Power, Potential in the Muslim lands

How does Egypt stand as a nation with potential for the Muslim world? The nation of Egypt itself in its nationalist form offers no refuge or hope for the Muslim world. Indeed it is a sad sorry nation state. But the Muslim people of Egypt have potential. 

Before colonization, Egypt was a vital stalwart of the Uthmani state in Istanbul. Egypt was the capital of the Muslim world for centuries. It had been a vital center of trade, intellectual development, and military power for the Muslim world for centuries.  It was the people of Egypt who, under the leadership of the Mamluk state, repulsed and then defeated the Mongol forces, pushing them beyond the Euphrates. Before then, the people of Egypt supported Salahudeen when he liberated Al Quds and defeated the Crusaders. Today, Egypt has the largest population of Muslims in the Middle East.

But what of the Egyptian nation state? It is insufficient for the people of Egypt. They are unable to meet their needs, educate themselves thoroughly, let alone stand for the deen of Islam and champion the cause of Allah.

   Egypt consists of 1,001,450 square kilometers. It shares a border of 1115 kms with Libya, 1273 kms with Sudan, and 266 kms with Israel (11kms with Gaza). Yet only 2.87% of that land is arable and only .48% sustain crops. Though it has 33,000 kms of irrigated land (3%). Egypt suffers from major environmental crises, namely: desertification, urbanization, salination of arable soil, industrial pollution, and limited freshwater sources.  This indicates that Egypt is poorly managing its environment and has few natural resources to utilize for its people.

  It has a population of 77,506,000 million people (94% Muslim, 5%+ Coptic Christian). With 2.88 children per family, life expectancy of 68 for men, 73.6 for women, and a median age of 23 years old, its population is growing at a rate of 1.78 % and is young. Sadly, its literacy rate is 58% total: 68% for men, 46.9% for women.  These unremarkable numbers suggest a young, growing population suffering from illiteracy (or at least the effects of illiteracy via intergenerational illiteracy). 

Egypt has a GDP of $316.3 billion USD, a budget deficit of 8%, GDP growth rate of 2.5 %, inflation rate of 9.5%, and a per capita income of $4200. Of a labor force of 20.7 million, 10.9% are unemployed, 16.7% are below the poverty level, and the majority of the force is employed in the services industries. It exports $11 billion of mostly crude oil, petroleum products, cotton, textiles, and chemicals. The largest recipients are: 27.8% to the EU, 10.8% to USA, and 6.2% to Syria. It imports $19.21 billion, namely machinery, foodstuffs, wood products, fuel. Its largest importers are 24% from EU, 12.2% from USA, 5.4% from China, and 4.1% from Saudi Arabia. Egypt has an annual trade deficit of $8.21 billion, but more noteworthy are the products it must import: food, wood products, fuel, machinery. In the postindustrial era, these 4 commodities are some of the most crucial an elemental for the needs of a society and Egypt is unable to produce them for itself.  This renders Egypt a slave and pawn of international trade and those who dominate them. It is also noteworthy that foodstuffs, wood products, and machinery are largely from the EU and USA  which dominate world trade and lead Egypt's foreign affairs.

As for Egypt's infrastructure, only 64000 kms of roads, 78% paved, 5063 kms of railways, 3500 kms of waterways navigable via ocean going vessels, 6 ports and harbors, 77 merchant marine ships, 87 airports (72 paved). There are 4.2 million internet users, 9.6 million phone lines, 8.5 million mobile cellular phone users. While the Egyptian govt has a reserve of 1.264 trillion cu ms of natural gas which it seeks to utilize in future trade and development, it uses 21.2 billion annually. This leaves it 59 years of use not including the growth rate which would likely reduce this considerably.  If only 5% of Egyptians are on the internet and  only 58% are literate, this may indicate that the majority follow state controlled TV and radio for information. 

On the map, There is only one isolated road that links Egypt to Sudan in the southeast corner. There are no notable connections besides the Nile river. For Libya, Egypt has a town with railway access in its northwestern most corner that lies near the border with Libya. Yet the single connecting highway  is all that links the two nations for nearly 1115 kms.  It is worth noting that for millenia, the Nile has served as the freeway from points south into Egypt, yet the trade, commerce, indeed connections with Sudan, a neighboring Muslim nation with potential to offer Egypt, is questionable.  And Libya, a nation larger in land mass than Egypt yet with less than a 10th its population, offers little.

So Egypt as a nation state is incapable of feeding its 77.5 million people, unable to provide fuel, or manufacture machinery for its industrial base.  Its vast population is concentrated along the Nile river while the vast stretches of land to its west are largely uninhabitable, unutilized, poorly traversed. Its water supplies are limited, its environment is poorly managed, its economy is dependent on imports, its infrastructure is insufficient, and future expectations are bleak.

Egypt's greatest asset is its people and they are undereducated, poorly maintained, oppressed under Mubarak's emergency laws (in acted since 1981 and backed by the puppet People's Assembly).

What can Egypt do to change its circumstances?  

In addition, the nations of Africa have numerous natural resources which Europe and America have plundered for centuries. Foreign land with a history of conquest, colonization, and usurpation, which have served to divide, weaken, and undermine Africa are far less welcome than fellow African Egypt were Egypt to be educated and capable.  The engineers of France and Britain could be replaced with those of Egypt and trade of relations of past centuries could be revisited and old bonds of brotherhood could be renewed.

As well, the borders between Egypt, Sudan, and Libya could be revisited with the idea of breaking down borders, joining together with Sudan and Libya under Islam to end nationalism, end the disputed Egyptian/Sudanese border dispute and uniting under a single state which could advance the interests of all people in the cause for Allah. Libya with her oil and energy reserves but relatively sparse population should rightly be joined with Egypt.  Alone Libyan resources are horded by the cruel and corrupt rulers and elite in Tripoli. Allah's messenger (saaw) said that natural resources are a public right and not the private property for elites to horde. While Libya has only 6 million people, the majority seeing only pittance of the vast wealth from their natural resources,  Egypt having over 10 times the number of people. Provisions for the people of Egypt could be provided in part by the assets and wealth of the Libyan regime which directs its wealth towards Europe rather than towards its needy brothers of Egypt. Moreover, the Libyan nation, larger than Egypt in mileage, was devised in part through the machinations of Italian, European, and UN powers less than a hundred years ago. European powers enabled Libyan independence with the hopes of being able to overpower, manipulate, and exploit Libya.

While some may claim that Libya and Egypt are historically different and distinct, it is more than right to exclaim that Islam unites in brotherhood the different people of the world and supercedes and secedes the historical or ethnic tensions between peoples with iman and brotherhood.

A united Libya and Egypt would balance Libya's weak people with vast resources with Egypts numerous people with sparse resources. And what is the say that Sudan too has more to benefit with unitying with the new Egypt than remaining weak with the continued incursion and threatening of its neighbors Uganda, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea.