Late Colonel Nasser the former president of Egypt. |
Egypt’s Nasser laughed off Muslim Brotherhood's
demand to force ten millions Egyptian women to wear Muslim-headbags.
Hiding for months in plain view on
YouTube, a grainy video has begun to circulate of longtime Egyptian President
Gamal Abdel Nasser laughing off the Muslim Brotherhood demands that the state
uphold Islamic traditions and force ten millions Egyptian women to wear oppressive
Islamic garbs.
The clip is charged with historical significance
in light of the Brotherhood's rise to power earlier this year in Egypt -- and
broader questions about Islam and society in the Arab world. The 1966 video has
gone viral with French subtitles after being posted by Paris-based news website
Rue 89.
A clearly bemused Nasser describes
negotiations more than a decade earlier with the head of the Muslim
Brotherhood, who have demanded the imposition of headscarves for all women to
wear.
“The first thing he said was, you
have to impose the hijab in Egypt. Every woman walking in the street must wear
her tarha (Egyptian Muslim headscarf).”
The audience starts laughing, and a man
shouts, “Let him wear it.”
Morsy's Muslim Brotherhood's planned Islamization of Egyptian women. |
Nasser goes on, “I answered that if I did that, it would be like going back to the days
of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (11th century), when women weren’t allowed to go out
during the day. For me every one must be free to do what they choose."
Nasser, a colonel in the Egyptian army,
led the 1952 military coup that overthrew Egypt’s monarchy. He ruled from 1956
until his death in 1970.
When Nasser was named prime minister in
1952, the Muslim Brotherhood tried to negotiate with him to obtain ministerial
portfolios.
In the video Nasser says, “In 1953 we
wanted to work with the Muslim Brotherhood, to see if they could be
reasonable. I met their leader. We sat
down and he presented his demands.”
The Brotherhood leader couldn't
understand why he couldn't impose the headscarf by law. “You're the governor, you can decide," Nasser remembers the
Brotherhood leader telling him.
"And I said, well your daughter, who is in medical school, does not
wear the tarha. If you can’t make your own daughter wear the headscarf, how can
you expect me to make 10 million women of Egypt wear one.”
Egyptian women's nude protests at the Egyptian embassies in Europe. |
In 1954, a Brotherhood member tried to
assassinate Nasser during a speech. In the aftermath of the attempt, the
Brotherhood was dissolved, with many of its members subsequently arrested or
fleeing overseas.
They were banned from politics in Egypt for much of the half-century to follow before Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi was elected President in June (2012).
(Blogger’s Notes: Now we could all see why most Egyptians especially the
liberated Egyptian women hate the Muslim Brotherhood the root of all Islamic evils occurring
in this world. Egyptian people are now fully behind the Egyptian Army
overthrowing Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsy’s Islamic Dictatorial Government.)
Understanding the Muslim Brotherhood of All Jihadists
Beautiful Turkish Writer Takes Off Her Headbag Amidst Islamists' Death Threats
Poster of Col Nasser and General Sissi, both the liberators of Egypt. |
Understanding the Muslim Brotherhood of All Jihadists
Beautiful Turkish Writer Takes Off Her Headbag Amidst Islamists' Death Threats