CAIRO (IPS) - Imam Mohammed al-Saba of the Eisa mosque here in the center of the rural town Kirdasa takes the pulpit to tell his congregation he can smell "the air of freedom for the first time in thirty years."
"A week ago, I couldn't have said what I said today," he says to the hundreds of town residents gathered at the mosque, 23 kilometers south of Tahrir Square where tens of thousands have been calling for the immediate departure of President Hosni Mubarak.
"Last week and for many years I had to report what I was going to say in the mosque to the secret police beforehand. Today I didn't have to thanks to the young people of Egypt who expressed themselves."
The imam reminds worshipers how mosques have been kept under control, with everyone who visits brought under surveillance. "Injustice ends eventually and oppressors are not the owners of the universe. God is."
"For 13 days we didn't have a single tourist to come to buy from us. This is not easy on our business or on our kids," Abdelfattah says. "But we do not want to set back the clock just for money. With patience and time, Mubarak will go and calm will be restored. Tourism will be ten times better when we elect whoever we want and when we are free."
"A week ago, I couldn't have said what I said today," he says to the hundreds of town residents gathered at the mosque, 23 kilometers south of Tahrir Square where tens of thousands have been calling for the immediate departure of President Hosni Mubarak.
"Last week and for many years I had to report what I was going to say in the mosque to the secret police beforehand. Today I didn't have to thanks to the young people of Egypt who expressed themselves."
The imam reminds worshipers how mosques have been kept under control, with everyone who visits brought under surveillance. "Injustice ends eventually and oppressors are not the owners of the universe. God is."
"For 13 days we didn't have a single tourist to come to buy from us. This is not easy on our business or on our kids," Abdelfattah says. "But we do not want to set back the clock just for money. With patience and time, Mubarak will go and calm will be restored. Tourism will be ten times better when we elect whoever we want and when we are free."
No comments:
Post a Comment