الرئيس محمد نجيب
President Muhammad Naguib
"I Was A President Of Egypt" is the tragic title of the memoirs of Egypt's forgotten first president, Muhammad Naguib, a title evoking the bitter truth of what truly happened to this man. Naguib, a Sudanese from his mother's side (his mother's roots were Egyptian) and an Egyptian on his father's side, the holder of two MAs in politics and economics and quite an impressive polyglot, was the victim of a military regime that destroyed the very same democracy and freedoms it came to enshrine and protect. The commonly accepted story is that Nasser approached Naguib regarding heading the Free Officer's Movement (the movement which performed the coup against King Farouq). Naguib was approached both because of an excellent personal reputation which would easily rally people around him, and also because of his age and high rank and their importance in such a military-based movement. After the July 23rd 1952 coup, Naguib insisted on restoring democracy and a civil government, but the young officers had grown attached to power and the newfound riches it brought, as well as having fostered a belief that democracy was not what was in the people's benefit at this point in time. As a result, Naguib was pushed away from his posts as President and Prime Minister, but restored by a massive popular uprising, though to a weakened position, with the Prime Ministry and true power being in Nasser's hands. Later, he was finally dismissed once and for all. He was put under mandatory house arrest for 17 years, initially said to be "only for a few days", and was subjected to continuous psychological humiliation by his captors. It is said that even before his arrival, most furniture was taken away, and even ripe fruits were taken from the trees, and that at soldiers fired bullets at night just to keep him awake, among the many things he was exposed to. Furthermore, his name was obliterated from the history books, and Nasser was written as Egypt's first president until only recently.
After Nasser died, Naguib's house arrest was ended, and Sadat further improved his living conditions marginally. And unlike the sons of his successors, his sons were the victims of horrible fates. His eldest son was sentenced to jail for beating a soldier who numerously kept insulting Naguib to the son, saying most famously: "what did you father do to the revolution? Nothing. He was just a decoration, a scarecrow." The son was tortured in jail, and died from grief shortly after his release. His middle son was killed mysteriously in Germany, some claim for his apparent attempts to bring back the cause of his father to the limelight. Naguib was not even allowed to witness the burial of his son or to attend his funeral. His youngest son was fired by presidential decree from a state-owned company and forced into a simple life of driving a taxi and a transport truck to make ends meet, until Mubarak purportedly gave him a pension. When Naguib died shortly into Mubarak's first term, many Egyptians were struck that they had a president who was named Muhammad Naguib, and that he was alive until recently.
As Egypt, decades after 1952, is finally about to hopefully enter its first true phase of a civil democracy following the January 25th Revolution, this post is an effort to remember a man who fought and paid dearly for that same civil & democratic state that we went out in revolution and suffered dearly in order to establish, decades after the military coup that was meant to bring such a state. This post is for a man who deserves a much larger space and recognition in Egyptian and world history...
"كنت رئيسا لمصر" هو العنوان المأسوي للكتاب الذي كتبه الرئيس الأول لمصر، الرئيس محمد نجيب، و هو العنوان الذي عبر عن الحقيقة المرة لما حدث لهذا الانسان. فمحمد نجيب المصري الاب و السوداني الأم (الأم كانت ذات اصل مصري، و سودانية النشأة)، و الحاصل على شهادات عليا في القانون و السياسة و الذي أجاد لغات عديدة و شهد له الجميع بالنبوغ و التفوق، كان ضحية لنظام عسكري دمر الديمقراطية و الحرية، و نفس النظام الذي كان قد جاء بالاساس من أجل ترسيخهما و حمايتهما. الرواية المتفق عليها هي ان ناصر و حركة الضباط الاحرار ذهبوا الى نجيب ليعرضوا عليه رئاسة الحركة، شعورا منهم ان صغر سنهم و رتبهم قد يضعف من فرصة التفاف الناس حولهم، و نظرا للسمعة الطيبة التي ارتبطت بمحمد نجيب. و بعد قيام الثورة (او الانقلاب بمعنى ادق) انقلبت الحركة ضد نجيب لإصراره على عودة الحياة الديمقراطية و المدنية، و خلعته مره حتى ثار الشعب و اعاده، الى ان خلعوه مرة أخرى و وضعوه تحت الاقامة الجبرية، بل و ظل اسمه غير موجودا من الاساس في كتب التاريخ كأول رئيس لمصر حتى قريبا. و يقال ان الجنود الذين حبسوه تفننوا في تعذيبه و ايلامه نفسيا، و منعوا ان يزوره احدا غير اسرته و اقاربه، و منع حتى ان يكون له خادما شخصيا، و انه تم أخذ أغلب المفروشات بالفيلا قبل وصوله اليها و حتى اقتطاف الفواكه من الاشجار.
و قام السادات بتحسين ظروفه نسبيا بعد رحيل عبد الناصر و انهى إقامته الجبرية بعد ١٧ عاما، و قام مبارك بتخصيص فيلا له بعد ان اصبح وجوده في فيلا زينب الوكيل بعد ٣٠ سنة امرا ليس سهلا استمراره. و على عكس ابناء من لحقوه، فمر ابنائه بأبشع انواع الحياة. فإينه الاكبر زج به في السجن بعد ان اعتدى علي مخبرا ممن كانوا يراقبون ابيه بعد ان قال له المخبر مرارا "انت ابوك عمل ايه للثورة؟ ولا حاجة. ده كان مجرد ديكور و خيال مآتة"، و عذب و نكل به و مات بعد خروجه قهرا. و ابنه الاوسط مات في المانيا في ظروفا غامضة بعد الاعتداء عليه و تم منع نجيب من حضور دفنه أو الصلاة عليه أو تشييع جنازته، و قال البعض ان قتله كان بسبب ما بدا و انه اصرارا على اعادة السمعة و الضوء الى ابيه. و ابنه الثالث تم فصله بقرار جمهوري من احد شركات الدولة، و اضطر للعمل سائقا على إحدى سيارات شركات المقاولات بالنهار و على سيارة أجرة بالليل، و يقال ان نظام مبارك قد خصص له راتب شهريا بعد ذلك. و عندما توفي نجيب بعد تولي مبارك بقليل، صدم أغلب المصريين الذين لم يعرف كيرا منهم ان كان لهم رئيسا اسمه محمد نجيب، و انه كان حيا يرزق بينهم.
و الآن، و مصر على اعتاب أول دولة ديمقراطية مدنية حقيقية (نأمل في ذلك) بعد ثورة ٢٥ يناير، فهذه التدوينة من أجل التذكرة برجل حارب من اجل نفس هذه الدولة المدنية الديمقراطية التي خرجنا بعد عقود من ثورة يوليو لنطالب بها، و دفع ثمن حربه غاليا. انها تذكرة برجلا يستحق مساحة أكبر، و أكثر تكريما و تعظيما، في تاريخ مصر و العالم...
في المدرسة الحربية
In Military School
نجيب في سلاح الحدود
Naguib in the border guard
With the Free Officers Movement
بيان إنهاء النظام الملكي و إعلان الجمهورية
The Statement proclaiming the end of the Monarchy and the instatement of the Republican System
الرئيس يمارس اعماله و مسئولياته، و في لقاءاته العديدة
The President overseeing his duties, and in his many meetings
رجل العام لمجلة تايم بعد الثورة/الانقلاب يقول: "لقد سأمنا الفساد."
Time's Man Of The Year right after the coup says "We've had enough of corruption." Apparently, we didn't.
مع مصطفى النحاس
With popular politician Mustafa Al Nahhas
مع الملك سعود
With Saudi King Saud
نجيب مع عبد الناصر، قبل ان يتآمر عليه ناصر و مجلس قيادة الثورة و يخلعه و ينكل به
With Nasser and members of the Free Officer's Movement before they removed him from power
(اعلى و اسفل) إثنتين من أشهر صوره
(Above and below, two of his most famous portraits)
مع استاذ القانون عبد الرازق السنهوري
With Abdel-Razek Al Sanhoury, an icon in Egyptian judicial knowledge and teaching.
مع الشيخ حسن البنا، مؤسس حركة الاخوان المسلمين
With Hassan Al Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
لحظات افضل مع ناصر
In better times with Nasser
Praying alongside Nasser
يصلي بجانب عبد ناصر
هنا مع السادات. و يقول ان بعد خلعه قابل السادات في إحدى الجنازات، و قال له: "إزيك يا نجيب؟!" و بعد ان حياه، قال نجيب لمن كان معه: "نجيب؟ انه لم يكن حتى يقدر ان يقول لي يا سعادة البيه في الماضي!"
With Sadat. Naguib claims he met Sadat in a funeral, with the then-President addressing him without a title "Naguib! How are you?!" Naguib responded respectfully, then said to someone: "Naguib? He didn't even used to dare call me Your Excellency years ago!"
نجيب و الاهرامات
Naguib by the Pyramids
نجيب كان قارءا نهما
Naguib was an avid reader
لحظة إلقاء القبض على نجيب
The Moment Mohammed Naguib Was Captured
محمد نجيب لحظة خروجه من قصر الرئاسة بعد إقالته في 14 نوفمبر 1954
The moment of his leaving the Presidential Palace, following his dismissal on November 14th 1954.
نجيب في آخر عمره، ولم يكن له سلوان سوى القراءة و تربية الكلاب و القطط
In the last days of his life. Other than reading, his only true joy and time-passer was raising cats and dogs
دمعت عيناي عندما رأيت هذه الصورة
My eyes burned up when I saw this picture
الصحيفة الرسمية لا تذكر الجنازة في المانشيت الرسمي، و ان كانت تحدث عنه في اماكن اخرى بالصفحة الاولى، و يصف التعليق اسفل الصورة محمد نجيب ب"اللواء" مجمد نجيب، و ليس "الرئيس الاسبق محمد نجيب".
State-Owned Al Akhbar does not talk about Naguib's funeral in its main headlines, though it does mention him extensively in other places on the front page, yet the caption on the picture describes him as "General Naguib", not "Former President Naguib."
جنازة محمد نجيب، و مبارك يصافح ابنه. لم يعرف العديد من المصريين ان كان هناك رئيسا لمصر اسمه نحمد نجيب، و انه كان حيا حتى تلك اللحظة.
In his funeral, Mubarak shaking the hands of his son. Not many Egyptians knew that they had a president named Muhammad Naguib, or that he was alive till that recent moment in time.
منقول
