Muslim Journalist Warns West of Apocalyptic Battle

“Before a battle with apocalyptic dimensions”


An original translation by SIMONXML and edited by GoV with many many thanks.

Translated from Die Welt
He claims Islam has “fascistic characteristics” – and that he is therefore at risk: The German-Egyptian journalist Hamed Abdel-Samad holds the religion of which he himself is a member to account. An interview. By Dietrich Alexander

The German-Egyptian political scientist, historian and author Hamed Abdel-Samad deals harshly with the religion he himself comes from.

The author Hamed Abdel-Samad lives in Germany, but he is not safe here. The 42-year-old needs permanent police protection because he has enemies. Violent, fanatical enemies who want him dead because he has insulted Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. The German-Egyptian writer often speaks his mind and criticizes those Muslims who exalt themselves above others and claim to have sovereignty in the interpretation about what the only true doctrine, true Islam, is. His book “The Fall of the Islamic World” (Droemer, 2010, €18) earned him a lot of criticism. His new book will appear on April 1st and is entitled: “Islamic Fascism” (Droemer, €18). In Cairo, these publicly expressed theses resulted in the issue of a fatwa, a “divine legal opinion”: “Wanted Dead” – not: “Wanted, dead or alive”, but only “dead”. He had to go into hiding. But he was not silenced and does not intend to be intimidated in the future.

Die Welt: 529 Egyptian Muslim brothers have recently been sentenced by a court in Minia, Upper Egypt, in a very precarious legal fast track to death. Furthermore, the same fate threatens 683 more defendants. What do you have to say about these trials?

Hamed Abdel-Samad: That’s no way to deter terrorists, but creates new martyrs who are a model for a new generation of jihadists! The Muslim Brotherhood will benefit most from this judgment because suddenly the world is no longer talking about their ongoing terrorist attacks, but about the injustice that befalls them. Such judgments are symptomatic of the helplessness of the Egyptian state in dealing with terrorism. This doesn’t halt the violence, but deepens the division and polarization in the country.

Die Welt: So such trials encumber the future of Egypt and thus probably the next president, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has just announced his candidacy and is a clear favourite?

Abdel-Samad: Al-Sisi is considered by many Egyptians to be the new savior. Expectations for him are very high. But he himself knows that the country has serious problems he cannot solve. He also knows that the same crowds that are now cheering him frenetically will be demonstrating against him, as they have demonstrated against Hosni Mubarak and Mohammed Mursi because they could not fulfill their desires for stability and prosperity. The era of dictatorship is over. But the absence of dictatorship does not automatically mean the arrival of democracy.

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[link to www.jihadwatch.org]