of by the Group.
It is only right that I should proudly record here, that the despot’s agents did not find a single lady, from amongst either the general council or administrative committee or the preachers’ board, waiting to hand them the keys of our Headquarters. Nasir’s agents had asked me to hand over the keys to them personally but I refused as did all our other members. Finally the keys were secured from the administrative secretary, but then, as an employee, that person had no choice.
Before long, members of the Muslim Ladies Group began flocking to my house asking me what we should do.
Dear reader! The stance which the Muslim Ladies took, it should be recalled, was in 1964, when Nasir’s rule was at its zenith. At a time when many people preferred to conceal what they really thought. Such people used to endorse the despot’s actions, and even worse some issued Fatwas in support of Nasir’s deeds. They would ascribe to Nasir things which made a demigod of him. Believing something and displaying exactly the opposite (taqiyyah),5 while discrediting those who refuse to do the same, is not something Islam ascribes to. A true Muslim does not waste his or her own faith nor is the mocking of Muslim brothers and sisters permitted. Yet many supposed Islamic magazines competed to please the despot. Even al-Azhar magazine, which was once dear to our hearts, opened its pages to hypocritical writers who competed to please falsehood and its folk. Fatwas which defamed the Mujahids who opted for ‘azimah and shunned the error they called rukhsah,6 began pouring from some government-employed scholars. They hurled abuse at those Mujahids who called people to practise Islam and not merely belong to it by name; for Islam is practise, not lip service.
The Muslim Ladies Group neither refused to follow what some people called rukhsah, nor did it stop short of belonging to Islam. Instead, the Muslim Ladies raised the banner of truth and pronounced the word of truthfulness, at a time when a great many people denounced them for fear of losing their jobs, their careers and their homes. The Muslim Ladies did not stand by as spectators, but spoke frankly about the events which were going on, seeking Allah’s pleasure, even if in the process it upset many people. The members of our Group continued to meet and as for myself I had dedicated my whole life to the Muslim Ladies; it was my raison d’etre. For I had pledged to Allah on the day I established the Group that I would never submit my life to anybody beside Him. The huge number of Muslim ladies who poured into my house renewed their pledge to dedicate their lives to following Allah’s way and to calling people to it. They agreed with me to hold meetings in their homes whereby our preachers would teach the ladies the principles of Islam. But sadly our opportunities were few for the despot’s state machine was watching anyone who called to Allah in these kind of meetings. One by one the ladies who held these meetings were contacted by Nasir’s agents and threatened. In this way the state obtained an undertaking, from all the ladies involved, that they would not hold such meetings again. Thereafter our activities were confined to those of a personal nature.
Nasir’s security and police agents renewed their contacts with me. They wanted to meet in order to present their offers to me; the implication being that I should buy this world for the Next. For instance, they suggested the re-publication of the Muslim Ladies’ magazine, with me as its Editor-in-Chief with a salary of E£300 per month; in return I was to have nothing to do with what was to be written in the magazine. Naturally, I refused. It would have been unthinkable for the Muslim Ladies’ magazine to be issued from the Security Forces’ Headquarters let alone assist in the spread of secularization. They also offered to cancel the ban decree on our Group and to give us back our Headquarters with an annual support fund totalling E£20,000; in return we had to form one of the Socialist Union institutions. Again I refused, advising the despot’s agents that our activities will, insha’ Allah, be only for the sake of Allah. The Muslim Ladies Group was not ready to deceive or mis-represent anything. For those who gain their earnings under the pretext of working for Islam cannot really serve it.
My rebuttals obviously angered them but still they persisted in their ridiculous temptations. Before long the truth behind their sinister offers would become apparent.
At home one evening, three men knocked on the door and asked permission to come in. I found them in the living room and immediately noticed that they were wearing head-dress. After greeting them, they introduced themselves as Syrians travelling from Saudi Arabia to visit Egypt for a few days. They also told me that they had met, in Saudi Arabia, Sa’id Ramadan, Shaikh Mustafa al-’Alim, Kamil al-Sharif, Muhammad al-’Ashmawi and Fathi al-Khuli (all of them members of the Ikhwan who had fled from Nasir and his despotism). They explained that the same had requested them to convey salam to the Ikhwan of Egypt and would welcome assurances that both members of the Ikhwan here and ‘the organization’, are all well. The same visitors also reported that Sa’id Ramadan, and company, had asked them to join the organization, and that they were ready to execute orders and stay in Egypt to help the Ikhwan.
They talked about the Ikhwan and Nasir and how the latter persisted in persecuting the former. They spoke about the 1954 events, the dissolution of the Ikhwan and the execution of ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Awdah and his friends. The time was right and they were ready - so they claimed - to take revenge and kill Nasir. This decision, they continued, was also the opinion held by Kamil al-Sharif, al-’Ashmawi, al-Khuli and al-’Alim.
As I was only listening to them and did not respond they openly asked my opinion: ‘You speak of things and names about which I know nothing’, I replied.
‘Sister Zainab, we will come back again to know the Murshid’s and the organization’s opinion about what we have said to you.’
I responded briefly: ‘First, I do not know anything called “the organization” in the Ikhwan group, for as far as I am aware the Ikhwan were dissolved by the State. Second, I do not speak with the Murshid concerning these issues, for our friendship and relationship with him is but Islamic brotherhood and familial love. Third, in my understanding, killing Nasir has never been considered by the Ikhwan. Therefore, I advise you to go back to your country and to train yourselves Islamically.’
‘It seems’, responded one of them, ‘that sister Zainab is not convinced. Who destroyed the country if not Nasir?’
‘In my understanding it is not the lkhwan’s message to kill Nasir.’
I then asked them to give me their names. Stutteringly, one of them told me that they were: ‘Abd al-Shafi ‘Abd al-Haq, ‘Abd al-Jalil Isa and ‘Abd al-Rahman Khalil. I laughed to myself for the simple reason that all their names were preceded by ‘Abd and furthermore that only one person delivered the advice.
Once again I cautioned them; ‘Go back to your country before Nasir’s security agents catch up with you, that is if you do not know them already and have nothing to do with them, which I very much doubt.’
The retort was clear.
‘You’re right to be suspicious of us. We’ll visit you again soon and then you’ll know who we are.’
With that they left.
When Brother ‘Abd al-Fattah Isma’il visited me, sometime after this incident, I related to him the story of these so-called Syrian visitors.
