should move these protests to Tahrir Square, and before the leadership of the armed forces, and before the prisons to release the political prisoners inside them. And the prosecutors of Egypt, from among the officers of state security and its leaders must be pursued, regardless whether it is those who remained in the administration of state security, or who were retired like Fouad Allam, or who participated in the popular council like Muhammad Abdul Fattah Umar, or who were transferred to other security positions like Muhsen Hafzi and the likes of them. And I call upon every free, honorable person among the lawyers, journalists, and all who know details of the corruption of the security organizations in Egypt to publish them and to use them to pursue those criminals. The establishment of a department for national security inside the interior ministry is not sufficient. Instead, the people must know who is in charge of it? And if the former prosecutors of the people were appointed in it? Those who worked in the administration of the state security. Also, what is meant by saying that the department is tasked with fighting terrorism? What terrorism is this? Is it terrorism in the American-Israeli sense of the word? That had been prevalent in the previous year, and therefore, the participation in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan is fighting terrorism? And creating secret prisons in Egypt and changing it into an international torture station is fighting terrorism? And pursuing the Mujahideen of Gaza and torturing them to know where their leadership, headquarters, and supply tunnels are, and informing Israel, is this fighting terrorism? And working according to the security agreements with the US, is this fighting terrorism? And protecting the Israeli prostitution trade in Sinai, whose profits were taken by the supporters of the previous regime, is that fighting terrorism? And attacking the people of Sinai to protect Israel and stop them from helping their brothers from Gaza, is that fighting terrorism? And is the capture of all who try to participate in jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq, or supporting it financially, is that part of fighting terrorism? What is this terrorism? Inform us, so that, the trick does not continue, and the prosecutors return under new guises. My free and honorable brothers in the awakened land of Egypt! Many of the institutions of the former regime are still intact: The Presidential establishment, which is the most powerful establishment in the former regime, remains as it was. Omar Suleiman and Zakaria Azmi still administrate it from the Office of the President of the Republic. Hosni Mubarak and his lackeys are still conspiring plans from Sharm el-Sheikh. The governors and the management of the security forces are still as they were. The heads of the Central Security are still the same. The regime's media and newspapers are still being run by the same people, who used to glorify the praises of the previous regime. The military establishments, which were the main support of the defunct regime, and whose leaders were handpicked by Mubarak and then delegated the 10

task of running the country, are still the same. The office of Prosecutor General is held by the same person it was before, and the Prosecutor General, Abdul Majeed Mahmoud, is one of the gang members of the defunct regime, and is from the same school as Raja' al-Arabi, the general attorney for the State Security, and then the Prosecutor General for the previous regime. It was the gang which used to run its affairs in coordination with the investigations bureau of the State Security. Thus, inquiries were leaked to the investigations bureau, and the prisoners were tortured even more until they pled guilty to what the government wanted. The Prosecutor General, Abdul Majeed Mahmoud, did not initiate the investigation of the Interior, Tourism, and Housing Ministers, as well as Ahmed al-Izz, except after Hosni Mubarak sacrificed them in his final attempt to save himself. If this was not the case, then where was he after all this corruption for the last thirty years?! Who is prosecuting whom? Who is investigating whom? Does a gang member lead investigate his fellow members? As for the ministry of Isam Sharaf: Isam Sharaf was a minister in the ministry of Ahmed Nazeef for more than a year, from 2004 to 2005, and it is a well known fact that this ministry was jointly responsible. Isam Sharaf was held responsible for all the crimes of the government during the year he spent in office. Was Hosni Mubarak a holy saint at that time, and then turned into to an accursed devil in 2011? As for the foreign minister, Nabil al-Arabi, he was soiled by the swamp of Camp David. He was a member of the negotiation team with Anwar al-Sadat. Thus, this person graduated from the school of Camp David. Not only is it a secular school enslaved to America and Israel, but it is also a school which makes a mockery of the rights, sentiments, feelings, and hopes of the Arab and Muslim people. It struck the Camp David accords, as well as the peace accords with Israel, a show of treachery to the Muslim Ummah and Palestine. Then, these accords were passed through a rigged referendum. I remind the dear viewer that the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ismail Fahmy, and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Muhammad Riyadh resigned from office due to Sadat's announcement of his visit to the Knesset. Muhammad Ibrahim Kamil took their place, who accompanied Sadat to Camp David, but was unable to tolerate what was occurring, resigning from office there at Camp David. The only person left with Sadat was Boutros Ghali, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, whom Muhammad Hasanain Haikal described as having nothing to lose. The rest of his team, those equal to him in his depravity, also remained, including Nabil al-Arabi. Because this man was a graduate of Camp David, he recently announced to Al-Shurooq newspaper that the peace accords with Israel must continue. So this person has the same policies as the military council, which has gained the praise of Obama and Mullen. Thus, this person will administer the policies of Egypt according to the Camp David mentality, in the direction of the peace 11

accords and normalization with Israel. Thus, I ask, and every free and noble person asks with me: what is the stance of this person in regards to the Joint Arab Defense Agreement, which was openly killed by the peace accords with Israel, which stressed this condition over all others? This person was also the Egyptian Ambassador to the United Nations, meaning that he was representing the foreign policies of Mubarak, joint policies of waging a war against Islam in the name of war against terror, and policies which aid normalization with Israel, rather which acknowledge their occupation of Palestine, and stipulate the right of return of the refugees, according to the Arab initiative, to be in agreement with Israel, and abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel does not. As for the statements which were attributed to him about the illegitimacy of the blockade of Gaza due to it being a violation of international law, they are statements which will be put to a difficult test when he is involved in a government, which in reality itself imposes the blockade of Gaza, despite the calls of Hamas to Muhammad Hussein Tantawi to lift it. On top of this, for three years, this person has been one of the lead consultants of the law office of Zaki Hashem. Zaki Hashem was a minister in the Sadat regime, and his office is has a cooperative and submissive relationship with the American law consultancy Patton Boggs, based in New York and Washington. This company is the agent of Mubarak and his family in the weapons and investment deals and the litigations which arise from them. As for the Minister of Justice, Muhammad Abdul Azeez al-Jundi, he was the Prosecutor General in the early 90s, the time when the worst atrocities were committed by the Investigations Department of the State Security and in the prisons against all prisoners, especially the Islamists. He would cover his ears to the complaints of lawyers and the families of the incarcerated, which flowed like rivers onto his desk. It is well known to all that the Mubarak regime politicized much of the judiciary, changing the Prosecution General office into a law office of the investigations department of the State Security which pursued opponents and punished them. So, the Military council has formed a ministry from club of old employees during Mubarak's era. Thus, we see in front of us a popular revolution turned into a military coup, initiated by the former regime and encouraged by America. America has succeeded in transferring rule from one agent to another, in order to guarantee that a controlled change takes place in Egypt, far from any goals which may threaten it, such as an Islamic government, nullifying the peace treaty with Israel, and freeing itself from intelligence, military, and economic enslavement to America. America is not concerned with who governs Egypt after Mubarak, whether it is a military or civilian government, or whether it is democratic or dictatorial. What concerns it is that power is safely transferred from in controlled fashion to a government which has the 12

same policies as Mubarak in regards to fighting Islam, guaranteeing the security of Israel, blockading Gaza, and serving American interests. The interests of America and intertwined with the interests of Mubarak as well as the military institution. The Egyptian special envoy of the American president, Frank Wisner, worked as a consultant at the law offices of Patton Boggs for Legal Consultancy in New York and Washington for a period of two years. This is the same entity I mentioned previously in discussing Nabil al-Arabi. They are Mubarak and his family's agents in weapons and investments deals and the litigations which arise from them. In other words, Obama sent Wisner to a customer of his agency, so that they could organize affairs in a way which would not oppose the interests of any party involved. The relationship between Wisner and Patton Boggs is no secret, but rather quite transparent. Rather, Patton Boggs openly boasts that they represent some of the leading Egyptian commercial families and their companies and have been involved in oil and gas and telecommunications infrastructure projects on their behalf. One of its partners served as chairman of the Egyptian-American Chamber of Commerce promoting foreign investment in the Egyptian economy. The company has also managed contractor disputes in military-sales agreements arising under the United States Foreign Military Sales Act. Washington gives around $1.3 billion (800 million) a year to the Egyptian military. Patton Boggs also openly boasts that it advises the Egyptian military, the Egyptian Economic Development Agency, and has handled arbitrations and litigation on the government's behalf in Europe and the United States. Thus, we have in front of us a network of intertwined interests, which continue to exist till this very day. Thus, it is crucial that we do not neglect the various dimensions of true nature of the conflict, and that we do not imagine that our problems will cease to exist with the exit of Hosni Mubarak or his regime. There is another enemy which is evermore dangerous which lies in wait for us, which continues to meddle in our affairs. Thus, I call upon every Muslim, and every free and noble person in Egypt, to try as much as possible to bring about a total change in Egypt. We are in the face of a regime which will soon vanish, and we must build in its place a proper system. This is a historical opportunity which rarely arises, and we must not let it slip by us. We can hint in summary about this sought total change from three angles: legislative reform, political reform, and social reform. As for legislative reform, the governance of the Shariah must be emphasized. The Shariah must be the ruler, not the ruled. All laws must emanate from this source, from them those which guarantee the Muslim Ummah their right to choose their rulers and hold them to account. 13

The preachers, scholars, and supporters of Islam in Egypt must call to a popular campaign demanding that the Shariah be the sole source of all legislation. The Shariah is the system of governance, not itself governed by humans, and that the second article of the constitution is not sufficient, which states that the Islamic Shariah is the main basis of law (not the sole basis). It is incumbent upon all the free and noble, and all workers of Islam, to strive in this cause. I call upon all Islamic workers to join their efforts on educating the masses and encouraging them to make this demand. They must raise themselves above any affiliation to organizations, uniting, cooperating and supporting each others efforts in this noble cause. They must lead a far reaching and expansive Islamic campaign to out pressure the ruling military regime, which will never respond to any demand unless put under pressure. I also warn anyone who seeks to wipe out the Islamic identity of the Egyptian people. They are plowing crops in the ocean and stirring blind strife. Gamal Abdel Nasser tried to do this, and it resulted in the biggest loss in contemporary Egyptian history. Anwar Sadat followed his footsteps, and he was killed. Hosni Mubarak also tried with means far more atrocious, and he landed himself in the garbage piles of history. Egypt was never, and will never be the Egypt of Commander-in-Chief Bonaparte, the Egypt of General Yaqoob, the Egypt of Salama Musa, the Egypt of Farag Foda, or the Egypt of Farouk Hosny. Rather, it was, by the Grace of Allah, and will remain to be the Egypt of Amr bin Aas, may Allah be pleased with him, the Egypt of Imam al-Shafi'i, the Egypt of Salahuddin al-Ayyoubi, the Egypt of Al-Izz bin Abdul Salam, the Egypt of Saifuddin Qutuz, the Egypt of Ruknuddin Baybars, the Egypt of Ibn Taimiyyah, the Egypt of Umar Makram, Suleiman al-Halabi, Sheikh al-Aleesh, and Sheikh Hasan al-Adawi, the Egypt of Hasan al-Banna, Ezzuddin alQassam, Abdul Qadir Al-Awdah, Syed Qutb, Abdullah Azzam, the Egypt of Khalid Islambouli, Isam al-Qamari, Suleiman Khatir, the Egypt of Ali Abdul Fattah, Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, Abu Hafs Al-Misri, and Muhammad Atta, may Allah have mercy on them all. Those who seek to wipe out the true identity of Islamic Egypt, its distinctive role amongst the Muslims, and its leadership of the Islamic world for centuries, not only have they stripped themselves of the creedal constants and the principles of governance in Islam, they have blindly played ignorant of the facts of history, geography, and societal trends. Indeed, I warn all those who seek to establish a system of law in Egypt removed from its religion, that they are stirring a long-lasting strife which will not calm, about which they should blame none other than themselves. I know that some of the biased will try to depict my words that I am threatening with bombings and confrontation, but the fact is that all intelligent and wise people understand and agree with me that I am speaking of a prolonged and extended error, historical, political and societal which will run distant into the future and with much rage, if these dwarfs try to lie about about the true affiliation of Islamic Egypt. I also ask the biased that they do not try to shuffle the cards by claiming that the call to the 14

governance of the Shariah in Egypt, to the recovery of its leadership of the Islamic and Arab world, and to stand to defend the lost rights of its Ummah from its enemies, first and foremost America and Israel, is in conflict with living peacefully and in tolerance with other Christians and non-Muslims of this country. This is an unacceptable, biased, and fabricated mixup. We have lived with non-Muslims in Islamic lands. We do so now, and we will continue to do so as long as Allah wills. There is a solution to any problem they may face, if the relationship was one based upon peace and loyalty, with wisdom, righteousness and equity. Allah, Blessed and Most High, the Truth, says:

Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for your Faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for Allah loveth those who are just. (Al-Mumtahana: 8)

My brother Muslims in Cairo and Baghdad; and Mecca and Medina; and Algeria and Istanbul; and the other great centers of Islam, the Western plan - that brought down the Caliphate - tried and is trying to divide us into more than 50 disparate pieces. Every piece is occupied with itself and calls for nationalism to break off from its sisters. Then, they begin dividing the divided. Therefore, the call of secularism and nationalism and making Shariah absent is a dangerous call that has political, market, and military dimensions that are very damaging. It is a call to divide us into weak oppressed entities with which America and its allies can deal, each on its own. It is a call that wants to excise Islam's influence upon its societies and Ummah, so that the Muslims lose the great power of creed, that turned them from wandering tribes in the desert of its peninsula into the leaders of the world and the teachers of Tawhid, values, and morals, as Rub'i bin 'Amer - may Allah be pleased with him - summarized the issue for Rustum, the head of the Persians, when he said to him: Allah sent us, and Allah brought us to lead away those who wish to move from the worship of man to the worship of Allah, from the narrowness of the world to its abundance, and from the injustice of the religions to the justice of Islam. This was a reference to the legislative reform aspect. As for the political aspect, one of its most important requirements externally is the return of Egypt to its leadership role in the midst of its Muslim Ummah, the Arab world, and the Third World, by washing its hands of the treaty with Israel and its public and secret obligations, cutting off diplomatic relations with Israel, expelling the Israeli ambassador from Cairo, the immediate lifting of the siege on Gaza, and helping all the causes of the Muslim Ummah and those who are weak and oppressed in the world. And one of its most important requirements internally is to liberate the Ummah from the 15

shackles of defeat and fear so that it exercises its role in enjoining good and forbidding evil. And this requires a lifting of the state of emergency, stopping the military courts against civilians, nullifying all of their judgments, and canceling the security services that were built upon defeating the people, crushing them, and treating them with contempt like insects. It is not enough to cancel the internal security investigative forces, for other security organizations are still exercising the same policies. Therefore, it is necessary to rebuild anew the security services that are founded upon respecting the legitimate rights of people, which the Caliph Umar bin al-Khataab - may Allah be pleased with him confirmed when he said, When did you enslave people, when they were born free from their mothers? The state security apparatus fell at the hands of the heroic, free sons of Egypt, and now we must bring down fear from state security of the government and its oppression from our hearts. Therefore, I call upon my brothers who were the victims of these investigations that were run by the state security investigations with blackmail, bargaining, threatening, and temptation, to realize that the idol of the state security has been smashed. They must endeavor to serve their religion, for the criminals, who had captured them, bargained with them, tortured them, and transgressed against their sanctity and honor, were defeated. Accordingly, they should return to their role for which every sincere person awaits - in the service of Islam, supporting it, inciting the Ummah, and mobilizing it around the causes of reform. The first is the legislative reform with the rule of Shariah, so that it is the ruler and not the ruled. As for the social reform aspect, one of its most important requirements is stopping corruption, lifting the suffering from the poor, equitable distribution of wealth, and subsidizing basic foodstuffs and necessary services for the people, from education to health to housing. And most of the Egyptians suffer from acute problems, such as more than one family in an apartment, and the absence of bathrooms from most of the countryside, and spreading of shanty-towns, and orphans, and spinsters, and drug addiction. In Egypt today, there are seven million drug users, and the addicts in Egypt are increasing by 20,000 annually, and social reform requires a good government in its behavior and practices, that preserves morals and values, and stops spreading obscenity and degradation. O people of Egypt, those who wish to remove Shariah from power so that America would approve of them will spread among you usury, obscenity, the drinking of alcohol, moral degradation, the breakup of the family, and crime in its different types and forms, that is only spread further by the laws. And I have experienced and lived in prisons, and I know their crime against the human soul and human instinct. The man-made laws turn the people in prison into monsters who fight for three things: perversion, drugs, and gambling. These are the fruits of man-made laws. O people of Egypt, those who wish to remove Shariah so that America would approve of them are tricking themselves before they try to trick others. 16

America, which bombed the two offices of al-Jazeera in Kabul and Baghdad, is the one that is crying over the safety of journalists in Egypt. And America, whose forces fire live rounds at protesters in Afghanistan and Iraq, is the one that is crying over the protesters in Egypt. And America, which signed the no-torture treaties, is the one that is practicing torture in Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib, its secret prisons in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Poland, and its ships and planes, while it cries over the victims of torture in Egypt. And America, which signed the Geneva treaties for the treatment of prisoners, is the one that does not apply these treaties upon the prisoners from al-Qaeda and the Taliban. And America, which pressures Omar al-Bashir and Gaddafi and threatens them with the International Criminal Court, refuses to apply the treaty of this court upon its citizens. And America, which declares the lack of legitimacy of the settlements, uses the veto in the Security Council against the project that was proposed by the Arab nations to condemn the settlements in the invaded land of Palestine. Even more than that, America, which is proud of its President Wilson who had come up with the right of self-determination of peoples, completely forgot that with the Palestinian people, whom it expelled from their land, brought a people in their stead from the ends of the earth, and refused the return of the people of the land, the Palestinians, to it. This is the truth of the international legitimacy that the army leadership raced to acknowledge along with its decisions and treaties. It is a legitimacy of the control of the arrogant over the oppressed. And America, which is crying over democracy, does not acknowledge the government of Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank. And America is the last to have the right to speak of democracy and human rights. This is the truth of democracy. It makes all permissible no matter how lowly or contradictory, as long as it has the support of the majority. Democracy, in truth, is the game of counting voices without moral, value-based, or religious reference. And this is the essential difference between the Shura that relies on the reference of the Shariah, and democracy that has no reference. Shura, for example, cannot let the Muslim nation commit to treaties of the treatment of prisoners or preventing torture, and then go ahead and break these treaties because the majority of the Shura council felt that it should. And the Shura council, for example, cannot attack the specified rights of the poor, such as their share of Zakat, charity, and booty, or their public rights, because the majority of the council felt this way. And I am here to call upon the needy people of Egypt who deserve Zakat to demand that the Egyptian government rule with the Shariah which would give them the right to Zakat. The Companions - may Allah approve of them - led by the great Siddiq - may Allah approve of him - fought the apostates to protect the pillar of Zakat, so fight, O people of Egypt, for your rights if no one responds to you. And the Shura, for example, cannot allow licensing for liquor manufacture, nor for places 17

of ill-repute, nor for morally degraded media, that form a government for corrupting and corruption, even if the majority of the council agreed to this. And the Shura, for example, cannot acknowledge Israel taking over Palestine, nor acknowledge the international resolutions, peace treaties, and the Arab initiatives that acknowledge this, even if most of the Shura council agreed to this. Shura is the practicing of freedom and participation in political decision making and holding the government and the ruler accountable in the frame of the reference of Shariah and its rule.

As for the third section of my speech, it is about the events of pioneering Tunisia. I call upon our precious Ummah in Tunisia to continue its resistance and Jihad so that it achieves victory. The road remains long, and one must continue in demanding reform so that Tunisia returns to being a castle for Islam, garrisoning, and Jihad and a beacon in the Maghreb of Islam.

As for the fourth section of my speech, it has several messages:

The first message: A call to the Muslim Ummah in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia to rise up against the unjust rulers, who turned the cradle of Islam and its areas into bases for the Crusader campaign against Islam and the Muslims. And I confirm to our people and brothers among the dear Yemeni people: we are with them in their uprising against injustice, tyranny, corruption, and submission. We are with them in their rejection of the regime that submits to America, that turned Yemen into a colony of the American Crusader forces, in which they kill whomever they want, capture whomever they want, investigate whomever they want, and gets whatever it wants from them. The pure blood that flowed in the Taghyir Square and other sites will not be in vain, Allah willing, for this blood was shed under American orders, which is working hard to preserve the corrupt regime that submits to it because of the fear of an Islamic transformation in Yemen of faith and wisdom that is liberated from the top criminals. So be steadfast, O people of Yemen, O people of assistance, supplies, defiance, honor, sacrifice, and precedence, for you are waging the battle of the Ummah in one of its important fronts. We are with you in the same battle, so be steadfast, patient, and united, for Allah's victory is nigh with His permission.

And the second message is to the Muslim Ummah in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, and Jordan: the Mujahideen are with you, supporting you in your anger and 18

uprising. They are fighting for you in one battle against America in its Crusader campaign against its proxies, and every victory for the Mujahideen is power to you and reinforcements for reformation and change towards the victory of the Ummah against submission, tyranny, and corruption.

And the third message is for the Muslim Ummah everywhere: America is staggering - by the grace of Allah - under the blows of the Mujahideen, so mobilize, rise, and resist America and its supporters with your words, hands, and wealth. Break the shackles of fear and care for this world, and do not fear the enemies of Islam. Hear the word of the Truth, may He be glorified:

Do ye fear them? Nay, it is Allah Whom ye should more justly fear, if ye believe! (AtTaubah: 13)

And our final prayer is all praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our master Mohammad, his family, and his companions. Wa Asalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.

As-Sahab Foundation for Media Production Rabi' al-Thani 1432 March 2011

Source: Al-Fajr Media Center

Translated by:

The Global Islamic Media Front Observing Mujahideen News and Inspiring the Believers

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