Theology of Islamic Politics: Morsi is Serving God, not Egyptians\

Muslim Brotherhood’s experiment with authority raises some very key issues pertaining to relations between God, the party acting in the name of God, the people and the government of a state.  When Morsi, through a unilateral decree, declared him and the constituent assembly of Egypt above the law, he essentially made the statement that a ruler governing under the divine guidance cannot and must not be questioned for his decisions and he and his majority party have every right to run the state the way they deem fit to preserve the sovereignty of God. In pursuit of his goals to make Egypt, a society submissive to the will of God, what he did was neither illogical nor immoral from his perspective. Any group acting in the name of God would do exactly what he did.  He went and is going after anyone who he deemed was an obstacle in the path of God. After all, in his theology, the interests of God cannot be compromised.

However, the fundamental question of all that has been done to serve God is to determine what the will of God is and does God really want an authoritarian, despotic and autocratic system and individual to glorify his name and to establish his will.

Compared with what the Quranic text says about establishing the will of God on earth, the actions of Morsi appear to be contradictory and conflicting. The text does not promote the idea of the usurpation of power by a few or many. It does not give power to an individual and a party to define God the way they want to define. It does not provide unlimited freedoms to rulers to unilaterally decide and determine the interests of people. It does not give the authority to a ruler to act as moral police and it does not create barriers between genders and religious communities. The text talks of preserving human dignity and not just the dignity of Muslims or supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The text describes God as the Lord of all that exists. It describes the messenger as a mercy to all that exists and it defines itself as a manifesto to all. Thus, those who claim to act in the name of God must ensure that all including those who reject God and their style of work are accommodated, accepted and respected. The text protects the right to dissent and calls it paramount right and declares that no one would be deprived of it.

What Morsi has done demonstrates some bitter facts.

1.      The Muslim Brotherhood, President Morsi and the scholars backing them have a real problem in understanding the divine text in changing realities and living it in the interest of all.

2.      The intellectual bankruptcy of Islamic groups in addressing power-related issues is evident.

3.      President Morsi, rather than realizing and admitting his mistakes, is adamant in repeating them and is ready to turn the crisis into a violent conflict even if it means bloodshed of innocent people.

4.      The bulk of the Muslim intellectual and religious leadership is either corrupt or consists of morons who are not willing to call a spade a spade. They act like a mafia as they do not act on the basis of the divine dictate that demands that truth must never be compromised.

5.      President Morsi’s actions have caused a major setback to political movements inspired by Islam.

6.      Muslim political parties are not ready to run the affairs of a state.

7.      Muslim political parties are more concerned about controlling power than serving people, not just those who are their supporters, but everyone including those who reject them.