Power Has Office Hours

Who is responsible for our problems? Responsibility is distributed equally over every individual in the country, starting with my humble self and ending with the president of the republic.

In the past, killing the apostate and fighting apostates was natural because religion was the state, and leaving it was high treason. It is like someone today betraying the nation and spying for another country. Also imagine, for example, what would happen if Matrouh Governorate suddenly decided to become an independent state or part of Libya.

The assassination of a writer or thinker is a success for him, because his opponents could not meet argument with argument, so they found no other way to stop him.

When the game is unfair, I will inevitably break its rules.

He is an “ill-mannered” man who spends his time making snide remarks about the president and cursing the government. People then consider him brave and wise, fearing no blame in speaking truth.

To believe a political opinion from someone who is not a politician is like being treated by someone who is not a doctor. And to always prefer the opinion of the opposition politician over the responsible politician is like always preferring the doctor who “heard about the case” over the doctor who examines it, lives with it day by day, and has the test and examination results in hand as they arrive.

When people attack the official, they focus on the privileges of responsibility and forget its many constraints. In general, I feel that criticism is driven by envy and jealousy more than anything else.

When will I see people, when they hate one another, do it for reasons related only to personality, not affiliation or sectarianism?

He said to me, “They will enter hell.” I answered with what I thought was crushing: “Are you even sure that you will not enter hell?” He replied, firmly, “No, but I am sure they are going to hell without doubt.” Of course there was no need to continue the discussion. And yes, some of them, or should I say many of them, think this way.

I do not know why there is all this noise and fierce effort to deny the Holocaust. If Jews believe that Hitler burned them, let them believe what they want. I do not see how this changes anything about the facts of the present.

When he reads the Quran and verses of glad tidings appear, he rejoices in the idea of paradise. When verses of warning appear, all that comes to his mind is “God is threatening the unbelievers.” My brother: the warning is for you, and the glad tidings are for you.

The constraints of responsibility are many, and the most important constraint is that people will inevitably hate you, whatever you do.

Education in Egypt reduced illiteracy and increased ignorance.

Power lies in independence. Clearly it is not in depending on others. What most people do not imagine is that it also lies in others’ independence from you. So yes: control weakens, and lovers of control are weak.

The true judge looks to the street; he does not look to the ruler.

Islam: abandoning conflicts, leaving those in conflict to fight over money, influence, and the adornment of life; they punish no one but themselves.

Every alley has a strongman, and every alley has a conjurer. Do you shelter with the strongman or with the conjurer? From above and from below?

When do you imitate Christ? When power belongs to fools and you want to remain in your land as a witness-martyr against them. When do you imitate Abraham? When power belongs to fools, your clan are fools, and you want to leave alone in search of serenity. When do you imitate Moses? When power belongs to fools and you want to leave for yourself and bring salvation to your clan.

They are astonished by the number of losses you are willing to bear for the sake of peace. They think there is a trick and continue, insisting on making their victory expensive. They do not realize that they are only risking the loss of their victory before the loss of peace.

The ruler left the fortress. The ruler entered the palace. The judge lowered his eyes from the street. The judge turned his face toward the palace. The people lived in fear. The people were no longer working. The people became either unemployed, fleeing, rebellious, mocking, fawning, or a mixture of some or all of this. The people declined. If the people conquered their fear, they would create, rise, work