Pieces of Advice Addressed to the Palestinians for the Fourth Time: The Victims of the Vociferous Devils
Published in April 8, 2018
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Introduction:
The Palestinians are not the only victims of the vociferous devils (i.e., the appellation we use to describe those who deliver false speeches and discourses enthusiastically, usually in loud voices, to brainwash the masses); we were one of their victims at one point in time, but we have been cured now, and we thank the Lord God for being cured.
Firstly:
1- During our early months in VA, we have received an invitation to attend a meeting at the Scholars at Risk organization (www.scholarsatrisk.org) to deliver a speech about our experience of being persecuted inside Egypt. As we delivered our speech, we received looks of sympathy and surprise; the reason was obvious and we have heard it a lot later on: is it possible that this persecution would be inflicted on a peaceful thinker who calls for peaceful reform?
2- The same organization invited us to attend a party in its NY-based headquarters; in NYC, we met with the director of the organization with whom we exchanged several emails; we have been friends with him even before we met with him in person; he cordially welcomed our person and told us we cannot attend the party in our casual, simple clothes (the same clothes we wore in the train from Washington to NYC), especially that we will meet in this party some of the wealthiest persons on earth. We felt very much surprised; we are not that important a person to meet such wealthy people; what are we supposed to wear? This friend, the director, told us he would manage everything; his assistant accompanied our person to a room within a luxurious hotel. We met there with two persecuted scholars (one from Ethiopia and one from Indonesia) who were political asylees in the USA. Soon enough, the assistant took us to a shop to hire a tuxedo suit and a pair of shoes fit for it, and the man in the shop took our measurements meticulously before giving us the tuxedo suit and the pair of shoes. When we got dressed in the hotel room and looked in the mirror, we could hardly believe our eyes; we were like movie stars! Shortly before getting into the hall of the party, the assistant explained to us the etiquette and some details about the party: it was a fundraising event for the organization; the wealthiest American people typically donate large sums in such parties to help persecuted scholars. Each scholar and each guest had his/her name on one chair at the table. The man beside us at the table was Ahmed Shalaby, the Iraqi politician, and his daughter, and an American female blonde presenter who works at the Fox Channel and who graduated from the American University in Cairo, and other personalities whose names we have forgotten. We talked a lot to this TV presenter and we have become friends; she has edited some of our articles and research papers in English later on; Ahmed Shalaby kept smiling but he talked in a reserved manner. Our turn came to talk for five minutes before the gathering of these billionaires. The party ended in a sumptuous dinner-banquet. We took the train back to where we used to live at the time; namely, in the guestroom in a very modest, small apartment rented by an Egyptian worker who immigrated to the USA; we felt the huge difference and contrast between where we would sleep and where we had dinner after an enjoyable party.
3- Later on, we got to know that this charity organization specializes in helping persecuted scholars whose lives were in danger in their native countries; this organization helps them settle in the West and find jobs in their new homeland; if such scholars were imprisoned, this organization would raise awareness of their cases in the media and help them. To our surprise at the time, this organization is run by American Jews; it began by helping Jewish scholars coming from Nazi Germany, and it goes on to help scholars from all over the world; now, it helps mostly scholars from Arab and Islamic countries.
4- This noble organization helped us remove the falsehoods and myths from our mind regarding Jews; we are still fascinated by the noble, generous nature of the American Jewish lawyer Irving Spitzberg and his wife Virginia (may the Lord God grant them better health); he helped our person to get political asylum in the USA. The vociferous devils inside our mind at the time told us that both Spitzberg and his wife might be exceptions to the 'rule' we have been taught in Egypt that all Jews are 'naturally' bad and evil. We thank the Lord God for getting rid of the negative influence of vociferous devils forever.
Secondly:
1- After gaining political asylum, Spitzberg helped us to bring our wife and our sons who are less than 21 years old. We were permitted at first to bring our wife and the youngest of our six sons: Mounir. Both came in May 21st, 2003, which was also the 25th anniversary of our marriage. At the same time, we were offered a job for one year as a Fellow at Harvard.
2- We, our wife, and our son traveled to Boston and we rented a floor in a certain house; we did not know anything about Boston at the time; we received our job at Harvard; our young colleague who has middle-Eastern features was an Israeli citizen whose father is originally from Damascus; we dealt with each other in a normal manner; there were no sensitivities or worries at all; we asked him if he knew a shop to buy two beds, for we had none where we lived and we (along with our wife and son) slept on the floor; he promised to get us two beds and asked for our address.
3- When we told our wife about the Israeli colleague who will bring us two beds, she panicked and rebuked us for giving him our address; she felt that he is an Israeli 'enemy' who will murder us for sure! We failed to pacify her and she refused to listen to our words as we refuted the reason behind her fears; she shivered in fright at the thought of having to receive an Israeli at the house. Exactly at the appointed time, he knocked at our door; he had a friend with him who was a Jew (as we have discerned from the name of this friend). Both men left the two beds at the door, and they asked politely to be permitted to carry them into the house, but we refused at first because we felt embarrassed by their generosity. Our wife locked the door of her room in fear; she did not want to see them because they were Jewish. Both men carried the parts of the two beds and other pieces of furniture; the staircase was narrow and this tired them very much as they carried every piece in turn; they insisted on refusing our giving them a helping hand; they put together the parts of the beds and arranged the pieces of furniture; they politely refused to stay and have a cup of tea. They left the place at once; we have been fascinated with their noble, generous nature. Our wife did not get out of her room until we told her that both men had left. She saw the two beds and the pieces of furniture; she fell silent as she was embarrassed because of her earlier stance and reaction. The noble, generous nature of both Jewish gentlemen surprised her very much.
4- We implored the Lord God to bless and reward both men for their helping us.
Thirdly:
1- Our year of being a Fellow at Harvard came to an end; we looked for another position at Harvard in the field of our specialization, but the only scholarships and money available for appointing professors in Islamic studies come from the Wahabi Gulf monarchies; this means there was no room for our person, or so we have been told. We felt despaired, and we returned to VA along with our family members.
2- Later on, we got acquainted with our dear friend, Dr. Charles Jacobs, a Jewish activist in the field of human rights; we, Jacobs, and a Christian friend who is a professor at Boston University established the Boston-based non-profit organization known as Citizens for Peace and Tolerance (APT) (www.peaceandtolerance.org).
3- Jacobs has always fascinated our person with his politeness and generosity; he has invited us many times to deliver speeches about Islam (i.e., Quranism); we would seize every chance to assert that Wahabism has hijacked the name of Islam; talking about this topic more often has always been of vital importance to us. Our presence in the USA as a Muslim thinker and as a political asylee who has been persecuted in his homeland because of his calling for religious and political reform was a more-than-enough proof that Wahabis and extremists/fanatics in general do not represent Islam.
4- With the help of Jacobs, we have been a guest in some TV channels in the Boston media; besides, we have been interviewed by some newspapers in Boston; we have grown more famous in comparison to the case of gaining little fame when we worked as a Fellow at Harvard. At one time, we delivered a speech inside a Jewish temple in Boston; we have been heard by more than 1000 attendees; we have never witnessed such heart-melting welcome and appreciation before in our life; they gave our person a standing ovation and tears dropped from our eyes. This is in utter contrast to the humiliation and persecution we have suffered in Egypt. Before we left the temple, many of the attendees gathered around our person and desired to donate money to us; we felt embarrassed by their generosity and refused politely to take any money while thanking them. We had no experience in such matters, and at that point in time, we have not yet established our VA-based IQC. We implored the Lord God to reward them for their giving me such welcome and appreciation.
5- Jacobs invited us at one time to deliver some lectures to the Jewish young people in Boston; we made our wife accompany us and we lived in the house of Jacobs; our wife got acquainted with his wife, whose mother was a victim within one of the Nazi concentration camps. Our person and our wife were touched by the generosity and warmth of Jacobs and his wife. Thus, our wife finally got rid of the influence of the vociferous devils, especially after she got acquainted with Spitzberg and his wife.
6- Jacobs at one time visited us in the flat we used to live in after the rest of our sons came to the USA; he reserved a room for himself at the Hilton Hotel which is near this flat; he has become a friend of our family. Talking and writing about Jacobs is very enjoyable to our person; he has helped us on several occasions and we feel infinitely grateful to him; we are not among those who feel ungrateful to those who offered them help.
Fourthly:
1- Within our political activism in Washington – during the Bush administration – we have encountered and got acquainted with many influential politicians, and one of them is a friend (may the Lord God bless and reward him) who occupies a high-rank position and he has helped our person a lot. We got to know how important his position is when we visited him in his office and saw many security guards who searched everyone before allowing them to enter into his office. We loved talking to him and we typically meet him within encounters with another group of friends. We once invited him to dinner at our house to make him try Egyptian food; he loved the dish of stuffed vegetables; he kept praising our wife for her generosity afterwards and he felt grateful to her; he usually would tell our friends that she cooked him the Egyptian-food dinner herself.
2- Oh, we forgot to mention that he is a Jew as well; he is, in fact, one among the noblest Jews who we have the honor to know.
3- The list of the noble Jews we have met is a very long one; the common feature among all of them is that they act in a noble manner spontaneously and they never expect a thank-you or a reward in return from those who are helped by them.
4- All of these noble Jews are like our friend Spitzberg – may the Lord God grant him a better health – who considers those whom he helped to gain political asylum as his family members and he invites them to his home especially in parties held by him and his wife; those who have received his help, apart from our person, include Arab Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and Africans.
Lastly:
1- The American noble Jews we have met have the same religion in which we believe: the religion of peace, freedom, justice, and human dignity.
2- The American noble Jews we have met have helped remove the negative influence of the vociferous devils from our person and our wife.
3- Why do not the moderate Palestinian voices reach those noble American Jews? The Palestinians should first get rid of the vociferous devils.
4- Could readers guess who the vociferous devils are?
COMMENTS:
(1) Adel Bin Ahmad: May God bless and reward you, Dr. Mansour. I think that the vociferous devils are those clergymen and politicians in the countries of the Muhammadans who brainwash the masses in mosques and through mainstream media; they spread many myths such as (Israelis and the Jews and Christians of the West are pure evil). The gullible, naïve masses typically believe such myths; only those people who are lucky enough to visit any of the West countries discover how much they have been deceived by such brainwash.
(2) Saeed Ali: I'd like to write this comment about the Jewish mentality and the Arab mentality; the Jewish mentality is a racist one, because most Jews assume themselves to be superior to all gentiles. Jews and Christians adhere to the myth that they are the children of God: "The Jews and the Christians say, "We are the children of God, and His beloved."..." (5:18). The Jewish airs of superiority lead them to assume they will get out of Hell if they are made to enter it on the Last Day: "...The Fire will not touch us except for a number of days..." (2:80); thus, with their hardened hearts, they ascribe lie and falsehoods to God: "Then after that your hearts hardened. They were as rocks, or even harder..." (2:74). By the way, Jews are the sinners among the Israelites; they are not all Israelites; besides, not all Jews are the descendants of the Israelites. The monotheistic Jews who performed good deeds will have no fear/sorrow and will enter into Paradise: "Those who believe, and those who are Jewish, and the Christians, and the Sabians - any who believe in God and the Last Day, and act righteously - will have their reward with their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve." (2:62). God's religion is peaceful behavior and non-violence within piety and monotheism, and it addresses the mercy inside hearts of those human beings who believe in God. God is the Omniscient Lord Who knows who the real, peaceful, monotheistic Muslims are. The Arab mentality shows the indications of Arabs being brainwashed to hate Jews/Israelis/Israelites for no reason; this increased after 1948, of course; the Arabs cannot forget the savage crimes committed in Palestine; besides, Arab heritage, literature, and folklore are filled with Jewish personalities that embody stinginess, treachery, greed, and meanness. The same applies to the European heritage literature, and folklore; the most famous example is Shylock the usurer in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice". Many Jews now control economy and finance in Germany. Of course, it is very wrong to generalize; we cannot possibly hate all Jews and Israelis because of the crimes and offenses of few persons among them. The media machine brainwashes the masses and injects them with hatred towards certain nation(s), race(s), or group(s); e.g., Shiite clergymen in their TV channels incite hatred against Sunnites; Sunnite clergymen in their TV channels incite hatred against Shiites; Arabs are depicted as lustful, stupid, extravagant, and gullible in American movies and TV series produced by Jewish producers. Russians, Chinese/Asians, and Eastern Europeans are depicted in a silly manner in movies produced in the West countries. Likewise, Americans (and the West citizens at large) are depicted in an erroneous manner in Arab and Egyptian movies and TV series. The depiction of Israelis and Jews is negative in Egyptian movies and TV series. I should like to see noble, kind-hearted, generous Jews in Egyptian movies and TV series; by the way, it is OK to show some evil Palestinians in Arab and Egyptian movies and TV series. Of course, geniuses among the Palestinians in many fields have immigrated to the West. Those corrupt leaders of the Palestinians who seek superiority on earth and those extremists in the Israeli right-wing who seek superiority in a similar manner are in the wrong; injustices will be the same despite differences of culture, religious denominations, and nationalities. Only those who adhere to peace and human rights are the true Muslims/monotheists who embrace God's religion; i.e., peace.
(3) Dr. Othman M. Ali: I offer my apologies for Arabs/Muslims like me for what I will say here: in Canada, where I live since 2005, I see that the behaviors and conscience of Jews, Christians, and those of other denominations and atheists here in the West (of all nationalities) are better and more elevated; they have a higher moralistic level than most Arabs I've met in my life. A person is judged as corrupt or good as per the ways of dealing with others (are they fair and polite or not). I do believe that Israelis and Jews are good people inside Israel and inside the West countries, despite the special case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and therefore, I think that peace should be restored so that bloodshed would stop and everyone must adhere to a higher moralistic level.
(4) Hisham Al-Saeedi: I still urge readers to surf the internet to read online the news about the Land Day demonstrations, commemorations, and protests and to focus on how the savage Israelis killed the Palestinians at the borders and how the world remains silent regarding such a heinous crime. The Palestinians will emerge victorious in the future, sooner or later, because their cause is just.