Egypt- Morsi’s error of judgment brought about his downfall

The turn of events in Egypt two week ago that led to a military coup and ended the year-long presidency of the country’s first ever freely elected president, Mohammad Morsi, was the result of the lack of political prudence on the part of the Muslim Brotherhood and its failure to discern many ground realities, including the ability to distinguish friends from foes.
Now we have an exclusive analysis in this regard as follows:
Although not the prime preference of Egypt’s oldest and well-organized party for the post of president, Mohammad Morsi found himself propelled to the forefront when the interim military council opposed the nomination of Khairat-ash-Shater and other senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders. It was obvious the military, apprehensive of the popularity of the Brotherhood, and acting as per instructions from Washington, had thought that the unknown Morsi would have lost the elections to one of the secular candidates, thus ensuring continuation of the western-oriented policies of Egypt, after the fall of the 30-year long dictatorial rule of Hosni Mubarak. However, to the surprise of the military, the secularists, the Americans, the Saudis, the Zionists and the West Europeans, Morsi won the elections garnering over 50 percent of the votes. The world of Islam and all well-wishers, who wanted to see Egypt regain its status as an independent and strong country, were rejoiced, much to the dismay of London, Washington, Paris, Tel Aviv, and Riyadh. But the crafty enemies quickly resorted to Plan B. On one hand, they expressed verbal recognition for the decision of the Egyptian people to vote the Muslim Brotherhood to power, and on the other hand put extra efforts to covertly sabotage the elected government of Egypt. In the euphoria of victory, neither Morsi nor the Muslim Brotherhood realized the magnitude of the plot, as is evident by their failure to curb the extra judicial powers of the military, or to check the unwarranted visits to Cairo of senior US officials, including Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who had the audacity to hold private meetings with the generals and senior elements of the former regime.
Morsi took some bold steps to polish the image of Egypt by striving for implementation of Islamic laws in line with the aspirations of the people, reaffirming commitment to the Palestinian cause, opening up the Rafah Passage connecting Sinai with besieged Gaza, and visiting Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and India, to cultivate new grounds of friendship. It was indeed commendable, but at the same time Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood made the fatal mistake to distinguish friends from foes, by forging an alliance with the Takfiris or Salafis, who are on the payroll of Saudi Arabia, which had been a staunch backer of Mubarak. In his naivety Morsi made his first foreign visit as president to Riyadh in the hope of attracting much needed aid for the ailing economy, without realizing that the Wahhabi regime was no friend of the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia consequently tricked Morsi by planting the Trojan Horse in the form of the Salafi Noor Party, which manipulated the Islamic tendencies of the Egyptian people by stealing part of the public vote in the parliamentary elections, to get some 25 percent of seats. This was a big blunder for the Muslim Brotherhood, which wrongly thought that its own 50-percent plus seats in the parliament had ensured its domination. Today, as Morsi languishes in prison, after being most unceremoniously and undemocratically removed from his legitimate post of president, it is hoped that he and the Muslim Brotherhood have become wise enough to see the plot of the Takfiris in using him and betraying him, as is evident by the siding of the Salafi Noor Party with the military coup leaders against Morsi.
As a matter of fact, so blind had Morsi and the Brotherhood become to the danger of the seditious Salafis that they not only ignored the reign of terror in Egypt by the Takfiris, who after targeting the Christians and their churches, insolently heaped insults on the country’s Shi’ite Muslims, despite the fact that Egypt has a rich Shi’ite heritage in art, architecture, literature and even religious sentiments for the blessed household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), thanks to the two-and-a-half century of Fatemid rule. Thus, because of the negligence of vital issues by the elected government, the ailing economy began to worsen, unemployment increased, the social fabric began to tatter, and national unity was at stake. The US and certain Arab reactionary regimes lost no time in taking full advantage of the situation, by discouraging re-establishment of ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran or heeding the advices of the Iranian government for vigilance in state matters, especially foreign policy. With his vision clouded by sectarianism, Morsi bit the Salafi bait by not only harshly lambasting the government of President Bashshar al-Assad of Syria, but expressing support for the Takfiri terrorists killing innocent Syrian men, women, and children, with the support of Israel, the US, and the West.
Morsi, despite being the head of state of a major Muslim country, was so undiplomatic, that he sat on the podium along with a seditious Salafi cleric who poured venom at a public gathering on Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, by calling it the party of devil and urging Egyptian Sunnis to mobilize for Jihad, not against Israel, but against Syria, and even Egypt’s own three million odd Shi’ite Muslims, against whom the Takfiri used the most derogatory words. The result was the brutal murder by frenzied mobs, of Egypt’s prominent Shi’ite Muslim scholar, Shaikh Hassan Shehata and three of his followers, whose bodies were dragged in the streets in the most un-Islamic manner. This gory incident should have been the ‘Writing on the Wall’ for Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood to distance themselves from the Salafis, by calling for national dialogue and integration, with all sectors of the society, but they failed to read the clear sign of warning. The result was catastrophic, and ten days later, as masses of people from various walks of life, including Islamists, turned out in large numbers at Tahrir Square, calling for his resignation it was obvious that something was really wrong with the government’s policies. Even though hundreds of thousands of Brotherhood supporters rallied to the defence of Morsi and are still campaigning for his release and reinstatement as the legal and democratically elected president, the Salafi Noor Party has backstabbed, by siding with the military coup leaders.
To the shock of the Brotherhood and the Egyptians, the countries and parties who were mistakenly viewed by Morsi as friends or sympathizers are now openly rejoicing at his ouster. Saudi Arabia was the first country to congratulate the military leaders. The US, Britain, France and Israel have expressed open support for the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood. Of the few world countries that have raised objection to Morsi’s ouster, is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has labeled the coup as a blow to the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people. If only Egypt’s elected government had heeded the brotherly advice of the Islamic Republic and made use of its suggestions on how to govern Muslim societies, with prudence and political acumen, Morsi would not have suffered such a fate. As noted by Tehran’s Friday Prayer Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami in his sermon last Friday: “The people of Egypt are Muslim and they love Islam, and many times in the last year they went to the ballot box and they voted for Muslims. But the people who came to sit on the seat of power through the Islamic Awakening performed so poorly that they themselves prepared the ground for a coup.” He said: “Instead of inviting the Islamic world toward unity, they supported murderous Takfiris or were silent against them. On the issue of the illegal Zionist entity, he pointed out that before coming to power, their slogan was to struggle against it, but after they came to power, not only did we not see the materialization of this slogan, but they reaffirmed commitment to the shameful Camp David accord, wrote a letter to Shimon Peres and called him a brother and they sent an ambassador to the usurper state of Israel.”
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami regretted the inability of the Muslim Brotherhood to distinguish friend from foe, saying: “They launched Iran-phobia and Shia-phobia and tied their hearts to their enemies. The president of Egypt even consulted with US President Barack Obama and talked about this in the media. This action alienated people from him and resulted in the coup.” Khatami also criticized the Muslim Brotherhood’s domestic policies, saying: “They didn’t perform well for their people. Anyone who wasn’t a member of their party wasn’t brought in, and the result is that after 80 years, their organization was neither good for the people here in this world nor in the afterlife.” Still, Ayatollah Khatami hoped that the era of the previous government does not return completely, adding: “The wise people of Egypt are the guards of the Islamic Awakening, and they should not, just as in Mubarak’s era, allow Egypt to be the empty yard of the Zionist regime.” He further said: “The Wahhabis were created and funded by the British. This outfit from the beginning until today has pushed forward only with murder and plunder.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran in its official statement issued by the foreign ministry had deplored the military takeover, and called on saner minds to prevail in order to respect the democratic will of the people by reinstating the ousted president to power, so as to avoid any more friction and splintering of national unity, which only benefits the Zionists and the enemies of Egypt. The people are already demonstrating in the street for the elected leader, as casualties increase. It is too early to say whether the military would go back to the barracks as promised. However, in case of the materialization of the remote chance of restoration of Morsi to the presidency, or the participation and victory of the Muslims Brotherhood in any future elections, the party should realize and rectify its policy of having trusted the Salafists, Saudi Arabia, the seditious pseudo scholar Yusuf al-Qaradhawi who loves to fan sectarian flames, and even the Chief of the al-Azhar University, who now has no inhibitions to sit along with the military coup leaders and denounced the ousted Morsi.