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Following are excerpts from an interview with Al-Azhar University scholar Sheik Muhammad Al-Saghir, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on February 4, 2011:
Sheik Muhammad Al-Saghir: I would like to remind President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak that Othman Ibn Affan gave in to revolutionaries, who did not have justice on their side, saying: I will not have Muslim blood shed for my sake. Othman said this to people who did not have justice on their side. In contrast, those who took to the streets throughout Egypt are demanding legitimate rights, as the prime minister and vice-president have noted.
I call upon President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak to crown the decisions he has already taken with a decision to resign, in order to prevent the shedding of Muslim blood.
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Since the day I was born in Egypt, I've been hearing about nothing but the wisdom of the president. The West has been delivered from terrorism thanks to the wisdom of the president. Egypt was prevented wars thanks to the wisdom of the president. The Nile flows through Egypt thanks to the wisdom of the president. I'm wearing these glasses thanks to the wisdom of the president. I call upon the wisdom of the president. We would like to see the president's wisdom, about which we have been constantly hearing for the past 30 years.
Let me say something to the president. The president says: "I am fed up." If you are fed up, the people is even more fed up. You say that you are worried that there will be chaos. We are against chaos and against those who spread it.
But I ask the president: Can't the vice-president serve as president for six months? The entire people is demanding that Omar Suleiman head the regime in a transitional government. To be vice-president means that he is capable of being president. I say to the president: You presented significant concessions, but only when it was too late.
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