EgyptFeatures/Interviews

Text of constitution preamble put forward for re-drafting

The Constituent Assembly has decided to form a sub-committee to rewrite the preamble of the constitution after the three churches objected to omitting the term “civil state” from it and to adding a paragraph on Article 219 relating to the principles of Islamic Sharia.
 
The sub-committee includes Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, Al-Azhar representative Mohamed Abdel Salam, Amr Salah, representative of the revolutionary youth, poet Sayed Hegab, Mohamed Mansour, Al Nour Party representative, and Bishop Anthony, representative of the three churches.
 
The preamble, which was penned by Hegab, reads as follows:
 
Egypt is the gift of the Nile to the Egyptians, and Egypt is the gift of the Egyptians to humanity. 
 
With its genius geographical location at the top of Africa overlooking the Mediterranean;
 
Its greatest of rivers, the Nile, the lifeblood of Egypt and the Egyptians;
 
Its location at the heart of the Arab world, if not the whole world, as a hub of civilizations and cultures and a crossroad of marine communication;
 
It is an eternal homeland for Egyptians that gives a message of peace and love for all people.
 
At the dawn of history loomed the dawn of human conscience in the hearts of our ancestors to unite their benevolent will and establish the first centralized state that regulated the lives of the Egyptians on the banks of the Nile and created the best of civilizations. Their hearts looked to the sky before its holy messages descended to earth.
 
Egypt is the cradle of religion, the banner of the glory of religion, and the banner of the glory of the Abrahamic religions. We live in it and it lives in us.
 
In Egypt grew up Moses who saw the light of God and received His message.
 
The Egyptians embraced the Virgin Mary and her infant and gave thousands of martyrs in defense of the Church of Christ. 
 
And when the last of the messengers came, our hearts and minds opened to the light of Islam and we gave martyrs in the way of God and spread His message of truth and sciences of religion in the world.
 
In modern times, minds became enlightened, humanity became matured and nations and peoples advanced on the path of science, raising the flags of liberty, fraternity and equality.
 
In modern times, Mohamed Ali laid the foundations of the modern Egyptian state and Ibrahim Pasha built its army. The son of the Al-Azhar, Refaa al-Tahtawi, called for Egypt to be a home where happiness is shared among its sons. And we Egyptians struggled to catch up with progress and offered martyrs and sacrifices in uprisings and revolutions until the will of the people triumphed in the 25 January and 30 June  revolutions, calling for freedom and human dignity under the umbrella of social justice.
 
This revolution is the extension of a national struggle the most prominent symbols of which were Ahmed Orabi, Mohamed Ebeid, Mostafa Kamel and Mohamed Farid. It crowns two great revolutions in modern history:
 
The 1919 revolution that lifted British protection off the shoulders of the Egyptians and established the principle of citizenship and equality in the community. Through it, Talaat Harb laid the cornerstone of the national economy, and Saad Zaghloul and his successor Mostafa al-Nahas trod the road to democracy, asserting that right is above power and that the nation is above the government.
 
The 23 July 1952 revolution, led by the eternal leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and his free colleagues. Embraced by the popular will, it achieved the dream of generations for independence. It opened Egypt to the Arab world, the African continent and the Islamic world. It steadfastly supported the road to development and social justice called for by the 25 January and 30 June revolutions, the extensions of Egypt’s revolutionary march and crown of the bond between the Egyptian people and the national army. It achieved for us the victory over the tripartite aggression in 1956. And it helped us smash our defeats with the glorious October War led by Anwar Sadat.
 
The revolution of 25 January and 30 June is unique among the great revolutions of humanity with its heavy popular participation that was estimated at tens of millions who have ascended beyond social classes and ideologies towards more expansive national and humanitarian horizons with the blessing of the Al-Azhar and the church. It is unique with its peacefulness and ambition for freedom and social justice.
 
This revolution is a signal and a prophecy. It is a signal to a past that is still present and a prophecy for a future looked forward to by all of humanity. For the world in the twenty-first century is about to fold the final pages of maturity. It is torn by conflicts of interest between east and west, and north and south. It is caught in conflicts and wars between classes and peoples.
 
Risks to human existence and life on the earth that God entrusted us with are increasing. Humanity now hopes to step from the age of maturity to the age of wisdom and build a new world of truth and justice where freedoms and human rights are preserved. We Egyptians believe our revolution contributes again to a new phase in the history of humanity.
 
And when the last of the messengers came, our hearts and minds opened to the light of Islam and we gave martyrs in the way of God and spread His message of truth and sciences of religion in the world.
 
Edited translation from Al-Masr Al-Youm
 
 

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