The Muslim Brotherhood continues to enjoy big popularity among Egyptians. Perhaps the organization has lost some of its support because of its failure in power and Egypt's growing problems, especially economic ones, which have weakened it. However, it remains a force that cannot be overlooked. Readers provide me with a daily opinion poll of reactions about what I write. I noticed that whenever I write about Egypt and mention the Brotherhood in the article, I immediately receive many letters defending the group. This happens even though I always say that the Brotherhood is a basic part of the Egyptian fabric, even if they failed to solve economic problems and control security, with the terror in the Sinai that saw Egyptian security personnel killed by terrorists who claim that they are Muslims. In every article I insist on mentioning the popularity of the Brotherhood and the need to see them part of the coming democracy, if it is to deserve its name, but this does not solve things for me with the group's supporters. They focus on the criticism and refuse to see that I am trying to be objective. I am fair with the Brotherhood in talking about their popularity and the need to see them remain key players in Egyptian politics. What did readers agree with me on? Of the two articles, in the first I relied on the Quran alone, and in the second, the Prophet's covenant with the Christians of Najran, and the Caliph Omar's promise to the Christians of Jerusalem. I did not write in defense of the Christians as much as I did in defense of Islam and Muslims. Every time a church in Egypt is burned, or Christians are attacked, the neo-conservative media treats the incidents as if all Muslims carried it out, and not some hard-liners or terrorists who are not part of any moderate, sound religion. I gave examples in what I wrote, and I have had more since the two articles were published. By the pro-war and –evil mafia, I saw the articles "Christians on the front line of Islamic violence," and "Islam: religion of bigots." The only institutionalized violence in the Middle East committed by Israel, which has a fascist government and a criminal army of occupation. There are bigots in every religion, and we have the example of the settlers, who exploit a false religion to steal Palestinian territory from its owners. Although there are Muslim and Christian extremists and fanatics, the only religion that incites fanaticism is Judaism, which considers its believers better than others, to the degree that the racist rabbi Ovadia Yosef wants all other peoples to serve the land of the Jews. Islam bans usury but Judaism bans it among Jews, while letting it, namely stealing, be inflicted upon on non-Jews (Deuteronomy). I close with something better than Israel, and all of its extremists. What I wrote about my memories of dear Syria struck a chord with readers. The responses ranged from thank-yous to the telling of some similar stories. A reader asked that I talk about the chemical weapons but my memories have no chemical weapons in them, only affection. [email protected]
