The Conditions of Citizens under the Yoke of Tyranny
Published in June 12, 2017
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Introduction:
We have received the following comments from some of our fellow Quranists on the previous article of ours titled "We Are Getting Bored of the Culture of Slaves!", found (in English) on the following link: (http://www.ahlalquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16748). Our brother Mr. Abdullah has written to us saying: (Dear Dr. Mansour, ... you have sacrificed a lot in your life for the sake of conveying the Truth; even if those who adhere to the Truth are few ones, this is much better than a whole nation of slaves submitting to filthy Arab tyrants; do not be sad; they never submitted in the first place to God as their Creator as they are polytheistic Muhammadans ... you will leave behind you a generation of free people of the testimony of (There is no God but Allah); do not despair ... God will prevail eventually ...). Our brother Mr. Saeed Ali has written to us saying: (... We, Quranists, will never be slaves to anyone but Allah ... I wholeheartedly agree with your article and the previous ones ... I believe in the Quran wholly: its teachings, legislations, and stories ... May God grant Quranists security and safety wherever they live ... Quranists will be outspoken and vociferous in declaring the Quranic Truth, all their lifetimes; they will adhere to the truth all the time till death makes them leave this transient world ...). Our dearest son, Mr. Ahmed Fathy, has written to us saying: (... I promise you, dear Dad, truthfully and in earnest, that I will make serious and conscious efforts to remove any residues of the culture of slaves from the inner recesses of my mind, but this entails some time and deep reflection ...). The vast majority of Quranist writers of comments fell silent and never wrote anything in response! Some others have written negative comments as they disagree with our views, and some other insolent new comers wrote comments to vilify and verbally abuse our person, while accusing us of being a slave to the USA and Israel; we have deleted such insulting comments and stopped such insolent ones from ever writing or commenting on our website. Arab immigrants in the West and the USA are free; let us remember that extremist Sunnites who are refugees in the West countries are misusing the freedoms given to them; they use the freedom available to them to act against the West countries that have fed and secured them, making their huger and fear disappear. The various stances and reactions to our previous articles about tyranny and the culture of slaves have inspired us to write this article that you are reading now aboutcitizens' conditions under the yoke of tyranny.
Firstly: a general vision of citizens' conditions under the yoke of Arab tyranny:
1- There are two types of activists who resist tyrants: (1) human rights activists who demand reform, freedom, democracy, and justice and defend human rights, and (2) activists who call for certain demands for certain categories of people. The second type seek authority and power by replacing the existing tyrants, and once enthroned by raising flashy, eye-catching mottoes, this type becomes a worse type of tyrants. For instance, the Egyptians who hate the terrorist MB group carried Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to the presidency, but he has become more tyrannical than the ousted/deposed MB president; he has oppressed, suppressed, and tortured citizens that have led him to the presidential palace.
2- There are those cronies of many types who serve tyrants: the military, security forces, the police, the army officers, guards, judges, lawmakers, clergy, businesspersons, and media figures. All such cronies of tyrants change the awareness of the nation/citizens so that they become ''subjects'' and ''slaves'' to tyrants; besides, these cronies make citizens vent and channel their fury and frustrations toward imaginary enemies outside or inside a given country.
3- There are those herd of citizens/cattle who are very passive and idle, keeping away from 'trouble' as much as they could and only focus on their personal and family affairs and on earning their living.
Secondly: the way tyrants deal with the above three categories:
1- Ordinary tyrants inflict their oppression with varying degrees to opposition movements and figures; some tyrants allow certain measured limits of 'barking' of the opposition under control, within conferences, forums, meetings, etc. so that bent-up fury would be vented; yet, demonstrations would be absolutely banned and forbidden by law and any criticism must never include the person of the tyrant himself; thus, criticism would be confined to some high-rank officials and ministers, etc. At the same time, such tyrants grant some measures of wealth, power, and authority to their cronies and followers. In that case, tyrants would NOT oppress the herd of the silent vast majority of people who keep out of the way of 'trouble'. These ordinary tyrants do not force anyone to deify, sanctify, glorify, or praise them. This type of ordinary tyrants is exemplified by ousted/deposed Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.
2- Extremist tyrants are those who impose on the whole nation/citizens too deify, sanctify, glorify, or praise them, and they never accept that anyone would refuse to follow the herd in such deification. Thus, those tyrants force every individual to declare loyalty to them in every possible manner and in all occasions. This type of extreme tyrants is exemplified by Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Kaddafi in Libya. Thus, at one point in time, severe persecution and penalties waited for those Iraqis who did not hang on their walls (in houses and shops) the framed photo of Saddam and his 99 'holy' epithets and those Libyans who did not sanctify the Green Book of Kaddafi. Kaddafi used to chase Libyans outside Libya who left it to flee his tyranny, and he would punish and/or murder them while describing them as stray dogs! Such a type of tyrants treats those whose loyalty is doubted in a most savage, brutal manner; these tyrants would readily punish a larger group of people for the mistake of one person. For instance, when anonymous people shot some bullets at the procession of Saddam as he passed by one city, he exacted penalties on all of the city dwellers. When some Kurds revolted against Saddam, he used poisonous gases to commit the crime of genocide against whole villages. Kaddafi committed many massacres against his foes and opposition figures; they were massacred in streets and he prevented their families from ever burying the corpses. Thus, there was no room whatsoever for any form of opposition within Kaddafi's Libya and Saddam's Iraq.
Thirdly: there is no safety nor security in tyrants' countries:
1- A murderer who has killed one person lives in the deepest fear as retribution is inevitable; the murdered person's family will seek revenge. What about tyrants, then, who have murdered so many citizens? Tyrants are constantly very much afraid; their victims are millions of people whose phantoms appear in their nightmares. The more tyrants fear possible retribution and revenge, the more their oppression, cruelty, and torture increase; the more tyrannical they become, the more fear the feel. This is a vicious circle of fear and injustices that will not end unless tyrants die or are assassinated. Tyrants cannot leave their thrones, as this means that when their authority and power are gone, their fates will be in the hands of others. Even if those 'others' are their friends and allies, they will sacrifice the deposed tyrants as soon as possible to avoid crises. Hence, tyrants cling to their power and authority to protect themselves, their families, and their ill-gotten wealth. This drives tyrants to go on with torture, oppression, and persecution to make sure the nation/citizens submit to them without complaining. This way, tyrants seek to feel safe and secure; yet, it is quite impossible for them to feel safe and secure. At one point in time, we got arrested once we reached Cairo Airport, and we were confined into a room in the airport until dawn; later on, a procession of tens of cars led us under surveillance to the building of the Egyptian State Security Apparatus. We compared between these tens of cars that carried us there and the processions of cars guarding Mubarak; we said inwardly to ourselves that both us and Mubarak are captives, but we were a temporary captive and he will be a captive all his lifetime.
2- The vicious circle of fear includes the retinue members and cronies of tyrants; indeed, tyrants sacrifice easily anyone among those around them as scapegoats, or because someone among these cronies is doubted or no longer trustworthy. Cronies, ministers, and retinue members etc. scheme and plot intrigues against one another in presidential and royal palaces of tyrants. The inevitable result is that the vicious circle of fear include all the affluent cronies and people who serve tyrants, and their struggle for more positions, wealth, and power consume all of them, from the low-rank to the high-rank ones, without even the interference of tyrants. This is why faces change all the time in all positions and posts; in many cases, there is a shortcut from one's ministerial office to the gate of prison, and a prisoner might become one day a minister. This was typical of the Middle-Ages political life and is still dominant within the countries of Arab tyrants. Consequently, the lack of safety and security is not confined to ambitious power-seekers as it includes all of the rulers' cronies and high-rank servants.
3- In addition, the lack of safety and security includes the passive submissive herd of citizens (or rather, ''subjects'' owned by tyrants). This is not only because of the fact that tyrant's tyranny, corruption, and stealing of money are reflected in the lives of citizens in increased poverty rates, deprivation, and soaring prices of essential goods, but also because of other reasons; tyrants need to frame people to distract and intimidate the masses. This is typically done by sometimes arresting some innocent persons who are incarcerated and tortured and to make media cover fabricated stories and accusations about them. Those innocent victims are then released later on to serve as living examples to terrorize citizens. This is a deep-rooted, ongoing policy to intimidate the whole nation, and its victims are among the passive submissive herd/cattle. This means that their submissiveness and passivity do not protect them against being tortured and incarcerated. Another factor is political corruption that deprives citizens from justice. Tyrants usually declare that they never interfere in the judicial authority; as they chase their foes, opposition figures, and rivals using State Security Apparatus and courts-martial for civilians. Yet, it is inevitable that justice is lost in the judicial system among people since the atmosphere is corrupt; thus, nepotism and mediators reign supreme as power centers, while businesspersons ally themselves to those in power (i.e., from the policemen to military generals), who in their turn need the money of the affluent persons. Hence, within such lack of justice, the police is not in service of the citizens, as it dominates and rules over them by terrorizing and torturing them. Hence, a police officers who seeks to get promote frame innocent people and level false accusations against them within the culture of tyranny that means that any innocent person is guilty until proven otherwise! This means that those innocent victims are detained as suspects for unknown lengthy durations. Within such corruption, any wealthy person can bribe a policeman to frame, torture, and detain anyone! The victims in such cases are among the silent vast majority of submissive and passive herd/cattle. This indicates further that their submissiveness and passivity are never a source of protection for them against torture and unjust detention. Security and safety cannot exist when tyrannical presidents and kings are above the law.
4- In all cases, torture is directly linked to incarceration and detention in tyrannical countries. The tyrants' palaces are richly furnished heavily guarded prisons, and they are tortured by constant fear and deep anxiety as real or imagined conspiracies and schemes to overthrow them occupy their minds; tyrants cannot trust anyone and cannot feel relieved at all. The innocent victims of unjust dentation and incarceration by being framed are tortured physically and corporeally; their intense pain might stop by fainting or when the infliction of torture ends. In contrast, the psychological torture by constant fear of tyrants never stops at all, and it leads to physical torture when their bodies suffer severe diseases and illness in their nerves, brains, stomachs, hearts, intestines, etc.
5- Political tyranny is linked directly to disbelief in God, and it leads to the destruction of homelands, nations/citizens, tyrants, cronies, retinue members, etc. as everyone is prey to political tyranny that consumes everything sacrificed at its altar. An ex-president within a democracy lives his old age and retirement in peace, happiness, and security with his children and grandchildren. This is impossible for tyrants who live within ongoing conflicts and struggles that end in their assassination, natural death, or imprisonment. Transition of power and inheriting thrones are problems leading to more conflicts and struggles within schemes and plots and changing old guards with new ones, and many persons get killed and incarcerated and some others are robbed as their property and wealth are confiscated.
Lastly: is there a remedy for all this?:
1- There is not the slightest hope in reforming tyrants, as they never trust anyone at all, and they never cede their tyrannical authority willingly; they are deposed or dethroned by force. The force used in removing them from power is enthroned and takes over the rule; this is the biggest problem, as this force applies the same tyranny, as we infer from this Quranic phrase: "And you inhabited the homes of those who had committed injustice against themselves..." (14:45). Hence, any revolt by the silent majority will end up in removing the head of state and the corrupt cronies of the deposed ruler would ascend to power to go on with their tyranny and corruption; Egypt exemplifies this case. As for the case of foreign intervention to remove Arab tyrants (e.g., the USA and Iraq), this force gives power to religious and popular leaderships who are corrupt and tyrannical; the culture of slaves (which includes the submissiveness and the passivity of the vast majority) will be a catalyst with the culture of tyranny (typical of cronies and affluent ones in power) to result in total chaos. This is especially because of the long decades of the tyrant who was in power who removed all good elements from the nation (Saddam in Iraq, for instance), as tyrants hate very much all experts and geniuses in any fields and trust only those who are affluent ignoramuses and cronies who are polished by the media as talking animals praising the regime and the ruler. Those class of affluent ignoramuses and cronies remain behind as tyrants are deposed, while qualified elements would have immigrate to free countries long ago. Thus, when tyrants and their regimes collapse, these talking animals assume rule and power, and the ignorant masses serve as fodder for conflicts among power seekers; destructive chaos is the inevitable result in that case, with the nation divided and the citizens fighting one another in militias and factions, and this has occurred in Iraq, Libya, and Somalia.
2- The democratic transition from tyranny to creative, political, and religious freedom plus freedom of expression and thought never occurs at a glance; rule of democracy entails a deep-rooted culture of democracy learned by individuals at homes, at schools, and in everyday life. Without the dominance of such culture, freedom is turned easily into chaos and real free thinkers would be shocked as their intellectual endeavors are never read or applied by the masses who never think or read. Consequently, the only winners in such a chaos are leaders of the masses who raise arms; bloodshed and bloodbaths, and most probably civil wars, occur as a result and they are not stopped easily since their leaders are real criminals; we see this happening in Syria now, among other countries.
3- This is why tyrants get annoyed by free media and freedom of thought, expression, and creativity; because an ignorant nation is dominated and ruled easily in comparison to learned, educated one, as Khedive Saeed Pacha of Egypt once said. We need free media and real education to raise awareness and consciousness of citizens about the culture of democracy, dignity, and human rights. Arab people must learn that those in power and authority must be temporary public servants in service of the citizens, and those servants can be impeached, checked, removed, tried, penalized, and held accountable.
4- Thus, tyrants fight all forms of enlightenment, whereas free thinkers are keen on raising the awareness of citizens, even if this entailed that thinkers are persecuted and suffer character assassination and tarnished image and reputation by media, power, cronies, and wealth of tyrants who control everything. Free thinkers draw useful lessons from Europeans who struggled for centuries until the European nations have their full rights and are the source of authorities. Quranist free thinkers read the Quran while contemplating its verses of Quranic stories and legislations; e.g., the story of Moses' Pharaoh tells us that it is a must for real believers to struggle for justice and freedom with all their might; they must face and undermine the culture of slaves spread by tyrants that lead people to blame the USA and Israel for anything, as if Arab tyrants were innocent persons! The clergy of tyrants chase Muslim reformist thinkers and accuse them of being apostates and heretics who are bribed by the West and Israel!
5- The only way to succeed is perseverance and patience to go on with reform endeavors on all levels. Preachers of reform must be patient and go on proclaiming the reform entailed by the Quranic Truth. The truth/right and patience are linked directly to each other as per 103:4, and people must advise one another to adhere to what is true and right and to patience so that the nation is saved from falling into an abyss of chaos. This entails that we contemplate the Quranic Chapter 103 deeply, bearing this article in mind. Within perseverance and patience in preaching reform on all levels, the circle of enlightenment expands itself to include thousands and then millions of people within a given nation, who stand together for their rights and demand justice to save tyrants from themselves and to save the nation/citizens from tyranny. This is the meaning of upholding justice in this verse: "We sent Our messengers with the clear proofs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance, that humanity may uphold justice. And We sent down iron, in which is violent force, and benefits for humanity. That God may know who supports Him and His messengers without seeing God. God is Strong and Powerful." (57:25). This means that all citizens must have political participation, with no room for passivity, laziness, and submissiveness: all citizens are activists that way; there is no room them for charlatans and imposters among clergy and politicians. The verse 57:25 shows to us that justice is the aim of the celestial messages of God, and the alternative in case of the nations not being able to uphold justice is to raise arms to fight tyrants (iron symbolizes this meaning). Those who call for upholding justice are the ones who support God and His messengers.
6- The first step is to define the real enemy: the tyrants with their affluent and powerful cronies. Such enemies cannot be defended and their injustices and crimes cannot be justified; otherwise, those who support tyrants by justifying their deeds are among supporters and cronies of tyrants and among enemies of free people who seek reform and justice. Thus, such a fact is being forgotten by those who claim that Israel and the USA are enemies of Arabs; those who propagate this lie are serving tyrants and impede the caravan/procession of justice, reform, and enlightenment.
7- Within this dismal era in the Arab world, Arab tyrants have reached the lowest depth of corruption and tyranny; the Saudi tyrants, for instance, not only oppress and persecute the citizens, but also sponsor ISIS and other terrorist groups and led nations to suffer civil strife and heinous massacres in many cities (e.g. in Syria and Iraq), leading countries to be divided where terrorist criminal militias wreak havoc and chaos, as they commit crimes of rape, massacres, rendering people homeless, looting, sabotage, etc. and such chaos has driven millions to seek asylum in the West countries and to try illegal immigration that makes them food for fish in the seas. There is no room whatsoever to reconcile or to make peace with Arab tyrants. Our Quranism website, ahl-alquran.com, is never a website to justify or to defend Arab tyrants; rather, it is a website for free writers and thinkers, not for those who are supporting the culture of slaves and enslavement.