In an op-ed titled "J'accuse!" in the June 3-9, 2010 edition of the Al-Ahram Weekly, Galal Amer mounted attack on Wahhabism, writing that the "Wahhabi Campaign" is "powered by formidable dinars" and "trying to superimpose a bleak topography of drought on a society that lives by the river." He says that currently in Egypt, "[f]rom a hundred thousand pulpits, calls issue for violence and for the combat of America and Israel" and that as a result "colleague turns against colleague, neighbor against neighbor..." He adds that "Wahhabi ideas oppose art, literature, science, beauty, women, minorities, life itself."
The following is the article, in the original English:
"Egypt's Social Development Has Been Influenced By the Struggle Between Two Winds of Change – One Blowing From the Mediterranean, The Other From the Red Sea"
"For the past millennium or so, Egypt's social development has been influenced by the struggle between two winds of change, one blowing from the Mediterranean, the other from the Red Sea. Our society advances only when we achieve some "equilibrium" between the two, and it falls back when the much sought-after "equilibrium" is lost. For a thousand years, we have lived on the assumption that anything across the Mediterranean is "ungodly" and needs to be kept away, while everything that comes by way of the Red Sea is "godly" and must be obeyed.
"I see a conflict between the print press which the French Campaign brought along and the press we have experienced through the "Wahhabi Campaign." The latter, powered by formidable dinars, is keen not only on imposing its own values, but on reproducing itself in our midst (note the ongoing conflict between the Sufis and the Salafis). The Wahhabi Campaign is trying to superimpose a bleak topography of drought on a society that lives by the river (and the impact is all around you, in everything from attire to consumption patterns)."
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"Our Society Is Growing More and More Schizophrenic Every Day... The Real Power Is In the Hands of the Fiery Preacher Whose 'Edicts' Make Short Shrift of the 'Law'
"As a result, our society is growing more and more schizophrenic every day. People may be congregating in the courtyards of mosques, but their hearts are drawn to the hallways of banks. The same taxi driver who listens to the Koran non-stop will turn off the meter to rip you off. The same government clerk who solicits bribery will be praying by the desk in which he deposits the illicit cash; he perhaps even donates a little of that cash to religious charities.
"Government departments are still an awesome sight, but little more. The real power is in the hands of the fiery preacher whose 'edicts' make short shrift of the 'law.'
"From a hundred thousand pulpits, calls issue for violence and for the combat of America and Israel -- notwithstanding the fact that we have a "treaty" with Israel and an "ocean" to cross to America.
"Where does the incitation of violence go? Charged with so much anger, colleague turns against colleague, neighbor against neighbor, or else against the man sitting on the next seat on the microbus. Believe me, some days I leave the Friday prayers so angry I could kill the first man I see."
"Wahhabi Ideas Oppose Art, Literature, Science, Beauty, Women, Minorities, Life Itself"
"Forget poverty, ignorance, and disease. These are the old ailments we've suffered from for thousands of years without losing our head. It is because of Wahhabism that our judgment has been clouded, that our minds have been veiled, that our daggers have been sharpened.
"Wahhabi ideas oppose art, literature, science, beauty, women, minorities, life itself. Allow me to imagine a situation in which one of those hate-mongers has invented a death machine. You know what he will do? I think he will start by eliminating the Jews, then the Christians, then the Shiites, then the Sunnis who oppose him. In the end, he will be left alone with his wife, at the top of the mount of Tora Bora. And together they will start a new race.
"Throughout history, from the time of Moses to the time of the latest ferryboat tragedy, Egyptians have had only one drowning place: the Red Sea. So let's look north a little, God bless our souls, if only to restore the equilibrium."
