In the midst of a worldwide economic recession, the impatient youth of Egypt could give only one year to the man they democratically elected for a full term. They demonstrated and gave the army the pretext it needed to take power.

There is no doubt that Morsi was not the ideal president but a regime based on a coup d’état by the army does not bode well for the people of Egypt. By the way, this is the same army that held power and was reviled repeatedly by the same demonstrators during the year immediately following Mubarak’s fall and preceding Morsi’s election.

The people and leaders of virtue gave their bay’ah (oath of allegiance) to Morsi to be their leader, and now they have betrayed him by interrupting his term of office.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used very strong words to insist on the necessity of supporting the legitimate leader so long as that leader’s actions are not contrary to Allah’s law:

“Whoever gives his oath of allegiance to a leader and gives him his hand and his heart, let him obey him as much as he can. If another one comes and disputes with him (for leadership), kill the second one.” (Narrated by Muslim, 1844)

In this case, there was no pretender; the people simply betrayed the leader to whom they had sworn allegiance and let the army take over.

The demonstrators and the army (not the Muslim Brotherhood government) are the real extremists and they may have sealed their own fate by their intemperate actions this week.   »»» Informed Comment

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