U.S. Headlines: CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc.

• Turmoil in the Middle East, Confusion in the White House

• Uncertainty In Arab Countries After Protests Dispersed In Algeria

• Muslim Brotherhood blamed for violence...• Mubarak leaves US confused: Media• Crackdown Widens to Foreign Observers...

Obama response draws criticism in Israel... UN to evacuate staff... Muslim Brotherhood wants end to Egypt-Israeli peace deal...

Kenneth Cole tweets: Egypt is rioting over our spring collection...

Jon Stewart Jokes: 'Hands off Anderson Cooper!'

Speeding Police Truck Runs Over Protesters...ABCNEWS REPORTER THREATENED WITH BEHEADING...FOXNEWS reporter, cameraman beaten, hospitalized...

The Arab revolution and Western decline...Soros: 'The main stumbling block is Israel'...

• Getting back to normal in Egypt...Obama getting his budget ready

• Demonstrations 'like a flu,' Yemeni president • Will Egypt crisis ever end? | Timeline• U.S. scrambles to keep up with Egypt turmoil• Muslim

Brotherhood strategist calls for Mubarak trial• NYT: Caught by Surprise: With the Arab

revolutionary tsunami now extending from Libya to Bahrain to Yemen, there is no telling where this wave of popular unrest will lead. The biggest mystery is the way in which the Obama administration has been caught by surprise.

• On Twitter, Egypt conflict is riveting, confusing• Thugs beat protesters at Egypt vigil in Syria• State radio: Zimbabwe PM wants Egypt-style u

prising• Iran Leader: Mubarak Betrayed His People• Spirit of Egypt protests spread to Algeria, Yemen

and Syria

Haaretz: The Arab Revolution and Western Decline, By Ari Shavit

• Two huge processes are happening right before our

eyes. One is the Arab liberation revolution. After half a century during which tyrants have ruled the Arab world, their control is weakening. After 40 years of decaying stability, the rot is eating into the stability. The Arab masses will no longer accept what they used to accept. The Arab elites will no longer remain silent.

• Processes that have been roiling beneath the surface for about a decade are suddenly bursting out in an intifada of freedom. Modernization, globalization, telecommunications and Islamization have created a critical mass that cannot be stopped. The example of democratic Iraq is awakening others, and Al Jazeera's subversive broadcasts are fanning the flames. And so the Tunisian bastille fell, the Cairo bastille is falling and other Arab bastilles will fall.

• The scenes are similar to the Palestinian intifada of 1987, but the collapse recalls the Soviet collapse in Eastern Europe of 1989. No one knows where the intifada will lead. No one knows whether it will bring democracy, theocracy or a new kind of democracy. But things will never again be the same.

• The old order in the Middle East is crumbling. Just as the officers' revolution in the 1950s brought down the Arab monarchism that had relied on the colonial powers, the 2011 revolution in the square is bringing down the Arab tyrants who were dependent on the United States.

• The second process is the acceleration of the decline of the West. For some 60 years the West gave the world imperfect but stable order. It built a kind of post-imperial empire that promised relative quiet and maximum peace. The rise of China, India, Brazil and Russia, like the economic crisis in the United States, has made it clear that the empire is beginning to fade.

• And yet, the West has maintained a sort of international hegemony. Just as no replacement has been found for the dollar, none has been found for North Atlantic leadership. But Western countries' poor handling of the Middle East proves they are no longer leaders. Right before our eyes the superpowers are turning into palaver powers.

• There are no excuses for the contradictions. How can it be that Bush's America understood the problem of repression in the Arab world, but Obama's America ignored it until last week? How can it be that in May 2009, Hosni Mubarak was an esteemed president whom Barack Obama respected, and in January 2011, Mubarak is a dictator whom even Obama is casting aside? How can it be that in June 2009, Obama didn't support the masses who came out against the zealot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while now he stands by the masses who are coming out against the moderate Mubarak?

• There is one answer: The West's position is not a moral one that reflects a real commitment to human rights.

THE ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE MEMBER STATESThe Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an international organization grouping fifty seven states which have

decided to pool their resources together, combine their efforts, and speak with one voice to safeguard the interests and secure the progress and well-being of their peoples and of all Muslims in the world.

COUNTRIES WITH AN ISLAMIC MAJORITY• Islamic states• Islamic states have adopted Islam as the ideological

foundation for their political institution.• Afghanistan]

• Bahrain[

• Iran• Mauritania[

• Oman• Pakistan• Yemen]

• Saudi Arabia

• []State religion• State religion are religious body or creed officially

endorsed by the state.• Algeria• Bangladesh• Egypt• Iraq• Kuwait• Libya• Malaysia• Maldives• Morocco

• Sudan• Somalia• Tunisia• United Arab Emirates

• Secular States:Secular states are officially neutral in matters of religion, neither supporting nor opposing any particular religions.• Albania• Azerbaijan[

• Bosnia and Herzegovina• Burkina Faso• Chad• Djibouti• Gambia• Guinea• Indonesia• Kazakhstan• Kosovo• Kyrgyzstan• Mali• Senegal• Tajikstan• Turkmenistan• Turkey• Uzbekistan

In 2006, 2007, and 2008, Gallup asked representative samples in 143 countries and territories whether religion was an important part of their daily lives. This map is based on the results, and shows religiosity by country, ranging from the least religious to the most religious on a relative basis.

Facts about population

• There are more Islamic’s living in Germany than in Lebanon, more in China than in Syria.

• The nations with the largest Islamic populations (in order) are: Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh (all part of the former British Empire)

• “The world's Muslim population is expected to increase by about 35% in the next 20 years, rising from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 2.2 billion by 2030, according to new population projections by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.

• Globally, the Muslim population is forecast to grow at about twice the rate of the non-Muslim population over the next two decades -- an average annual growth rate of 1.5% for Muslims, compared with 0.7% for non-Muslims. If current trends continue, Muslims will make up 26.4% of the world's total projected population of 8.3 billion in 2030, up from 23.4% of the estimated 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.”

• > From the executive summary, PEW Foundation Report, Jan. 27, 2011

In Contrast:

• First, Asian populations are ageing rapidly because of declining fertility rates and increasing longevity. Asia’s share of world population aged 60 or over will increase from 54 per cent in 2010 to 60 per cent in 2030. Asia will more than double its population above the age of 80 over this period. In China and India by the year 2050 the largest single age cohort will be women over 70 years of age

• There has been both good and bad news coming out of Asia on the population front. The good news is many Asians are living longer. The bad news is not only are many living longer but there are fewer “new Asians” coming on to the scene. And, that demographic transition is rife with important implications for economic growth and living standards in many Asian countries, especially in Northeast and East Asia. (East-West Study Center Report)

• Population demographers have announced that the fertility rates in developed countries continued to decline in 2005. In order for a population to grow, the fertility rate must be at least 2.1. The current global fertility rate is 2.6, meaning the total population of the earth is continuing to increase, but developed countries fertility rates continued to decline. The fertility rates began dropping below replacement levels in West Europe after WWII and have continued to decline. A sampling of the fertility rates by country is as follows:

Birth Rates• Somalia 6.84• Niger 6.75• Afghanistan 6.75• Gaza Strip 5.91• West Bank 4.40• Haiti 5.02• Iraq 4.28• Saudi Arabia 4.05• Bangladesh 3.13• Egypt 2.88• Mexico 2.45• Israel 2.44• United States 2.08• Ireland 1.87• Norway 1.78• United Kingdom 1.66• Canada 1.61• European Union 1.47• Russia 1.27• Japan 1.25• South Korea 1.08

How It All Began

Abraham Sarah Hagar (Egyptian)

| | Isaac Ishmael

(Egyptian wife) | | |

Jacob Esau Arabs | | Jews/Israel Palestinians/Arab

(Edom, Amalek)

Birthplace of Islam, MohammedMecca is the legendary home of Hagar

and Ishmael, • once a sacred site where images of 360 various “gods”

where collected. The “idols” were destroyed by Mohammed when he made this home base. He left

only shrines which were attributed to the Abrahamic tradition as well as statues of Mary and Jesus.

The Ka’ ba Shrine at the the Mecca Mosque – the largest in the world• This shrine is site where Abraham and Ishmael

are said in Islamic tradition to have built a house . Nearby is the Zamzam spring which is

said to be the water source God showed Hagar in the wilderness. (Genesis 21:8-20)

About Mecca• It is interesting to note that prior to the age of the European world explorations, the

pilgrimage to Mecca was the single largest expression of human mobility. As the religion of Islam rapidly spread across the world from Indonesia and China in the Far East to Spain, Morocco and West Africa in the west, ever increasing numbers of pilgrims made the long, and often dangerous, journey to Mecca. Some came by boat, braving the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Others spent months in camel caravans slowly crossing great tracts of land. The most important pilgrimage caravans were the Egyptian, the Syrian, the Maghribi, the Sudanese and those from Iraq and Persia.

• Forbidden to persons not of the Muslim faith, Mecca came to symbolize for Europeans the secrets and mysteries of the orient, and as such became a magnet for explorers and adventurers. A few of these daring travelers, such as John Lewis Burckhardt from Switzerland (who, in 1812, was also the first European to visit the ruins of Petra) and Sir Richard Burton from Great Britain were able to convincingly impersonate Muslim pilgrims, gain entrance to Mecca, and write wonderfully of the holy city upon their return to Europe. Other explorers were not so lucky; many of them disappeared or were caught and sold into slavery. To this day, Mecca remains strictly closed for persons not of the Muslim faith.

• Nowadays about 2,000,000 persons perform the Hajj each year, and the pilgrimage serves as a unifying force in Islam by bringing together followers from diverse countries and language groups. In a certain sense Mecca is said to be visited by all Muslims every day; this because five times each day millions of devout believers kneel to pray. Wherever the place of prayer - be it a mosque, a remote place in the wilderness or the interior of a home - Muslims face towards Mecca and are united to the Ka’ba by an invisible line of direction called the qibla.

Modern Israel vs 8th Cent. B.C.Descendents of Jacob (Israel) vs. Esau (Edom/West Bank)

ANCIENT EDOM/ESAUSig – The Entrance to the Ancient

Edomite Capital: Petra Ancient Tombs at Petra

I Chronicles 1 (The Bible)

The Family of Abraham:The Descendants of Hagar – Ishmael, Nebaioth,

Kedar . . .The Descendants of Keturah – Midian . . .The Descendants of Sarah – Isaac, Esau, JacobThe Descendants of Esau – Eliphaz, Reuel . . .The People of Seir in Edom . . . .The Rulers of Edom . . . .The Sons of Israel/Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi . .

The Ancient Conflict

• Psalm 83 (summary of the Old Testament Battles between Israel and Edom, Amalek, Ishmael, Midian: “O God be not silent . . See how your enemies are astir, . . With cunning they conspire against your people . . . Come! They say, let us destroy them as a nation that the name of Israel be remembered no more. With one mind they plot together . . Edom, the Ishamaelites, the Hagrites, Ammon and Amalek . . . Do to them as you did to Midian.”

• Israel in Captivity in Persia – Haman attempts a holocaust – he is the descendant of Amalekite king Agag – executed by the prophet Samuel (Esther’s intervention to stop Haman is the origin of hanukkah)

• Herod who kills the babies at Bethlehem in an effort to prevent the Messiah was an Edomite• The Islamic invasion of 632 – 732 mostly at the expense of the Byzantine (Christian) Empire creates a

Muslim Empire with an area of influence that stretched from the borders of China and India (Present day Pakistan), across Central Asia, the Middle East,North Africa, Sicily, and the Iberian Peninsula, to the Pyrenees

• Crusades 1095 – 1291 – Military invasion of Islamic lands sanctioned by the Catholic Church retakes and holds for a while much of the land lost in the earlier Islamic Invasion.

• The Ottoman (Islamic) conquest of Europe stopped at Vienna: 1683• Israel is established in 1947, 1948 as a result of armed conflict with the Zionists (with western support)

and the Arab Legion• The Ba’ath (Resurrection) Party – the renamed Nazi party under Vichy French in Syria takes power in

Syria and Iraq (Sadaam Hussein)

Why is Islam (Inherently) hostile to Christianity?

• Islam sees a morally corrupt society that despite its moral corruption wields power and influence over the Islamic world. It associates it’s decadence (as it did with the Byzantine and Medieval/ Renaissance Church) with its supposed spiritual foundation (Christianity)

But there is another more profound reason:

• Bible: Galatians 3:26-29: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

There are on the surface seeming similarities between Islam and Christianity

• A ‘way’ of life and practice that is the ideal of all adherents without a central “figure” or governing organization. (Pope’s, Bishops, Khomeini’s may wield power – but it is temporal and sometimes misguided)

• A supra-national agenda – Islam: bringing about a global Islamic world order. Christianity: a primary allegiance to the Kingdom of God from which national citizenship is secondary.

• An agenda to integrate belief into culture, politics, and community.

• An exclusivity of belief – that the “way” is the true way to which all who seek truth will be drawn.

• Temporal experience is secondary – Eternal is primary

There are Profound Differences

Islam • Adherence comes automatically by

birth and cannot be changed. • Inclusion comes by conformity to

‘Sharia’ an external system of behavior reinforced by community conformity that makes one righteous.

• People who are not Muslim by birth or conversion are not ‘worthy’ and can be the object of “holy war’ – “Jihad” when appropriate (some Islamics believe it is right in defensive circumstances to kill for one’s faith.)

• Islam seeks to create an Islamic Culture.

Christianity • One becomes a Christian by having a

personal faith in God through Jesus Christ that is internally transformational . (rebirth)

• Community is based on a common faith and experience that is shared.

• All persons are loved of God and the invitation is to “come and see’.

• Christians die for what they believe and die to allow others to believe. Military action on behalf of faith is always a heresy.

• Christians engage existing cultures utilizing their images, music, dress, to communicate their message.

Why are Christians Anxious?

Christian MartyrsCatholic Pre-1000 855,000Orthodox 42,798,000Roman Catholic 12,210,000Independents 3,512,000Protestants 3,172,000Anglicans 1,046,000Other 6,682,400 ______________

Persecutors responsible:

State Ruling Power/ 55,871,000Atheists (overlap)Muslims 9, 121,000Ethnoreligionists (animist) 7,469,000Buddhists 1,651,000Hindus 676,000Zoroastrians 384,000

What is Jihad?• The word Jihad stems from the Arabic root word J-H-D, which means "strive." Other words derived from

this root include "effort," "labor," and "fatigue." Essentially Jihad is an effort to practice religion in the face of oppression and persecution. The effort may come in fighting the evil in your own heart, or in standing up to a dictator. Military effort is included as an option, but as a last resort and not "to spread Islam by the sword" as the stereotype would have one believe.

• The Qur'an describes Jihad as a system of checks and balances, as a way that Allah set up to "check one people by means of another." When one person or group transgresses their limits and violates the rights of others, Muslims have the right and the duty to "check" them and bring them back into line. There are several verses of the Qur'an that describe jihad in this manner. One example:"And did not Allah check one set of people by means of another,the earth would indeed be full of mischief;but Allah is full of Bounty to all the worlds"-Qur'an 2:251

• Islam never tolerates unprovoked aggression from its own side; Muslims are commanded in the Qur'an not to begin hostilities, embark on any act of aggression, violate the rights of others, or harm the innocent. Even hurting or destroying animals or trees is forbidden. War is waged only to defend the religious community against oppression and persecution, because the Qur'an says that "persecution is worse than slaughter" and "let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression" (Qur'an 2:190-193). Therefore, if non-Muslims are peaceful or indifferent to Islam, there is no justified reason to declare war on them.

• Jihad from an Islamic Perspective: Huda (a Muslim educator and writer)

If Jihad is “defensive action” what’s the problem?

• First Communist Russia – then the “Christian” west (NATO) invades Islamic Afghanistan

• The west (a.k.a. United States) invades Iraq.• The west supports and sustains the creation of a Jewish state on “arab

(a.k.a. Islamic) soil” in 1948• The west supports secular strong men and monarchs in Tunisia, Syria,

Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Indonesia, Algeria, etc. in order to limit Islamic power and influence.

• The west controls and manipulates petroleum production for its own consumption in heavily Islamic countries (Nigeria, Mid-east). (While young Islamic men and families struggle with unemployment and poverty).

• The west infiltrates Islamic families/society with its pornography, promiscuity, divorce, abortion, addictions, music, dress (undress), consumerism, etc. – and labels Islamic family life and values as oppressive.

Dexter Van Zile• On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 12:55 PM, Dexter Van Zile <dextervanzile@gmail.com> wrote:

in general terms, the best and most comprehensive explanation is that the writings of • Sayd Qutb and Hassan al Banna are coming home to roost just the same way that Marx's

writings came home to roost in china and Russia in the last century.

it was a long time coming, but that's what's going on.

ideas have consequences and these ideas have terrible consequences.

the protesters in Egypt have legitimate grievances and the problem is that the Mubarak regime was assessed by only one measure -- it's willingness to abide by the treaty with Israel.

we didn't pay enough attention to Mubarak's inability to modernize.

when he took over after Sadat was assassinated, he was the savior. he was going to keep the Muslim brotherhood -- which killed Sadat -- out of power. the Egyptian people have said that is no longer enough.

The problem is that the Muslim brother hood will take over any mass movement in Egypt. There will be a lot of commentary about how the Muslim brotherhood isn't so bad, that Islamism regimes are tolerable.

Al Jazeera, 2/10/2011• Mubarak wonderfully encapsulated the fear that his

regime has generated over three decades in order to maintain control. With little concern for the sentiments of his people, Mubarak played directly to the fears of his Western backers: Either support my despotism, whatever its limitations, he was saying, or face having to deal with the "Islamists".

While leaders in the US and the EU stutter over how to respond to the new realities in the region, unfortunately for Mubarak, the people of Egypt are refusing to buy into his fear-mongering. The Muslim Brotherhood - whether Mubarak's regime and his backers like it or not - is part and parcel of Egyptian society.

• The Ikhwan is the "father" of Islamic political activism, tracing its roots back to 1928 when it emerged as a movement advocating a return to Islamic morals. Its early political activism was against British rule in Egypt when it opposed the Westernization of the country. While its formative years were devoted to overcoming imperialism, its history has been marked by challenges to the political status quo and, thus, to fending off state repression. The Muslim Brotherhood has alternately been tolerated, outlawed, its leaders assassinated and/or executed.

Despite the suppression, its popularity has grown owing mainly to a network of medical, legal, social and charitable services that it continues to provide. Where the state has failed Egyptians, the Ikhwan has helped prop up peoples' lives.

• Such is its influence that it has spawned offshoots in Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Libya and Somalia in Africa, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel in the Levant, across the Gulf States and further afield in places such as Pakistan. Misconceptions in the West about the movement do not detract from the Brotherhood's popular following in Egypt and beyond.

• Milestones to where?• One of the most seminal works to emanate from the

ranks of the Ikhwan, one which led the Egyptian regime at the time to clamp down massively against the movement, was Milestones, written by a powerful Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, in 1964.

The publication of Qutb's book, which called for the reinstatement of Sharia as the basis of Egyptian law and for the overthrow of what he labelled the "Jahili" (i.e. pre-Islamic) system prevalent in the country, led to his execution.

That Milestones is today considered the principal reference book for a myriad of armed Islamic groups across the world is testament to its influence.

Sayyid Qutb• Born in Egypt – college Educationed at the University of Colorado. • On his return to Egypt, Qutb published an article entitled "The America that I Have Seen." He was critical of

many things he had observed in the United States: its materialism, individual freedoms, economic system, racism, brutal boxing matches, "poor" haircuts, superficiality in conversations and friendships, restrictions on divorce, enthusiasm for sports, lack of artistic feeling, "animal-like" mixing of the sexes(which "went on even in churches"), and strong support for the new Israeli state.

• In July 1952, Egypt's pro-Western government was overthrown by the nationalist Free Officers Movement headed by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Both Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood welcomed the coup against the monarchist government — which they saw as un-Islamic and subservient to British imperialism — and enjoyed a close relationship with the movement prior to and immediately following the coup. Many members of the Brotherhood expected Nasser to establish an Islamic government. However, the cooperation between the Brotherhood and Free Officers which marked the revolution's success soon soured as it became clear the secular nationalist ideology of Nasserism was incompatible with the Islamism of the Brotherhood. Nasser's regime refused to ban alcohol, or to implement other aspects of Islamic law.

• After the attempted assassination of Nasser in 1954, the Egyptian government used the incident to justify a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoning Qutb and many others for their vocal opposition to various government policies. During his first three years in prison, conditions were bad and Qutb was tortured. In later years he was allowed more mobility, including the opportunity to write. He was hanged by the Egyptian government in August 1966

• His most important work, is the manifesto of political Islam called Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones)

Hassan al-Banna• The Islamic Brotherhood founded by Hassan al-Banna was only one of the numerous small Islamic associations that

existed at the time. By the late 1930s, it had established branches in every Egyptian province.• A decade later, it had 500,000 active members and as many sympathizers in Egypt alone, while its appeal was now

felt in several other countries as well. The society's growth was particularly pronounced after Al-Banna relocated its headquarters to Cairo in 1932. The single most important factor that made this dramatic expansion possible was the organizational and ideological leadership provided by Al-Banna.

• In Ismaïlia, he preached in the mosque, and even in coffee-houses, which were then a novelty and were generally viewed as morally suspect. At first, some of his views on relatively minor points of Islamic practice led to strong disagreements with the local religious élite, and he adopted the policy of avoiding religious controversies.

• He was appalled by the many conspicuous signs of foreign military and economic domination in Isma'iliyya: the British military camps, the public utilities owned by foreign interests, and the luxurious residences of the foreign employees of the Suez Canal Company, next to the squalid dwellings of the Egyptian workers.

• Political Activity• He endeavored to bring about the changes he hoped for through institution-building, relentless activism at the

grassroots level, and a reliance on mass communication. He proceeded to build a complex mass movement that featured sophisticated governance structures; sections in charge of furthering the society's values among peasants, workers, and professionals; units entrusted with key functions, including propagation of the message, liaison with the Islamic world, and press and translation; and specialized committees for finances and legal affairs.

• In anchoring this organization into Egyptian society, Al-Banna relied on pre-existing social networks, in particular those built around mosques, Islamic welfare associations, and neighborhood groups. This weaving of traditional ties into a distinctively modern structure was at the root of his success.

Ma’alim fi al-tariq: MILESTONES

• Following the Sharia is not just important but a defining attribute of Muslims, more necessary than belief itself (p. 89), because "according to the Shari'ah, 'to obey' is 'to worship'." This means Muslims must not only refrain from worshipping anything other than God, they must not obey anything other than God: "anyone who serves someone other than God" — be that someone (or something) a priest, president, a parliament, or a legal statute of a secular state — "is outside God's religion, although he may claim to profess this religion." (p. 60)

• Qutb sees Sharia as much more than a code of religious or public laws. It is a complete "way of life ... based on submission to God alone,"(p. 82) crowding out anything non-Islamic. Its rules range from "belief" to "administration and justice" to "principles of art and science."(p. 107) Being God's law, Sharia is as much a part "of that universal law which governs the entire universe, ... as accurate and true as any of the laws known as the 'laws of nature,'" like gravity or electricity. (p. 88, also p. 45-46)

• "The establishment of God's law on earth" will lead to "blessings" falling "on all mankind." (p. 90) Sharia is "the only guarantee against any kind of discord in life. " (p. 89) and will "automatically" bring "peace and cooperation among individuals." "Knowledge of the secrets of nature, its hidden forces and the treasures concealed in the expanses of the universe," (p. 90) will be revealed "in an easy manner." Its "harmony between human life and the universe" will approach the perfection of heaven itself. (p. 91)

• Just as Sharia is - in Qutb's view - all encompassing and all wonderful, whatever is non-Muslim (or Jahiliyyah) is "evil and corrupt," and its existence anywhere intolerable to true Muslims. "Islam cannot accept or agree to a situation which is half-Islam and half-Jahiliyyah .. ("The state of ignorance of the guidance from God. ) The mixing and co-existence of the truth and falsehood is impossible." (p. 130) "We will not change our own values and co-exist either more or less to make a bargain with this jahili society. Never!" (p. 21) In preaching and promoting Islam, for example, it is very important not to demean Islam by "searching for resemblances" between Islam and the "filth" and "the rubbish heap of the West." (p. 139)

• According to Qutb, to ignore this fact and attempt to introduce elements of socialism or nationalism into Islam or the Muslim community (as Egypt's Arab Socialist Union government was doing at the time) is against Islam.

Libya

• Officially called (up until the current uprising) : Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, it is located in North Africa on the Mediterranean sea and is bordered by Egypt, Sudan, Niger, Chad, Algeria and Tunisia. It is the fourth largest country in Africa (17th in the world) with a population of only 6.4 million. It has the 4th highest Gross Domestic Product in Africa – largely because of its petroleum and is a wealthier nation than its neighbors like Egypt.

• Libya became independent in 1951 before which it was an Italian colony. Moamar Gaddaffi rose to power in a military coup in 1969 and has ruled autocratically since then. In Ancient times, Libya was part of the Roman and then the Byzantine (Christian) Empire until the Arab invasion brought Islam in 643. Subsequently Libya was ruled by the Caliph of Damascus (Syria) and then the Caliph of Baghdad (Iraq). It changed hands several times during the medieval/renaissance period, frequently occupied by European powers during the crusade period and until the rise of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the 16th century. Subsequently the city of Tripoli and the country was historically cosmopolitan with a strong european flavor, a large jewish population, and a wealthy class of mixed Turkish/Arab families. After WWII Islamic pogroms against the Jews in which thousands of Jews were killed or hurt forced a mass exodus. There are also substantial minority tribal populations of Berbers and Tauregs. Libya has the highest literacy rate in North Africa (82%)

• There are approximately 1 million “illegal” immigrants – mostly from Sudan and Egypt in Libya. Islam is the official religion of 97% of the country, and approximately 1% of the population are Christian including 60,000 Coptic Christians.

Some of the other uprisings :• Yemen: A smaller country on the southern edge of the Arabian peninsula that includes 200

Islands. It is one of the poorest Arab countries. Ruled by a representative democracy with a President and a bicameral legislature. It’s current president was elected in 2006. Since the 1950’s Yemen has been something of a client state of Russia and China. The primary motivation for unrest is widespread government corruption and high unemployment for the young, since 46% of Yemeni’s are under 15 and it has one of the highest birth rates in the world. A civil war has been ravaging Yemen since 2004 primarily between Sunni Muslims (54%) and Shi’ ites (46%). The Oil supply which is the primary economic staple, is expected to be depleted within the next decade.

• Bahrain: An Island Kingdom east of Saudi Arabia, connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway, ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. known for its oil and pearls. The country is the home of many large structures such as the Bahrain World Trade Center . The Qal’at al-Bahrain (The Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun) has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[8] The Bahrain International Circuit is the race course where the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place. One of the most modernized Arab nations because of its wealth – women have voted since 2002 but democracy is slow coming.

THE HOPE• The Egyptian revolution, itself influenced by the Tunisian uprising, has resurrected a new sense of pan-Arabism based

on the struggle for social justice and freedom. The overwhelming support for the Egyptian revolutionaries across the Arab world reflects a sense of unity in the rejection of tyrannical, or at least authoritarian, leaders, corruption and the rule of a small financial and political elite.

Arab protests in solidarity with the Egyptian people also suggest that there is a strong yearning for the revival of Egypt as a pan-Arab unifier and leader. Photographs of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former Egyptian president, have been raised in Cairo and across Arab capitals by people who were not even alive when Nasser died in 1970. The scenes are reminiscent of those that swept Arab streets in the 1950s and 1960s.

But this is not an exact replica of the pan-Arab nationalism of those days. Then, pan-Arabism was a direct response to Western domination and the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel. Today, it is a reaction to the absence of democratic freedoms and the inequitable distribution of wealth across the Arab world.

We are now witnessing the emergence of a movement for democracy that transcends narrow nationalism or even pan-Arab nationalism and which embraces universal human values that echo from north to south and east to west.

• This is not to say that there is no anti-imperialist element within the current movement. But the protests in Egypt and elsewhere promote a deeper understanding of human emancipation, which forms the real basis for freedom from both repression and foreign domination.

Unlike the pan-Arabism of the past, the new movement represents an intrinsic belief that it is freedom from fear and human dignity that enables people to build better societies and to create a future of hope and prosperity. The old "wisdom" of past revolutionaries that liberation from foreign domination precedes the struggle for democracy has fallen.

The revolutionaries of Egypt, and before them Tunisia, have exposed through deeds - not merely words - the leaders who are tyrants towards their own people, while humiliatingly subservient to foreign powers. They have shown the impotence of empty slogans that manipulate animosity towards Israel to justify a fake Arab unity, which in turn serves only to mask sustained oppression and the betrayal of Arab societies and the aspirations of the Palestinian people.

• Lamis Andoni, Opinion Piece, Al Jazeera

THE IDEAL• Over the last few days, I have watched and spoken to other community organizers taking center-stage in

Tahrir Square, speaking on behalf of wide coalitions of demonstrators - Kefaya, the April 6 movement, the Coalition for Change and many others.

They are tireless coalition builders who have worked with labor unions and opposition parties old and new, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to bring about political change in Egypt.

One of those coalition builders was the late Mohammad El-Sayed Said. A brilliant thinker and a dedicated community organizer, Said laid down the theoretical foundations for today's activism in the Arab world, insisting on human rights, the rule of law and the independence of religious institutions as pillars of democracy in the region.

Like Mohammad El-Sayed Said, the new national leaders emerging from Tahrir Square seek a state that is neither religious nor neoliberal, capitalist nor socialist, Muslim nor Christian; they are dying, and many have literally, for a united, humane, prosperous, truly democratic Egypt for all.

The professional pundits who were parachuted into Egypt by the international media have brought with them pre-cooked conclusions about "radical Islam", security threats and what it takes to ensure regional stability.

• But ordinary Egyptians have shown them - and us - that we don't have to sign up for a world of extremes, where Osama Bin Laden and Hosni Mubarak are the only possible choices.

The crowds in Tahrir Square stood firmly in the middle and stood their ground, are finally making room for everyone in Egypt - and giving the world a lesson about democracy in the process.

• Marwan Bishara, Sr. Political Analyst, Al Jazeera