One reader reproached me in a letter to the editor about the column I ran a few weeks ago in which I responded to an observation by another reader who criticized me for referring to Naguib Mahfouz as “our greatest author instead of “the great author – a title that is now conferred upon any writer over 60.
The first reader’s criticism was based on the notion that God alone is Great and that bestowing God’s attributes on mere humans was sacrilegious. The reader’s name was Kamal Galal Elddin. So I told him that his own name “Kamal which means ‘perfection’ may only be attributed to God alone and so is “Galal which means ‘sublimity.’ “This means that you, your father, your mother and your mother’s father are infidels, I had written in response to his criticism.
My recent critic is Essam El Ghazali from Mansoura, who defended my right to use the expression “our greatest author by evoking the writings of renowned Islamic author Bint El Shaat’e, who had written an article about Arab poet El Mutannabi, titled “Your greatest poet on trial.
However, he blamed me for writing that Islam is one of the world’s greatest religions because he thinks that every Muslim should believe that it is the world’s greatest religion, not merely one of many. He described his criticism as advice on the importance of accuracy.
I just wanted to set his heart to rest and let him know that as a Muslim I do believe that Islam is the world’s greatest religion, otherwise I would have converted to Judaism or Buddhism. In fact, just for the sake of accuracy, I must confess that I am extremely partial to Islam and even hate all other religions, which don’t come close to the greatness of Islam, whether or not they are heavenly religions. What values do Judaism and Christianity have if you compare them to Islam? And what is the value of other religions where people worship cows, blocks of stone and trees and eat animal dung, drink the blood of children and others who feel blessed by a prophet’s urine?
Indeed I’m extremely fanatical about Islam to the extent that I refuse to befriend anyone who espouses any other religion. I don’t even shake their hands, except, of course those who believe a prophet’s urine is a source of blessing.
When I travel to countries where the majority of people are non-Muslims, I even carry around a thick glove, even in the steamy heat of summer, which I quickly put on to avoid touching the hands of infidels. I bless all those fanatical parents and teachers who follow in my footsteps and warn their children against shaking the hands of those non-Muslim infidels at school.
I’ve even arrived at the conviction that Sunni Islam is the greatest of all Islamic sects and hence I’m all for the sectarian wars that are flaring up all over the Islamic world whether in Iraq or Lebanon, and hope that all those Shias will be eradicated just like the infidels.
Therefore I totally agree with the man who sent me that letter that Islam is the greatest religion of all. All the ideas I’ve expressed prove it. In fact I have other beliefs that I can’t express publicly, which is a problem because the man not only asked me to believe in the overriding greatness of Islam, but to publicize these beliefs.
In the past I was cautious about expressing some of my ideas for fear of offending those espousing other religions, because every time someone claims that his is the greatest religion of all, the doors of fanaticism open wide which leads to sectarianism, violence and terrorism whether in Egypt, Lebanon or Iraq.
But upon the advice of my reader I pledge to reiterate my staunch belief in the fact that Islam is the greatest religion of them all. I will also say that no other religion can possibly reach its level of sublimity and will call upon every Muslim worth his salt to do the same in the press, through other forms of mass media, from the pulpits of mosques as my reader advised.
May the doors of sectarianism open wide and may we all go to hell with it.Amen.
Mohamed Salmawyis President of the Arab Writers’ Union and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo.
