Egyptian Cleric Abu Islam Ahmad Abdallah Explains Why He Ripped Up the Bible

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Egyptian cleric Abu Islam Ahmad Abdallah, which was posted on the Internet on October 1, 2012.

Abu Islam Ahmad Abdallah: This [Koran] is the book of God, the only sacred book on the face of the Earth, the book that we hold in the highest regard. As for this copy of the Arabic translation [of the Bible], which is used by the Egyptian and Arab Christians, I will treat it with respect for the time being, but If they do what the other [Christians] did, this respect will indeed be temporary. This book however, which is used for worship by the dog Terry Jones, who burned the Koran three times, I will rip it apart – except that this copy is too expensive, so I won't tear it in front of the camera. If I had a cheaper copy with me, I would have torn it up again.

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Can you imagine the Koran burning? Can you imagine the fire eating through the pages? Can you imagine such a thing? Can you imagine fire burning the Koran of Allah? Fire makes a sound, and we could hear that sound in the recordings. Did you see that as the dog was urinating on the Koran, he made sounds like this... [makes sound] It is as if he was saying to the Muslims: "To hell with you."

Did you see how that dog grabbed a Koran and wiped his rear end, giving it a good rub ten times? Imagine if the Prophet Muhammad had seen that himself. Could something like that have happened at all in the days of the Prophet?

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I would like to say to the Salafis: Stick to piety and leave [political matters] to the Muslim Brotherhood, in the hope that they will make Egypt Muslim Brotherhood-style. I will focus on the advantages of such a thing, leaving the flaws to Allah.

I am very familiar with the Muslim Brotherhood. They all wear suits. Not a single one of them is poor. Not a single one is left unemployed after graduation. Not a single one of them can't afford to get married young. I have never seen any member of the Muslim Brotherhood selling meswak toothpicks or books in front of mosques. I've never seen any poor beggar among them. They have decent and, between you and me, even fashionable homes.

Egypt will become fashionable too if they make it Muslim Brotherhood-style. Then, we will sit down with their leaders and make our demands about the Shari'a. May Allah hasten the transformation of Egypt into Muslim Brotherhood-style, so that no bearded Muslim will have to sell meswak toothpicks anymore. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but we can have Christians sell meswak toothpicks to us instead.

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