Western
institutions are fomenting chaos and Islamist extremism in Egypt, said
Presidential Media Adviser Ahmed al-Musilmany in his lecture at the
Faculty of Arts and Languages of the University of Bucharest.The
presidential adviser argued that Western powers aim to destabilize Egypt
in order to elevate their own position in the world, though he did not
clarify how exactly chaos and political instability benefit any of
Egypts Western allies and trading partners.Musilmanys argument plays
into a common narrative of victimization by the Egyptian political
establishment, which blames the West for the rise of the Muslim
Brotherhood and the instability that followed after the first
democratically-elected president was removed from office by the
military.The lecture was attended by a number of Arab ambassadors,
students and professors, where Muslimany spokeabout his vision for the
future after the 30 June revolution, adding that Egypts goal is to
reinstate the Egyptian civilizational project.After the lecture, the
head of the Arabic Department asked Laura Sitaro to translate Muslimanys
book The Great Egypt into Romanian.Below is an English translation
provided by Egypt Independent of Musilmanys lecture:Dear students and
professors,I am happy to meet you here today at the prestigious
University of Bucharest and I wish you success in your lives and in your
education.Your studying of the Arabic language and literature was the
motivation for me to meet the generation of young European researchers
who want to learn about us, our visions and our thoughts.I am coming to
you from Cairo, the capital of human civilization, and I humbly know
that a large part of the history of the world was formulated in my
country. And I am aware that the capital of human civilization has a new
appointment with history.After decades of stagnation and decline, the
Egyptians are now trying to resume the journey of civilization that has
been stalled by economic and political missteps.You may have seen the
millions of Egyptians that came out in the revolution of 25 January 2011
and the 30 million that came out in the revolution of 30 June 2013.You
may have noticed that they were objecting that the history and the
civilization of their homeland had been broken.Their demands and pains
varied, but they all met on the path of resuming the Egyptian
civilizational project.Our country looks to the future with its past
heritage and great potential of the present. It looks to the world with
deep belief in justice and peace.Egypt gave the world the notion of a
state, a capital, an army and a border long before humanity knew of the
notions of belonging and discipline. Also, Egypt dealt with many
civilizations in Asia, Africa and Europe.While Cairo is the pylon of the
Great Pyramids, Luxor and Karnak are the center of one third of the
worlds ancient artifacts, and Alexandria is the home of the oldest
library in history, other Egyptian cities have been the scene of many
Christian and Islamic contributions to civilization since the
rapprochement with the Greek and the Roman civilizations.Today, about 90
million Egyptians want to restore that civilization and march toward
the future with determination.Egyptian intellectuals have for two
hundred years been linking our past civilization to the modern one. And
great scholars of Islam have been providing the true nature of religion.
Yet some orientalists and extremists have tried to provide another face
of Islam; one that we know nothing of.Today, we are fighting a tough
battle with extremists who are supported from abroad with money and
weapons. We are surprised to see Western institutions supporting
religious extremism in the Arab world. Since those institutions do not
work for the benefit of Islam and Muslims, we look angrily to them. They
seek modernity for their countries and extremism and chaos for
ours.They betray the principles they want exclusively for themselves and
not others, in a new wave of colonialism whose goal is to establish
self- retardation and occupy emerging peoples with events out of our
times.Dear students and professors,You are lucky to study the Arabic
language and literature amid the Arab Spring that has veered into an
autumn and returned to spring again. Your generation has seen the spring
of our political life and will surely see the spring of our
civilization soon.We know that you want to build a glorious future for
your country, and we see your steps towards construction and development
after years of difficulties and challenges.We look to our sister
Romania with pride and appreciation. We wish you success and progress.
And we hope the Egyptian and Romanian peoples support human aspirations
for peace and prosperity.Dear students and professorsI was happy to
participate two days ago in the opening of the Arab European Roman
Cultural Center which I hope will be a bridge for exchange of knowledge
and cultural dialogue.Be assured that you have true friends in Egypt. Be
sure that we are sincerely determined to face unfair and miserable
policies and ideas of todays world.Egypt and Romania can work together
to support freedom and equality and consolidate bilateral bonds of
friendship.A tribute to your university and the Arabic Language
Department, and to you and the students coming after you.Peace be upon
you
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