Islamists in Egypt are going off the deep end. With all avenues closed before them by the current authorities they are determined to prove they still exist in the political arena. Their way of doing this is to toss the stone of “Islamic revolution” into long stagnant waters. The Salafi Front is a member of the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL). For the first time in Egypt it has raised the call for an “Islamic revolution” set to begin on 28 November. The front, which consists of a Salafi who, like the members of NASL as a whole, regard the 30 June Revolution as a military coup, announced on its Facebook page that the aims of the revolution are to “protect Islamic identity, reject military rule and reject hegemony”. Beneath the title, “The launch and activities of the Muslim youth uprising: the battle for identity,” the front's Facebook declaration read: “The false one has revealed his true and ugly face. He is leading a secular movement against the revolution with the aim of uprooting identity and eliminating Islam, its creed and its Sharia, after the revolution had supported the traitor with borrowed beards and wonton turbans – those who had said that revolution was a crime and held that to rebel against him was sedition and who were then the first to profit from the revolution before turning against it in order to side, once again, with their new master, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. To him and his soldiers they gave a mandate to kill Muslim Egyptian youth in all the streets and squares of Egypt, to abuse the honourable and pure, to imprison tens of thousands, to prevent the mosques of God from mentioning His name, to seek to destroy and burn them before confiscating and nationalising them, to sow corruption on earth in accordance with the trend of his predecessor, the great Pharaoh of Egypt.” The statement proceeded to declare: “Now is the time for Muslim youth to launch His intifada and proclaim his revolution!” “Now is the time for those who grasped the lesson early, who were aware of blatant cunning, who never put their hands in the palms of criminal generals and who cried out against military rule to overthrow the system of military rule and not just some of its members!” “Now is the time for hearts that were born proud and honourable by nature to defy those who sought to humiliate them and break their will!” “Now is the time for those who took all who participated in every place and square of the revolution to rise up and complete the revolution!” “Now is the time for all who rose up against the Zionist-like Mubarak regime, who championed the weak in the Balloon Theatre events, who defeated Shafiq, who set into motion the events of Mohamed Mahmoud and defied the Ministry of Interior thugs, who marched in defence of the chastity of Egyptian women and against virginity tests, who were the heroes of Abbasiya – now is the time for them to realise their vision and raise their banner!” The tract continues: “So, launch the Islamic revolution: Islamic in flesh and blood... Launch it purely to refute the malignancy of secularism... Launch it for the sanctity of constitutions, parliaments, ministries and governments...” “Launch it! A revolution for identity that raises the banner of Sharia to restore right and realise retribution and not just ask for it.” “Launch it to achieve people's worship of God on earth, to establish God's laws as the source of constitutions and the basis of law.” “Launch it for the sake of rejecting American hegemony, Israeli domination and Western arrogance; all those who occupy our land, steal our resources, divide our nation and kill our peoples.” “Launch it against the hired proxy and cheap mercenary system and against all the organisations of the deep state lurking in the darkness there beneath the rot.” “Launch it so that you can secure the rights of the poor and downtrodden, side with the marginalised and recapture the money of the people that has fallen into the hands of robbers and the gang of the council and the 40 thieves... Our appointment is with uprising-Muslim-youth starting on 28 November 2014. Our aims: protect identity, reject hegemony, overthrow military rule!” Why 28 November in particular? The Salafi Front proclamation did not explain. A Salafi Front spokesman did explain that they used the term “Muslim youth” with the purpose of “expanding the scope of the revolution”. “Muslim youth is broader than Islamist youth and Muslim Brotherhood youth. There is a broad segment of youth in Egypt who suffer from their circumstances and the lack of clarity of vision with regard to the revolution in Egypt,” he said. “These youths are the ones that rejected the choices of the Islamist forces after the revolution, who said ‘No to military rule' after the January Revolution and in the period following Muslim Brotherhood rule. They are the ones who object to many of the decisions taken by former president Mohamed Morsi. These are the youth who can overthrow military rule.” In statements to the Anatolian news agency, Salafi Front leader and spokesman for the “Islamic Revolution” campaign Mohamed Galal said, “we have called for the start of a comprehensive Islamic revolution on 28 November, now that we have found that to return to Islamic Sharia is the only way out of the crises our country is experiencing.” Galal continued his statement to the Turkish press: “The Egyptian people always chose Sharia in all the elections before the coup. They chose the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, or the Nour Party, and they chose Morsi as president in June 2012 because of his Islamist orientation and because he belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood.” According to the Salafi Front leader their revolution is not just to overthrow “military rule”. “There will be a revolution against all the corrupt values and the erroneous awareness that has turned the country away from its Islamic identity.” On the conflict of his call with secularist, left-wing and other political forces that differ with the views of the Islamist trend, Galal was firm: “This is not the time for coming together. It is a time for the battle to impose identity and to reject hegemony. Anyway, they hate the Islamist trend in all its components and will not put their hands in ours whatever happens.” He admits some Islamists made mistakes. “But they have now paid the price by being killed, abused, tortured and imprisoned,” adding that they (the Islamists) “are marching on the road of revolution and will not turn off”. On the parties or groups taking part in the campaign, the Salafi Front leader said his organisation had come up with the idea “then a number of Islamist youth and other forces joined us”. He refused to mention who those other forces were. He did, however, stress that the campaign was not part of the pro-Morsi NASL alliance. “Our idea is totally different. We have different activities and awareness raising campaigns, although we agree with the Alliance that we will not bear arms and that we will adopt peaceful protest as a strategic option.” NASL official Imam Youssef was keen to distance his organisation from the Salafi Front campaign. “The subject was never even proposed to the Alliance.” Salafi Calling, a proselytising organisation that applies and seeks to disseminate the Salafi manhaj (doctrine) and that supports the current authorities, opposes the call to an “Islamic revolution”. “All calls that seek to stir confusion, chaos and conflict are unacceptable and can only bring ill to the country and its people,” said Salafi Calling spokesman Adel Nasr. “Attempts on the part of some to bring down the state only serve the enemies of Islam. As we have seen, the only parties to benefit from the countries that fell are Iran, Israel and the West.” The Nour Party, the largest Salafi party in Egypt and also a supporter of the current authorities, agrees that the Salafi Front's campaign can only be counterproductive. The party urged the front to steer its energies away from confrontational political activities and demonstrations that are detrimental to stability. Some sources suspect the Muslim Brotherhood is involved in the campaign launched by the Salafi Front. Ahmed Rabie an expert in Islamist movements believes that the Muslim Brotherhood is behind the whole thing. “The Brotherhood is preparing for the day in order to spread anarchy in Egypt,” he says. “The idea of calling for an Islamic revolution that does not rule out the use of arms emerged from individuals whose jihadist thinking derives from Rabaa Al-Adawiya square. The idea emerged from the pro-Brotherhood alliance in the guise of the Salafi Front but the chief architect is the Brotherhood, even if this is not mentioned in the Facebook statement.” Ahmed Shukri, a member of the Shura Council of the Salafi Calling, agrees that the Muslim Brotherhood is behind the “Islamic revolution” campaign. He believes that Brotherhood's purpose is to fool the authorities into thinking that the Salafis are the ones who practise violence by having the Salafi Front issue the call to revolution. The Construction and Development Party and its mother organisation, Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, have also come out against the Salafi Front campaign. This is likely to pave the way to these organisations' final break with NASL, especially given that Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya plans to take part in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Al-Gamaa had openly objected NASL decisions on a number of occasions. The Brotherhood Without Violence (BWV) movement also denounced the campaign. A BWV source says the [Salafi] Front held a series of preliminary meetings to prepare for the uprising on 28 November with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Ahrar (Free men's) Movement from Hazemoon, and a number of NASL leaders. The source added that participants in the meetings were determined to draw up a plan for as bloody a day as possible, including the planting of rudimentary bombs in Metro stations. BWV echoed the belief that the purpose of the so-called Islamic revolution was to unleash violence and chaos and to use armed force in order to seize control of state institutions. The Interior Ministry has begun to take precautions for the day, tightening security around public facilities. “A unit from Giza security has arrested Ahmed Mawlana, spokesman of the People's Party, the political wing of the Salafi Front, in response to reports filed against him accusing him of incitement of violence and terrorism,” said one security source. Salafi Front spokesman Khaled Said confirmed the arrest of Ahmed Mawlana, a member of the Front's political bureau and one of those responsible for the “Islamic revolution” campaign. Kamal Habib, a writer and expert on Islamist movements, describes the campaign as a “product of frustration and confusion” and “unviable”. He points out that the Salafi Front is only a small part of the Salafi movement, let alone the larger Islamist, trend. He still anticipates scattered acts of violence on 28 November given the anger of Islamists at how the political horizons have closed in on them. “The security solution,” he says, “will not work with Islamist youths. Efforts should be made to address the problems they face, to assimilate the rational ones into the public sphere and to attempt to use intellectual persuasion with the extremists.”
