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Mohamed Morsi (1951-2019) was the fifth President of Egypt (30 June 2012 to 3 July 2013), deposed by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in a coup d'e'tat July 3, 2013. In his last words, Morsi accused the government of "assassinating" him through years of poor prison conditions.
Morsi is survived by his wife Naglaa Ali Mahmoud (not "First Lady" but rather "First Servant of the Egyptian people"). Morsi had five children, two are US citizens born in California. His body was quickly buried without an inquest. His wish that he be buried in his hometown Adwa was denied.
Human Rights Watch official Sarah Leah Whitson said Morsi's treatment in prison was "horrific, and those responsible should be investigated and appropriately prosecuted." The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for a "prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation" into Morsi's death. Among major world leaders only Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Malaysia and Qatar expressed regret at his death. Turkish President Erdogan said, "Morsi did not die a natural death. He was killed. Turkey will do whatever it takes to prosecute Egypt in international courts."
Morsi's legacy is mixed. An engineer who studied at the University of Southern California, he was an unlikely figure to be thrust onto Egypt's central stage, not a major thinker in the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), without any political experience. He was an unconvincing second choice for the MB as presidential candidate, a bumbler, a poor speaker, but brave and principled.
The charismatic, millionaire businessman Khairat El-Shater, a major financier and chief strategist of the Brotherhood, wasdisqualified at the last minute based on previous trumped up convictions, and Morsi was only allowed a few hours before the deadline to register. He was vilified by hysterical secular westernizers, and undermined by a campaign of lawlessness and planned shortages, but was popular to the end among devout Muslims. The media and the elite were against him and drowned out the Muslim wisdom not to overthrow a ruler as long as you are "not commanded to disobey Allah. If he is commanded to disobey, then there is no listening or obedience." Ibn Omar (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2796).
The MB, like Iran's Islamic order, doesn't fit into western secular thinking. The MB supported the mujahideen in Afghanistan. But they are not the Taliban, they never supported al-Qaeda. They are more in line with Turkey's Islamists. Or Iran's Islamists.
A few key moments:
*On 19 October 2012, Morsi traveled to Egypt's northwestern Matrouh in his first official visit to deliver a speech on Egyptian unity at el-Tenaim Mosque. Immediately prior to his speech he participated in prayers there where he openly mouthed "Amen" as cleric Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour, the local head of religious endowment, declared, "Deal with the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder. Oh Allah, demonstrate Your might and greatness upon them. Show us Your omnipotence, oh Lord." The prayers were broadcast on Egyptian state television and translated and posted by MEMRI, a Zionist media watchdog.
*On 22 November 2012, Morsi issued a declaration which intended to protect the work of the Constituent Assembly drafting the new constitution from judicial interference, until a new constitution is ratified in a referendum. This was blown up as an Islamist coup, but in fact Morsi was just trying to get around the Supreme Court, stacked with anti-MB judges, who would declare the MB's programs and new constitution as " unconstitutional? Whatever. In the referendum to ratify the new constitution, it was approved by approximately two-thirds of voters.
*The declaration also required a retrial of those accused in the Mubarak-era killings of protesters, who had been acquitted. Additionally, the declaration authorized Morsi to take any measures necessary to protect the revolution.
*Morsi strengthened ties with Iran following years of animosity since the Iranian revolution in 1979. However, his actions were met with Sunni Muslim opposition both inside and outside of Egypt.
*He spoke out for the rights of Christians and emphasized that Islam requires there to be an ethical component in economic affairs to ensure that the poor share in society's wealth.
Fatal mistake
Like Erdogan, in the heady days after the 2011 uprisings in the Arab world, Morsi got swept up into Islamic revolutionary fever, calling for the overthrow of the (Alawite) "infidels", a kind of belated revenge for the slaughter of the Syrian MB by Hafez Assad in 1980. But then, just about everyone was (and still is) supporting the Syrian opposition, from Obama to most sunnis, soon-to-be-ISIS, and leftists.
The last straw for the military was when Morsi attended an Islamist rally on 15 June 2013, where Salafi clerics called for jihad in Syria and denounced supporters of Bashar al-Assad as infidels. Morsi announced that his government had expelled Syria's ambassador and closed the Syrian embassy in Cairo, calling for international intervention on behalf of the opposition forces and establishment of a no-fly zone.
Morsi's attendance at the rally was later revealed to be a major factor in the army's decision to side with anti-Morsi protesters during the June 30 anti-Morsi protests. In November 2012, the National Salvation Front (NSF) had suddenly appeared, and overnight, a nationwide petition was signed by 22m Egyptians calling for Morsi's immediate resignation.
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