TV drama brings Egyptian thinker Farag Fouda back to the limelight

The TV drama "Choice" which focused on the life story of the late army officer Ahmed al-Mansi brought to mind the late thinker Farag Fouda.
Fouda,
a renowned Egyptian writer and thinker, was born on August 20, 1945 in Damietta
in the Nile Delta. He acquired his master's degree in botany and then a PhD in
the philosophy of agricultural economics from Ain Shams University.
He
was assassinated by Islamists on June 8, 1992.
His
assassination was a result of conflicts between him and the extremists who
issued an edict calling for his killing.
It
was extremist Safwat Abdel Ghani of Jamaa Islamiya who issued the edict for
killing Fouda.
The
extremists who killed Fouda were incapable of debating his ideas, especially on
Islam and the state. This was why they decided to silence him for good.
Fouda
had problems with the concept of religious states. He faulted Islamist
organizations in killing their opponents and tarnishing the image of the
Islamic religion. He believed that Islam bans the killing of people against the
background of intellectual disputes or differences.
However,
Ma'amoun al-Hodaibi, the sixth supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, did not
like Fouda's views. Hodaibi insisted that his organization pleased God by
founding its own secret militia that carried out assassinations, especially of
politicians and intellectual figures who opposed the Muslim Brotherhood.
The
fact was that Islamists felt incapable of presenting a convincing argument
against Fouda's views, especially when it came to the concept of the religious
state. This was why they started smearing him personally and casting doubt on
his faith.
Fouda's
views are coming to the surface 28 years after his assassination. Some people
even believe that these views are still viable in the fight against extremism
and terrorism.
In
his book "Terrorism," Fouda mentions the three basic components of
terrorism, namely the terrorist act, state power and public attitudes.
He
presents in the same book an analysis of the thinking of terrorist
organizations and means of countering them.