Egyptian TV Host Ibrahim Eissa Against The Backdrop Of The World Cup: The Arabs Have Failed In Science, Technology, And Politics, So We View Winning A Soccer Match As Settling Scores And Defeating Occupiers

Egyptian TV host Ibrahim Eissa said on a December 16, 2022 episode of his show on Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV (Egypt) that the Arabs have made no significant achievements in any field since the golden days of Arab civilization, and that this is why Arab celebrate victories in sports, as political victories. He elaborated that there have been no Arab victories or scientific achievements since Avicenna and Alhazen, and he said that the Islamic scholars only wanted to kill the polymaths and intellectuals, who were responsible for this progress. For more about Ibrahim Eissa, see MEMRI TV Clips nos. 9794, 9082, 8621, 8568, 7852, 7295, 7172, 6767, 6530, 6416, and 5150.

Ibrahim Eissa: "The [Arab] nation is wounded, dispirited, and defeated. We have no success whatsoever – not in science, technology, or politics. Show me any genuine Arab accomplishment. We cannot confront a country that has been occupying our Arab land for 70 years – I mean Palestine.  The bitter Arab failures are in every field. We export nothing but raw materials. We import more weapons than anyone else in the world and then we fight one another.

[...]

"Has there been any Arab invention after Avicenna and Alhazen, and the great Arab accomplishments during the golden age of the Arab civilization?

[...]

"All the Arab polymaths were pronounced infidels by the Islamic scholars of their days. Al-Khawarizmi and Jabir Ibn Hayyan were pronounced infidels by Ibn Taymiyyah. He considered them to be heretics and wanted them to be executed. Avicenna was called an apostate... No one escaped the tongues of the Islamic scholars. But today, they say: 'The Arabs have taught the world!' It was Arab polymaths and intellectuals, not the Arab Islamic scholars and preachers who only wanted to kill the polymaths.

[...]

"What have we – as Arab and Islamic society and countries – contributed to humanity? Nothing. Forget the humanity. What have we done for ourselves? Nothing.

[...]

"[Westerners] are simply happy when their [soccer team] wins. With us, it's different. When we win, we feel as if we settled the score for something – we do not know for what exactly, but we settled a score. We think that we vanquished the others, and that 'we proved ourselves.' We do not view it as a sport at all. We view it as defeated nations that are taking revenge against their occupiers by beating their national team."