Commenting on the third arrest of the Islamic writer: Reda Abdel-Rahman Ali:

(Reda Abdul Rahman) the innocent and the wrongly imprisoned

First:

The third arrest of Rida Abd al-Rahman was just before dawn on August 22, 2020. They arrested some of my relatives along with him, released them and kept Rida, they transferred him to the State Security Prosecution office, as stated in some newspapers reports. Their interrogations centered on the accusation that they had received funding from me.

Here are some facts:

• Funding that falls under the scope of the law is that which is directed to illegal organizations or groups, that’s what the Egyptian state is concerned with, It does not include the Egyptians' transfers from abroad, not sending money to the vulnerable poor. We send zakat money to relatives of the poorest of the poor, sick, orphans, in cases of marriage and death, and we also send bags of clothes wherever they are available. It has never happened that we sent money to Rida because the previous conditions do not apply to him.
• I am 71 years old and do not work, and I have no income from 2010 after working for nearly two years at the American Commission for Religious Freedom and the Woodrow Wilson Center. Therefore, I do not pay zakat. The one who sends the zakat is my four eldest sons, and this is according to circumstances and according to what is available, and since the day the Corona calamity came, two of them lost their jobs and became dependent on their two brothers who are still working. Therefore, there is no zakat for a few months due to Corona.
• I had a pension in Egypt for my service at Al-Azhar University. I gave a power of attorney to a relative to collect in my absence, and he was giving it to a poor relative with a kidney disease. They stopped paying the pension two years ago under the pretext of renewing the power of attorney. I went - leaning on a walking stick - to the Egyptian Consulate in Washington, begging them to renew the power of attorney. They refused because they had instructions not to do anything for dissidents abroad. The amount that this lady was counting on stopped and she died.

God is sufficient for us, and He is the best to depend on.

Reda Abdul Rahman:

1/4: They did not charge him with financing the first and second arrests, while the children were sending zakat. Now after the zakat has stopped for several months, they accuse him of this accusation.

2/4: Rida stopped writing on our site (People of the Qur’an) and devoted himself to building an apartment in the family home after he got married and had children. He took out a loan from the bank with his salary as collateral. His salary is now about 3 thousand Egyptian pounds (after more than 13 years as a teacher at Al-Azhar), the bank deducts a third of the salary, and leaves Rida the rest, which is not enough.

3/4: After his work at the Al-Azhar Institute is done, Rida works in painting and gypsum installations. He climbs the scaffold and carries the mortar. He does not give private lessons, does not earn any unlawful monies, rather - being the distinguished Islamic writer – he works in construction - under the supervision of his younger brother Ahmed Abdel Rahman - so that he does not need anyone’s help.

4/4: By arresting him, they stopped his salary, and he is threatened with dismissal. In his absence, his wife is struggling to support herself and her daughter, pay the bank installment, and the expenses of treating and caring for Rida’ sick mother, and preparing food for her imprisoned husband, as they prevented the State Security prison from providing him with food in in Kafr Saqr. Then, after his transferring him to Cairo, she must travel in search of his location.

5/4: Is this the case of someone who receives funding from abroad?

God is sufficient for us, and He is the best to depend on.

Second:

The news item as it appeared in the newspapers.

The news item says: (Three accused were arrested in Sharkia on charges of reviving the "Quranic" movement in Egypt (details)

6 hours ago | Written by: Ahmed Shalaby |

Security sources said that the security services arrested 3 suspects a few days ago in Sharkia governorate, accusing them of reviving the "Quranic" movement in Egypt for a second time. The three defendants were referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution in preparation for the start of the investigation with them regarding what is related to them.

In the eighties of the last century, the "Quranic" movement was established in Egypt under the leadership of Al-Azhari, Dr. Ahmed Sobhi Mansour, a former professor at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, with the aim of giving a true picture of Islam with its tolerant face and ridding it of fanaticism, extremism and isolation, through the reliance of this group in understanding Islam on The Holy Qur’an only without the Sunnah, justifying that by the fact that the Prophet’s Sunnah or the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) were distorted as they were transmitted verbally across generations, and were not recorded until the third century AH, that is, more than two hundred years after the death of the Messenger.

According to the Qur’an’s understanding that during the era of the Umayyad state, the sultans ’preachers took advantage of the situation and assumed statements from them to satisfy the Sultan in justifying his grievances and falsely attributing them to the Prophet, while Qur’anic verses were written during the time of the Prophet himself, and a committee of the Companions was formed that collected the verses in a unified book, which is the Qur’an in the era of The third Caliph, Othman bin Affan. During the past years, the security services had arrested a number of people accused of belonging to that movement

The defendants are facing charges of promoting extremist ideas, which could stir up discord and unrest, due to their denial of the noble Prophet’s Sunnah and their promotion of these ideas in social circles and their endeavor to convince others of them.

End of news item.

We comment on it:

• He says (the security services arrested 3 suspects a few days ago). It was (Rida only),

 does this mean that they are in the process of arresting others with Rida, and then by torture they confess to anything?

2 - He says about our vocation: (with the aim of giving a true image of Islam with its tolerant face, and ridding it of fanaticism, extremism and isolation ...). This is our peaceful jihad to clarify the facts of Islam. President El-Sisi himself has repeatedly reiterated his call for reforming the religious discourse in accordance with what we are calling for. Do they charge him the same as us?

• He repeated his saying (the Qur’anic movement). It is a security question that was previously directed at us in press interviews, and we have replied that we are not a movement and we are not an organization and we do not involve ourselves with politics because getting involved in politics requires that you tell people what they like, and we preach the Holy Qur’an about what people do not like. We are an intellectual trend relying mainly on the Internet .I have only some personal knowledge of some individuals. As for my family, they have nothing to do with anything, any thought, or any activity. Among them Who used to write was sentenced to prison in 2007, 2008.

4 - He says (The defendants are facing charges of promoting extremist ideas that are likely to stir up discord and unrest, due to their denial of the noble Prophet’s Sunnah and their promotion of these ideas in social circles and their efforts to convince others of them.)

4/1: (Rida Abd al-Rahman) has completely stopped writing so as to earn a living, this does not apply to him, and they know this.

4/2: Is the call for tolerance and the rejection of fanaticism, extremism and isolation considered extremist ideas?

4/3: The concept of (the Sunnah) is the Sharia and the method. That is, the application of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, to the Qur’an. And, peace be upon him, he summons people by and through the Quran. His Lord, the Exalted, , said to him: (So remind by the Qur’an, the one who fears my warning (CH/50/Aya 45)). This is what we do by adhering to the true Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and we are experts at it.

4/4 - We do not impose ourselves on anyone, nor do we impose our call on anyone, and we do not ask anyone for a reward. We say what we really believe at the loudest voice and then we forgive, as much as we can, those who take advantage of us..

4/5: With our adherence to the true Sunna of the Prophet, peace be upon him, we  believe in religious freedom for all, and we say to those who differ with us: (And say to those who do not believe, keep on your standing, we will on ours (121) and wait, for Lo, we are waiting (122) Hood) .

finally :

We have no refuge but God Almighty. He is sufficient for us, the Almighty and the Exalted, and a Guardian. We exhort the one who overpowers us with His power, and we remind him of this Quranic verse: (Respond to your Lord before a day comes from Him,, of which there is no repelling, no refuge that day, and no denial.)( Al sora : 47 ).