Last Wednesday, I went down to the streets one hour before the Egypt-Algeria match, and I couldn’t believe the AMAZING optimistic spirit that the people had!!! It was just wonderful!! Everyone believed STRONGLY that Egyptians can definitely make it to the world championship, and that all what we needed was Allah’s support…
What really caught my attention was the fact that people were smiling! Yes, everyone in the streets was smiling and laughing, which is soooo contradicting to what I usually see in our streets everyday… Egyptians are usually burdened with millions of problems to the extent that they forget to smile, or even refuse to feel optimistic sometimes… But that was NOT what I saw that day!! Not at all!! Everyone had forgotten about their own problems, and decided to be happy and optimistic for a while… It seemed to me as if Egyptians had been drowning all those years, but they’ve finally found a rope to cling on to… The rope that would help them be happy and optimistic again… The rope that would save them from drowning in their sorrows, pains and problems…
What was even more interesting was that this happiness had brushed away some of the wrong deeds and actions that we usually see between normal Egyptians in the street… That day, people were respecting the traffic rules, and for the first time in my life, A LOT of them even became very forgiving when others did not stick to their lanes –w kasaro 3aleehom-… The feeling of “I want revenge from the driver infront of me” was almost not existent that day... And that made me feel really happy and excited :D :)
We invited our cousins to watch the match with us at home that day… I loved the spirit we had all through the match… We believed strongly that we would be able to do it inshaa Allah... We kept believing till the very last minute of the match... Even though we did not win, and I couldn’t really believe that the match was over, I still didn’t feel any kind of hatred towards Algerians… Thirty minutes after the match ended, I found out I was still optimistic... I still had that patriotic spirit, and was still happy, proud, and blessed to be Egyptian…
Anyway, back to the 2nd match on Wednesday... Well... Right after the match ended, I remember I logged on to my facebook account, and I didn't find one person who was mad at Algeria... Everyone I know was either not happy that we lost, or simply said el7amdulillah, and congratulated the Algerians... Almost 3 hours later, I started to read weird things in my friends' statuses, telling everone to switch on the TV and listen to what was happening to the Egyptians in Sudan... Some started to write statements like: "حسبي الله ونعم الوكيل", and conveyed their total shock in what was happening...
At the begining, I though it was just media exaggeration as usual, and I decided not to give this issue any kind of attention... But almost half an hour later, I started checking out some of the posted links on facebook clearly showing that there was really something serious happening in Sudan...
Egyptian Celebrities started calling in, and describing what the Algerians were doing to them in Sudan... They started explaining how the buses got destroyed, how Egyptians were getting injured, and how they got scattered taking shelter in the sudanese houses... I was really shocked and scared when I heard that!!! I couldn't believe what was happening! I thought I was dreaming or something... Before long, I started seeing more videos and articles about what was happening there! :S I was really confused! Was this a match or a war?!!! It was unbelievable :S :S I even caught myself crying... Was this really happening between Arabs?!!! :'(
I almost didn't get any sleep that night... I was worried about the Egyptians and what was happening to them in Sudan... I was also worried about what would happen afterwards between the Arabs... The siblings!!... The Muslims... I admit that I was REALLY angry at the Algerians for what they were doing... I had never thought things would reach that serious state!! :S Why were they calling us zionists and jews!! Why were Egyptians being injured in the Sudanese streets??! Why were the Algerians being aggressive since the begining of the match (and even before it)?? And why ON EARTH were they cheering for their team while waving their knives in the air??!!! Why were they pointing their fingures in very offensive signs at the Egyptians in the stadium, and why were some people acting that rude when our national anthem was on??!!! And what I REALLY couldn't believe was the fact that they burned the Egyptian flag and stepped on the ashes with their feet and cars after the match!!!!! Why?!!! I can't recall ever seeing a flag being burnt other than the Israeli flag, but never could I imagine Arabs burning each other's country flags!!!!!! I was really frustrated and shocked!...
The next day, I kept checking out more of the videos and articles that were being posted on facebook, and watching some TV programs that were discussing the issue... And I started thinking... Hmmm...This is definitely NOT because of the match... This has to be something of a more political nature... If it was about the match, then all of this wouldn't have happened because the Algerians had already won the match! (Imagine if Egypt was the winning team! El7amdulillaaaah, Allah always does what besssst for us!)... So it was "illogical" for anyone to be convinced that it was because of a silly match... I felt there was a third party involved... Someone who was directing this whole movie from behind the scenes... And the first thought that popped up to my mind was "Isreal is DEFINITELY behind all of this"... I had read some parts of the book named "بروتوكولات حكماء صهيون" and I remembered reading something about what was happening now... Here are some parts that I thought applied:
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البروتوكول الثاني عشر
وسنعامل الصحافة على النهج الآتي: ما الدور الذي تلعبه الصحافة في الوقت الحاضر؟ انها تقوم بتهييج العواطف الجياشة في الناس، وأحياناً بإثارة المجادلات الحزبية الأنانية التي ربما تكون ضرورية لمقصدنا. وما أكثر ما تكون فارغة ظالمة زائفة، ومعظم الناس لا يدركون أغراضها الدقيقة أقل إدراك. إننا وسنسرجها وسنقودها بلجم حازمة.
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البروتوكول الثالث عشر:
ولكي نبعدها عن أن تكشف بأنفسها أي خط عمل جديد سنلهيها أيضاً بأنواع شتى من الملاهي والألعاب ومزجيات للفراغ والمجامع العامة وهلم جرا.
وسرعان ما سنبدأ الاعلان في الصحف داعين الناس إلى الدخول في مباريات شتى في كل انواع المشروعات: كالفن والرياضة وما اليهما . هذه المتع الجديدة ستلهي ذهن الشعب حتماً عن المسائل التي سنختلف فيها معه، وحالما يفقد الشعب تدريجاً نعمة التفكير المستقل بنفسه سيهتف جميعاً معنا لسبب واحد: هو أننا سنكون أعضاء المجتمع الوحيدين الذين يكونون أهلاً لتقديم خطوط تفكير جديدة.
وهذه الخطوط سنقدمها متوسلين بتسخير آلاتنا وحدها من أمثال الأشخاص الذين لا يستطاع الشك في تحالفهم معنا، أن دور المثاليين المتحررين سينتهي حالما يعترف بحكومتنا. وسيؤدون لنا خدمة طيبة حتى يحين ذلك الوقت.
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البرتوكول الرابع عشر:
وسيفضح فلاسفتنا كل مساوئ الديانات الأممية (غير اليهودية) ولكن لن يحكم أحد أبداً على دياناتنا من وجهة نظرها الحقة، إذ لن يستطاع لأحد أبداً أن يعرفها معرفة شاملة نافذة الا شعبنا الخاص الذي لن يخاطر بكشف أسرارها.
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البروتوكول الخامس عشر:
وانتم لا تتصورون كيف يسهل دفع امهر الامميين إلى حالة مضحكة من السذاجة والغفلة باثارة غروره واعجابه بنفسه،كيف يسهل من ناحية أخرى ـ ان تثبط شجاعته وعزيمته بأهون خيبة، ولو بالسكوت ببساطة عن تهليل الاستحسان له، وبذلك تدفعه إلى حالة خضوع ذليل كذل العبد إذ تصده عن الأمل في نجاح جديد، وبمقدار ما يحتقر شعبنا النجاح، ويقصر تطلعه على رؤية خططه متحققة، يحب الاميون النجاح،ويكونون مستعدين للتضحية بكل خططهم من اجله.
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(For the full version of the e-book, please visit this link: http://www.gemzat.com/56195371727/)
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I thought to myself... Hmmm... Okay... Well, I AM mad at what has happened... I AM mad at the Algerian government for sending people who were totally not suitable for football matches, to cheer for their country's team... I AM mad at the Algerians who were in that match for being rude to Egyptians during the match, for frightening and injuring some of them after the match and for damaging their buses and blocking their way to the airport... And I AM definitely mad at the Egyptian Government for not making sure that all Egyptians would be safe in Sudan, before permitting them to go there and cheer for the Egyptian team...
However....
I started to shift my way of thinking a bit... I started thinking of myself as an Algerian, and I started thinking of any excuse for what has happened, because that is what our religion "ISLAM" has always taught us to do... "التمس لأخيك 70 عذرا"... So, I went back with my memory almost 10 days before the match... I started seeing all sorts of videos, groups, photos and statuses, making fun of the Algerians, saying that they will have the worst time of their lives in Egypt during that match, and that we would defeat them again just like we did last time... Well, I am NOT the kind of person who is very much interested in football matches -I don't hate them, but they're not on my interests' list- but this time I was really interested to watch the match and see what everyone was excited about!... And I have to admit I looooved the feeling of staying under all that stress throughout the match, and was over the moooon when we won during the laaaaast minute!!! :) :) It was just an amazing feeling! :)
-Back to me in Algerian shoes now :D-
I thought, hmmm... Maybe the Algerians found those groups and photos very insulting, and that is why they wanted, soooo baaaadly, to win the match, so that they would regain their dignity... I know that is not a reasonable excuse if we, Egyptians, think about the issue... But, what if we added what THEY heard through the media about THEIR team's bus being destroyed and their players getting injured?? (I know WE were told that the Algerian players did that to themselves, but did the Algerian people in Algeria get to know that??... Or did they only see us making fun of them AGAIN, and saying that this was not true, without any kind of proof that what we were saying was the right thing??)... Wait...Wait... Wait... What if we also added the news about the 7 Algerians who were killed in Egypt??... (I know that was fake news, but did THEY realize that?! I mean, the Algerian Ambassador did not falsify this piece of information as soon as it got out, did he?)... If they were normal human beings, getting all of this through the different forms of media, what would they do??... If I was an Algerian, and I had heard all of this happened, I'm SURE I'd be disappointed and angry at Egypt...
But still, even though I tried to put myself in their shoes, I didn't find an excuse that would equalize what WE did to what THEY did!... I was still very angry at the Algerians for doing such shameful stuff to our peaceful Egyptian fans :S :S
Then... I stopped at that thought for a moment... Was I really doing that?! Was I generalizing?? Wasn't that one of the basic things that we were taught NOT to do when we were at University?? Yessss... if there was only ONE thing I had learnt at AUC, that would have been NOT to generalize!!.. How was I doing that now, when I had already tried the ridiculous feeling one gets when he is thought to be something he's not... I mean, didn't I graduate from AUC, the University that is considered the hometown of spoiled rich kids?... Was I a spoiled rich kid?! Were any of my friends like that?... I guess not... But did that stop people from generalizing? Not at all! And yet, hundreds on unspoiled, not-so-rich kids graduate from AUC every year, don't they?! ;) :) I'm not saying that no spoiled rich kids ever graduated from AUC... Nope... Lots did... But still, they are considered a small proportion of the university graduates... However, the media seldom shows that...
Then... I stopped again... Wait a minute... I'm a Muslim too... Isn't terrorism generalized to be something that All Muslims and Middle-Easterns do?! Are we ALL terrorists??... Definitely NOT! But how do people in THE WEST see us?... Hmmm...All Terrorists?...
So, although I had always HATED how I was treated as a spoiled rich kid every time anyone knows I had graduated from AUC... And although I REALLY HATED it when Muslims -like me- were said to be terrorists.... I was now doing the same thing!!! I was hating ALGERIANS as a whole... I was reading people's statuses about how they hate ALGERIA... I was hearing about strikes that are going to be held against the good-for-nothing barbarian ALGERIANS... I wonder... Why didn't we realize that those Algerians who came to cheer for their team were nothing but a very small proportion of Algeria?... Why were we soooo quick to generalize our hatred to ALGERIA as a whole?! I agree that those people couldn't have been sent to Sudan without their government permitting them to... But so??... That STILL doesn't mean that ALL Algerians have agreed to that? And it doesn't mean that ALL Algerians are that "Barbaric" and agressive!! Why was it sooooo easy to generalize??? Did we forget that we were brothers in HUMANITY, before being Arabs and Muslims like one another?!!!! :S
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Please check those two links:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1212573086438&ref=nf
http://visualstoryteller.maktoobblog.com/1606363/كلمتين-في-زوري-هقولهم-لا-أزور/
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I paused for a longer while this time... And I thought to myself... Hmmm... I wonder how Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, would have reacted to what was happening if he were to be living in our days?... I wonder.... What would he have done?... That great man -Peace Be Upon Him- who said: "اذهبوا فأنتم الطلقاء" to the people of Mecca, who threw him out of the country and mistreated him during the early years of his prophecy... The man who was treated in a very bad way by non-Muslims, but was ALWAYS treating everyone in the best possible way (That was because he believed in his morals and manners... He didn't change them according to how others treated him... Noooo... He was not on the "reaction" side of the equation, he was rather on the "action" side, if you get what I mean...)
I wonder how the prophet would have felt if he had seen his grandchildren scattered, full of hatred against one another... I wonder how he would have felt knowing that his grandchildren had forgotten all about his hard work in order to help make them the Muslims they are today (not all Muslims of course... The REAL ones are the ones I mean ;D), and decided to focus only on taking revenge from one another based on false media sources :S :S
So, now to wrap all of this up...
Nothing here says I agree to what has happened lately, nor that I'm willing to let everything go and just forget about it... NOT AT ALL... I demand an official apology from the Algerian people and the Algerian government, and a logical explanation for what has happened (Because I still haven't heard any explanation from them yet, and I can't think of any reasonable explanation however hard I try!!!!)... AND... I demand that the Algerians who were involved in the Sudan fights be severely punished for their inhumane actions... And I will NOT settle for less than that...
However - and although a lot of people would disagree with me on that point- I just don't see how it would be useful to send a request to the FIFA asking them to repeat the match!!!! (This is something between the two countries Egypt and Algeria, and it shouldn't get out of those two countries! It's none of anybody else's business!!)... I just don't see how repeating the match would make our injured Egyptians feel better... All what I see is further humiliation to Arabs and their fights over a peaceful sport (After we've already made it to the newspaper headlines in the West)! Oh yeah... And further happiness for our enemies, especially Israelis, who would be thrilled to see us, Arabs, starting to turn against one another! That is EXACTLY what they want after all, and it's amazing how we're making it that easy for them!! :S :S We're showing them how easily we believe anything that is portrayed through the media, and how quickly we act according to what we see and hear, without taking the time to think wisely about what our reaction should really be... And that would make it much easier for them to further split us up in the future :S :S
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Check this out:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/esraa-makled/etfada7na-w-al-al-7amdouli-allah-d-ba2ool-netlam-ba2a/179024694715
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I think that if we're really asking to be respected as being EGYPTIANS, we have to work for it! We have to stop living on the great things our ancestors have done, and start doing other great things of our own! They were great because they PROVED their greatness, NOT by words, but by ACTIONS... And seriously, I believe that if everyone of us thought about Allah and Islam, and decided to do his/her best in whatever they're put in right now (studying, working, raising kids...) Egypt would become a really respectable place, and THAT would be what FORCES others to respect us whatever happens...
I hope that we would become as fast, serious and aggressive in our reactions, as we were to what happened after this match, when it comes to breaking through the Aqsa Mosque or any other killings of our Muslim brothers (which are increasing by the minute :S)...
At the end, I have to thank each and everyone of you who cared enough to read till this point in my note... I really appreciate it, and I can't wait for you reflective and beneficial comments :)
I'll leave you with our beloved Prophet's Hadeeth that says:
جاء في البخاري أن
رجلان من المهاجرين والأنصار تشاجرا
فَقَالَ الأَنْصَارِىُّيَا لَلأَنْصَارِ. وَقَالَ الْمُهَاجِرِىُّيَا لَلْمُهَاجِرِينَ
فَسَمِعَ ذَاكَ رَسُولُ اللَّه صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ
مَابَالُ دَعْوَى جَاهِلِيَّةٍ
قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ كَسَعَ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ رَجُلاً مِنَ الأَنْصَارِ .
فَقَالَ
دَعُوهَا فَإِنَّهَا مُنْتِنَةٌ
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Check this link about the same Hadeeth:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=104226386260262&ref=nf
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And finally, those are links for stuff that have been made by people who really care about our Umma and about our brotherhood in Islam...
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Check them out:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=184660747014&ref=nf
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=179951659293&ref=mf
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That's everything I have for now :)
Thanks for reading :)
Waiting for your commentssssssss :D
