Famous Egyptian YouTuber Urges Actvists to Ally With Iran

Egyptian YouTuber Abdullah Elshrif and Iran's Supreme Leader Imam Khamanei

Lookie here!!

When the Islamic Republic of Iran's Supreme Leader Imam Khamanei urged Egyptians thronging Tahrir Square eight years ago to gain inspiration from the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a prominent Egyptian media personality mocked the Imam. 

"When he [Imam Khamenei] wanted to address the Egyptian people [during a Friday sermon], he spoke in Arabic after always talking in Farsi 'sha shi shi sha she' [gibberish]," Al-Hayat television host Amr Adib taunted. 

"Do our youth even need the support of Iran? None of them knows Tehran!" Adib insisted.

Egyptian media personality Amr Adib

While the Egyptians succeeded in overthrowing dictator Hosni Mubarak and voting in Mohammad Morsi of the Islamic Movement's Muslim Brotherhood organization, the victory was short-lived as a military coup under General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi brought el-Sisi, U.S. President Donald Trump's "favorite dictator," into office one year later.

But as last weekend's street protests against el-Sisi indicate, the Egyptians have not given up on their aspiration for a representative government eight years on from the Islamic Awakening.

And if Egyptians didn't know anything about the Islamic Revolution of Iran then, as Adib claims, they do now thanks in part to famous Egyptian social media influencer Abdullah Eshrif who motivates his nearly two million followers to "learn from [Iran]" despite their religious and political differences.

This summer he posted a video comparing the current Egyptian revolutionary movement to that in Iran before the Islamic revolution. He says the revolution in Iran succeeded after many years of persistence by leader Imam Khomeini, who was imprisoned and exiled before returning to lead his people to a final blow to the system.

"I learned this story from Iran, that there's still hope and that Truth comes back if there are people still voicing it," Elshrif said. "Al Khomeini was keeping people on the streets by passing clandestinely audiotapes from Iraq...nine years of motivational speeches and fearless, striking words that let no place for despair and kept hope rooted in the spirit of the people until the proper moment came."

Egyptians tuning into Iran should review the advice Imam Khamenei gave them in February 2011. He warned that a "collaborating regime is not toppled when its visible leader leaves the country. If these leaders are replaced by others from behind the scenes, then nothing has changed. This is a trap set for the people."

"We believe the following experience could be beneficial to the current circumstances:"

1. "The awakening of people is a war of two wills--the will of the people and the will of its enemies."

2. "The enemy tries to sow despair about achieving your goals."

3. "The enemy sends his well-equipped security forces against you in order to spread terror and chaos among the people. Do not fear them. You are stronger than those mercenaries."

4. "The [most] important weapon of the people when confronting the forces of tyranny and the collaborating rulers is unity and harmony."

5. "Do not trust the role played by the West and America, or the political maneuvers they use towards your awakening."

6. "The circumstances require that the religious scholars, and Al-Azhar with its well-known history of struggle, play a much more significant role. When the people embark on its revolution from the mosques and the Friday sermons, and raise the slogan of 'Allah Akbar,' the Islamic scholars are expected to play a more prominent role."

7. "The Egyptian army, which bears on its chest decorations from at least two wars with the Zionist enemy, is facing a great historic test today. The enemy wants to spur this army to oppress the masses. If this happens, God forbid, it would constitute an unbridgeable breach in the ranks of this proud army. The Zionist enemy, not the Egyptian people, should tremble in fear of the Egyptian army. There is no doubt that the members of the Egyptian army, which is part of the Egyptian people, will join the masses, Allah willing. Then this sweet experience will repeat itself in Egypt." 

8. "America, which supported the collaborating rulers for 30 years, against the will of the Egyptian people, is not in a position to mediate or to advise in the case of Egypt. View any American move or advice with a doubt and pessimism, and do not trust it." 

Egyptian and Iranian Islamic revolutionaries have cooperated and supported each other throughout the last century, setting aside sectarian differences in their struggles to lift their nations out of oppression. Imam Khamenei, in fact, translated many of Muslim Brotherhood icon Sayyid Qutb's books into Farsi to educate the Iranians on the revolutionary spirit of Islam. 

1984

"Learn from them [Iran] and strengthen your weaknesses," Elshrif advises his followers. "Or even ally with them!"