Mubarak's fall: The Pharoah has left (and now comes the hard part)

Last updated on: February 12, 2011 at 6:00 am by Guest Contributor

Mubarak's fall: The Pharoah has left (and now comes the hard part) 2011-02-12T06:00:44-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A terrific time in Tahrir

On February 11, as news of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation spread like wildfire throughout Egypt, the entire world soon began celebrating the successful revolution won through the courage of the Egyptian people. Despite a defiant speech the day before, Mubarak‘s Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that he had stepped down from his presidency, charging the high council of the armed forces to manage the country.

Tahrir (Liberation) Square, now the most famous square in the world, got its name after the revolution of 1919, when both Muslim and Christian Egyptians marched in the streets of Cairo to demand their freedom from the British. It didn’t officially receive its name until the revolution of 1952 that led to the fall of the Egyptian monarchy. Aptly named, Liberation Square was where the Egyptian people freed themselves from their modern-day Pharaoh by standing their ground. Tahrir has become the source of an inspiring new social movement across the Arab world, one that led to the downfall of Mubarak’s corrupt regime.

But now the hard works begins, and the real revolution must start from inside by Egyptians themselves. Here might be a good time time to mention the oft-quoted Qur’anic verse, “Truly, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (Quran 13:11). Muslim scholars constantly quote this verse to drive the point home that our external circumstances cannot change unless we purify ourselves and live wholesome and moral lives. Egyptians have taken it upon themselves to change their political condition (all on their own, without help from the West), and they have heroically rid their country of a dictator. They now must act to rid their country of the many socio-economic problems that has plagued the country for decades. Whoever takes over Egypt once elections take place will have a huge task at hand and will only succeed if Egyptians are able to maintain the enthusiasm and spirit of cooperation and responsibility that we have seen in the past two weeks in Tahrir Square.

Corruption is so rampant in Egypt that people think nothing of paying a bribe to the police to avoid receiving a moving violation or a sneaking few extra pounds to the government employee to move their paperwork a bit quicker (one portrayal of this can be seen in the 2007 movie This is Chaos, by director Youssef Chahine, which depicts a corrupt police officer who exploits his authority to serve to his own interests). Bribes are part of daily life in Egypt and, in most cases, you can’t get anything done without greasing someone else’s palm. People have forgotten how to follow the rules and have gotten so used to playing the game that they don’t know what the rules are anymore. You would be at a loss to find someone who can tell you who has the right of way at a stop sign (since they don’t stop there anyway). The only rule in driving in Cairo is there are no rules.

Ministers and other cronies of Mubarak have been pocketing the majority of the Egypt’s wealth while many Egyptians scrape by on less than a dollar a day. Poverty and illiteracy is rampant throughout the country. According UNICEF, the literacy rate in Egypt is only 72%, with women faring much worse than men. The overall situation of women is even worse: 45% of all women over the age of 15 are illiterate and 85% of rural households run by women are illiterate.

The public school system is a mess, classrooms are overflowing and teachers do a half-baked job teaching, since they don’t make a living wage. They make their real income after school when they tutor the same students they see in the morning at their homes for excessive rates. The teachers have no other way to support their families and their own children need to pay for their lessons in order to pass exams that will determine their future.

Out of 18 millions residents in Greater Cairo, nearly a million souls inhabit the City of the Dead, a vast cemetery where inhabited also by primarily migrant workers who come to Cairo looking for ways to support their family. They hang their laundry from tombstones and their homes lack running water and electricity. Cairo is overrun by other shantytowns, entire neighborhoods of unzoned residential slums that do not exist on the map and lack basic infrastructure to support its burgeoning population. The UNDP Human Development Index ranks Egypt 111 out of 177 countries: the gross national income per capita in 2008 is only about $2,000, while 23% of the population lives below the national poverty line and more than 12% of children under than age of five suffer from malnutrition.

While there are reports of discrimination against religious minorities in Egypt, most ordinary Egyptians, no matter their religious identity, have little hope of social mobility if they are born into the wrong class. If you don’t have a wasta, or someone with connections, you have little chance of finding a good job, even if you receive straight A’s in school and university. A successful college graduate without connections couldn’t hope for more than a low-paying and mindless job in a government office. That is, if they are lucky to get a job at all.

In the streets, women of all ages and religious preferences are constantly harassed, including those who wear the face veil. Men, both young and old, seem to think it is their God-given right to grope women’s bodies or make explicit gestures and cat-calls at them. It’s gotten so bad that a group of internet-savvy young people got together and designed an interactive map to collect data on the rate of sexual harassment in the country. People think nothing of throwing their wrappers on the sidewalk or out of the bus window and while they keep their homes immaculate, the streets of Cairo and other cities are filthy.

But we have now seen a glimpse of Egypt’s potential at Tahrir Square, where people have been treating each other with kindness and respect, reclaiming the dignity that the regime had stolen from them. Men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds organized clean-ups to keep the area tidy, set up mobile clinics to care for the injured and sick, passed around food, and made new friends. Women were able to move freely through the crowds without being harassed and Christians and Muslims held hands and prayed together. In the early morning after Mubarak’s resignation, the youth swiftly organized groups to begin a clean-up of the entire downtown area where the protests took place. How many revolutionaries have you seen doing that?

Egyptians are resilient and courageous, and they could bring their beloved country to a new standard if they manage to keep up the momentum of change. Today we celebrate a huge milestone in Egyptian history, but tomorrow, let’s prepare ourselves for the long process that lies ahead.

(Photo: Joseph Hill)

Rose Aslan is a doctoral student studying Islam and Muslims in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She lived for more than five years in Egypt and received her master’s degree in Arabic Studies from the American University in Cairo.

Commentary

Previous Post

February 11, 2011

Activism: A civil rights movement for the Muslim world

Next Post

February 13, 2011 Fall of Hosni Mubarak: Rage against the regime

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many people were added to the church on the day of Pentecost?

Select your answer to see how you score.

About 1,000 About 5,000 About 3,000 About 10,000