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Fiqh (Arabic: فقه‎ [fiqh]) is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct (Sharia) expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition (Sunnah) and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists.

Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam. There are four prominent schools (madh'hab) of fiqh within Sunni practice and two within Shi'a practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a Faqih (plural Fuqaha).^[1]

Etymology[link]

The word fiqh is an Arabic term meaning "deep understanding" or "full comprehension". Technically it refers to the body of Islamic law extracted from detailed Islamic sources (which are studied in the principles of Islamic jurisprudence) and the process of gaining knowledge of Islam through jurisprudence. The historian Ibn Khaldun describes fiqh as "knowledge of the rules of God which concern the actions of persons who own themselves bound to obey the law respecting what is required (wajib), sinful (haraam), recommended (mandūb), disapproved (makrūh) or neutral (mubah)".^[2] This definition is consistent amongst the jurists.

In Modern Standard Arabic, fiqh has come to mean jurisprudence in general, be it Islamic or secular. It is thus possible to speak of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. as an expert in the common law fiqh of the United States, or of Farouk Sultan as an expert in the civil law fiqh of Egypt.

Introduction[link]

The Qur'an gives clear instruction on many issues, such as how to perform the ritual purification (Arabic: wudu) before the obligatory daily prayers (Arabic: salat), but on other issues, some Muslims believe the Qur'an alone is not enough to make things clear. For example the Qur'an states one needs to engage in daily prayers (Arabic: salat) and fast (Arabic: sawm) during the month of Ramadan but some Muslims believe they need further instructions on how to perform these duties. Details about these issues can be found in the traditions of Islamic prophet Muhammad (Arabic: Sunnah), so Qur'an and Sunnah are in most cases the basis for (Arabic: Shariah).

With regard to some topics the Qur'an and Sunnah are silent. In those cases the Muslim jurists (Arabic: Fuqaha) try to arrive at conclusions by other means. Sunni jurists use analogy (Arabic: Qiyas) and historical consensus of the community (Arabic: Ijma). The conclusions arrived at with the aid of these additional tools constitute a wider array of laws than the Sharia consists of, and is called fiqh. Thus, in contrast to the sharia, fiqh is not regarded as sacred and the schools of thought have differing views on its details, without viewing other conclusions as sacrilegious. This division of interpretation in more detailed issues has resulted in different schools of thought (Arabic: madh'hab).

This wider concept of Islamic jurisprudence is the source of a range of laws in different topics that govern the lives of the Muslims in all facets of everyday life.

Islamic Law[link]

Islamic law (fiqh) covers two main areas:

1. rules in relation to actions, and,
2. rules in relation to circumstances surrounding actions.

Fiqh can also be grouped as:

1. Worships (Ibadaat)
2. Dealings & transactions (Mua'malaat)

Rules in relation to actions ('amaliyya — عملية) comprise:

• Obligation (fardh)
• Recommendation (mustahabb)
• Permissibility (mubah)
• Disrecommendation (makrooh)
• Prohibition (haraam)

Rules in relation to circumstances (wadia') comprise:

• Condition (shart)
• Cause (sabab)
• Preventor (mani)
• Permit/Enforced (rukhsah, azeemah)
• Valid/Corrupt/Invalid (sahih, faasid, batil)
• In time/Debt/Repeat (adaa, qadaa, i'ada)

Fields of jurisprudence[link]

• Islamic economical jurisprudence فقه المعاملات
• Islamic political jurisprudence فقه السياسة
• Islamic marital jurisprudence
• Islamic criminal jurisprudence فقه العقوبات
• Islamic etiquettical jurisprudence الآداب
• Islamic theological jurisprudence
• Islamic hygienical jurisprudence
• Islamic military jurisprudence فقه الجهاد

[edit] Methodologies of jurisprudence usul al-fiqh (أصول الفقه)

The Modus operandi of the Muslim jurist is known as usul al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence).

There are different approaches to the methodology used in fiqh to derive sharia from the Islamic sources. The main methodologies are:

• The four classical Sunni schools are, in chronological order: the Hanafi school, the Maliki school, the Shafi'i school and the Hanbali school. They represent the generally accepted Sunni authority for Islamic jurisprudence.
• Jafari fiqh, or the Shi'a fiqh

Other minor schools are the Zaidi, Zahiri, Sufian Al'thawree, Sufian bin O'yayna, Layth bin Sa'ad, Tabari and Qurtubi schools.

The four schools of Sunnis[link]

Map of the Muslim world with the main madhhab's

The four schools (or Madh'hab) of Sunni Muslims are each named by students of the classical jurist who taught them. The Sunni schools (and where they are commonly found) are

• Hanafi (The Levant, Iraq, Turkey, the Balkans, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, Iran, Afghanistan, Jordan, China and Egypt)
• Maliki (North Africa, the Muslim areas of West Africa, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain)
• Shafi'i (Yemen, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Southern Iran, Muslim Southeast Asia, Jordan, Egypt, Swahili Coast, Maldives and southern parts of India)
• Hanbali (Saudi Arabia and Qatar).

These four schools share most of their rulings, but differ on the particular hadiths they accept as authentic and the weight they give to analogy or reason (qiyas) in deciding difficulties.

The Hanafi school was the earliest established under the jurist Imam Abu Hanifa, who was born and taught in Iraq. Imam Abu Hanifa (80A.H.–150A.H.), whose real name was Nu'man ibn Thabit, was born in the city of Kufa (modern day Iraq) in the year 80 A.H (689 A.D). Born into a family of tradesmen, the Imam's family were of Persian origin. Under Imam Abu Hanifa, the witr prayer was considered to be compulsory and the Hanafis also differed with other sects in relation to methods of taking ablution, prayers and payment of tithe or zakat. Imam Abu Hanifa also differed with the other three schools in many areas including the type of punishments meted out for various crimes in Islam. On the whole, the Hanafi school of jurisprudence could be said to have the most differences with other three schools.

Students of Imam Malik established the Maliki school of which a majority now can be found in North Africa and some Persian gulf states . Imam Malik, whose real name was Abu Abdullah, Malik bin Anas, was born in Medina in the year 715 AD. His ancestral home was in Yemen, but his grandfather settled in Medina after embracing Islam. He received his education in Medina, which was the most important seat of Islamic learning, and where the immediate descendants of Muhammad's (SAW) followers lived. Imam Malik was attracted to the study of law, and devoted himself to the study of fiqh. His principal book, the Kitab al-Muwatta, is one of the earliest surviving books on hadith and fiqh. Differences under the Maliki school included the fact that those following the Maliki school could state their purpose (or niat) once only for compulsory fasting which is valid for the whole month of Ramadhan whilst for the Shafi'i.e. school (see below), one would have to state his purpose every day of the month of Ramadhan for his fast to be valid the next day.

Ja'fari jurisprudence[link]

The Ja'fari school (Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia) is associated with Imam Jafar-as-Sadiq. The fatwas, or time and space bound rulings of early jurists, are taken rather more seriously in this school, due to the more hierarchical structure of Shia Islam, which is ruled by the Imams. But they are also more flexible, in that every jurist has considerable power to alter a decision according to his opinion.

The Jafari school uses 'aql "intellect" instead of qiyas in the Sunni schools, when establishing Islamic laws.

Ismaili Fatimid jurisprudence[link]

Daim al-Islam is a book on the rulings of Islam followed by Ismaili Muslims who adhere to the Shi'a Ismaili Fatimid fiqh. It describes manners and etiquette, including Ibadat in the light of guidance provided by the Ismaili Imams. The book emphasizes what importance Islam has given to manners and etiquette along with the worship of God, citing the traditions of the first four Imams of the Shi'a Ismaili Fatimid school of thought.

Arguments for and against reform[link]

Each school reflects a unique al-urf or culture (a cultural practice that was influenced by traditions), that the classical jurists themselves lived in, when rulings were made. Some suggest that the discipline of isnad, which developed to validate hadith made it relatively easy to record and validate also the rulings of jurists. This, in turn, made them far easier to imitate (taqlid) than to challenge in new contexts. The argument is, the schools have been more or less frozen for centuries, and reflect a culture that simply no longer exists. Traditional scholars hold that religion is there to regulate human behavior and nurture peoples moral side and since human nature has not fundamentally changed since the beginning of Islam a call to modernize the religion is essentially one to relax all laws and institutions.

Early shariah had a much more flexible character, and some modern Muslim scholars believe that it should be renewed, and that the classical jurists should lose special status. This would require formulating a new fiqh suitable for the modern world, e.g. as proposed by advocates of the Islamization of knowledge, which would deal with the modern context. This modernization is opposed by most conservative ulema. Traditional scholars hold that the laws are contextual and consider circumstance such as time, place and culture, the principles they are based upon are universal such as justice, equality and respect. Many Muslim scholars argue that even though technology may have advanced, the fundamentals of human life have not and is in the scope of current laws.

Early history[link]

The formative period of Islamic jurisprudence stretches back to the time of the early Muslim communities. In this period, jurists were more concerned with issues of authority and teaching than with theory and methodology.^[3]

Progress in theory and methodology happened with the coming of the early Muslim jurist Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i (767–820), who codified the basic principles of Islamic jurisprudence in his book ar-Risālah. The book details the four roots of law (Qur'an, Sunnah, ijma, and qiyas) while specifying that the primary Islamic texts (the Qur'an and the hadith) be understood according to objective rules of interpretation derived from scientific study of the Arabic language.^[4]

Secondary sources of law were developed and refined over the subsequent centuries, consisting primarily of juristic preference (istihsan), laws of the previous prophets (shara man qablana), continuity (istihsab), extended analogy (maslaha mursala), blocking the means (sadd al-dhari'ah), custome urf and saying of a companion (qawl al-sahabi).^[5]

Possible links with Western law[link]

A number of important legal institutions were developed by Muslim jurists during the classical period of Islam, known as the Islamic Golden Age. One such institution was the Hawala, an early informal value transfer system, which is mentioned in texts of Islamic jurisprudence as early as the 8th century. Hawala itself later influenced the development of the agency in common law and in civil laws such as the aval in French law and the avallo in Italian law.^[6] The "European commenda" (Islamic Qirad) used in European civil law may have also originated from Islamic law.^[7]

The Waqf in Islamic law, which developed during the 7th–9th centuries, bears a notable resemblance to the trusts in the English trust law.^[8] For example, every Waqf was required to have a waqif (settlor), mutawillis (trustee), qadi (judge) and beneficiaries.^[9] The trust law developed in England at the time of the Crusades, during the 12th and 13th centuries, was introduced by Crusaders who may have been influenced by the Waqf institutions they came across in the Middle East.^[10][11]

The Islamic lafif was a body of twelve members drawn from the neighbourhood and sworn to tell the truth, who were bound to give a unanimous verdict, about matters "which they had personally seen or heard, binding on the judge, to settle the truth concerning facts in a case, between ordinary people, and obtained as of right by the plaintiff." The only characteristic of the English jury which the Islamic lafif lacked was the "judicial writ directing the jury to be summoned and directing the bailiff to hear its recognition." According to Professor John Makdisi, "no other institution in any legal institution studied to date shares all of these characteristics with the English jury." It is thus likely that the concept of the lafif may have been introduced to England by the Normans, who conquered both England and the Emirate of Sicily, and then evolved into the modern English jury.^[7]

Several other fundamental common law institutions may have been adapted from similar legal institutions in Islamic law and jurisprudence, and introduced to England by the Normans after the Norman conquest of England and the Emirate of Sicily, and by Crusaders during the Crusades. In particular, the "royal English contract protected by the action of debt is identified with the Islamic Aqd, the English assize of novel disseisin is identified with the Islamic Istihqaq, and the English jury is identified with the Islamic lafif." Other English legal institutions such as "the scholastic method, the licence to teach", the "law schools known as Inns of Court in England and Madrasas in Islam" and the "European commenda" (Islamic Qirad) may have also originated from Islamic law.^[7] The methodology of legal precedent and reasoning by analogy (Qiyas) are also similar in both the Islamic and common law systems.^[12] These influences have led some scholars to suggest that Islamic law may have laid the foundations for "the common law as an integrated whole".^[7]

See also[link]

	Islam portal
	Law portal

• Abdallah al-Harari
• Bahar-e-Shariat
• Mizan—a comprehensive treatise on the contents of Islam written by Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
• Palestinian law
• Ma'ruf
• Sources of Islamic law
• List of Islamic terms in Arabic
• Urf

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Potz, Richard: Islamic Law and the Transfer of European Law, European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2011, retrieved: November 28, 2011.

External links[link]

• Laws of Islam concerning ritual purity and food including jurisprudence/fiqh
• imamfaisal.com - hundreds of free mp3s explaining the fiqh of tahara, marriage, business, etc. according to the scholars.

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Danish Wikipedia. (September 2011) Don't speak Danish? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the Danish article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|da|Bilal Philips}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
Philips in August 2010
Born	Dennis Bradley Philips (1946-01-06) 6 January 1946 (age 66) Kingston, Jamaica
Education	B.A. Islamic Studies, M.A. Aqeedah, & PhD Islamic Theology
Alma mater	B.A. - Islamic University of Medina, M.A. - King Saud University, & PhD - University of Wales
Occupation	Islamic preacher
Years active	1971-present
Religion	Islam
Website
www.bilalphilips.com

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips (born Dennis Bradley Philips on 6 January 1946 in Jamaica) is a contemporary Islamic scholar, teacher, speaker, and author, resident in Qatar.^[1][2] He appears on Peace TV, which is a 24-hour Islamic satellite TV channel broadcasting to many countries around the world.

Biography[link]

Education[link]

Philips was born on 6 January 1946^[3] in Jamaica, but grew up in Canada, where he converted to Islam in 1972. He received his B.A. degree from the Islamic University of Medina and his M.A. in Aqeedah (Islamic Theology) from the King Saud University in Riyadh, then to the University of Wales, where he completed a PhD in Islamic Theology in the early 1990s.^[4] Philips comes from a family of educators, as both his parents were teachers and his grandfather was a Christian minister and Bible scholar.^[5]

Islamic Information Center[link]

In 1994 he founded (and continues to direct) an Islamic Information Center, now known as Discover Islam, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.^[5]

Islamic Online University[link]

The Islamic Online University has been founded by Dr. Bilal Philips as a completely tuition-free institution that is offering an online intensive, undergraduate, and graduate courses in Islamic Studies. The university offers a four year bachelor of arts degree in Islamic studies program.^[6]

The IOU was initially launched in 2001 from UAE with an offering of a few short courses. After a five year interlude, it was restarted in 2007 from Qatar with a greater offering of completely free short courses.^[7]

Controversies[link]

According to Steven Emerson, Executive Director of Investigative Project on Terrorism, he follows a strong anti-Western agenda and is connected to radical and terrorist Islamists.^[8] Bilal has made statements against suicide bombing and other terrorist tactics as un-Islamic. He has also suggested that once violent conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims can be better solved with education.^[9]

Bilal Philips (left) and Pierre Vogel speaking on a rally in Frankfurt in 2003.

In an interview given, Philips accused the Australian authorities of "blindly following American allegations and unsubstantiated false accusations" claiming that investigations in the UK, Canada and Australia had found no evidence that he was in any way connected with terrorism.^[2] In this interview, he also pointed out that he had not entered the USA since 1995, characterizing media claims that he had been deported in 2004 as an "outright lie". Philips also called the statement that he was an "unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing "really a joke", claiming that it was based on a "supposedly leaked report" of over 100 prominent Muslims who were never charged. In April 2011 he has been banned from re-entering Germany as persona non grata.^[10]

At a conference in Toronto during the city's Pride Parade on July 3, 2011, Philips briefly reiterated his view that homosexuals caught in the act should be executed in countries governed by Islamic law.^[11]

Publications[link]

Books[link]

• Fundamentals of TAWHEED (Islamic Monotheism) International Islamic Publishing House; ISBN 9960-9648-0-9^[12]
• The Evolution of Fiqh (Islamic Law & The Madh-habs) International Islamic Publishing House (Edited by Bradley Philips); ISBN 9960-672-86-7^[13]
• True Message of Jesus Christ Islamic Book Services 2006; ISBN 81-7231-360-8^[14]
• Purpose of Creation 84pp, Islamic Book Services 2002; ISBN 81-7231-358-6^[15]
• Funeral Rites International Islamic Publishing House; ASIN 9960850846^[16]
• Polygamy in Islam Islamic Book Services; ISBN 81-7231-715-8^[17]
• Islamic Studies Al-Basheer 2002; ISBN 1-898649-19-7^[18]

Videos[link]

• Sundry videos at LightUponLight.com

See also[link]

• List of Da'ees
• Dawah
• Islam in Canada
• Zakir Naik
• Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo
• Muhammad bin Jamil Zeno

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bilal Philips' official website
• Bilal Philips' Blog
• Bilal Philips audio and video lectures
• Interview with Bilal Philips on Famous Muslims
• Lecture: Hardening of the Heart
• Bilal Philips' Islamic Online University

Omar Suleiman
16th Vice President of Egypt
In office 29 January 2011 – 11 February 2011[1]
President	Hosni Mubarak
Preceded by	Hosni Mubarak*
Succeeded by	Sami Hafez Anan (Deputy Leader)
Director of the General Intelligence Directorate
In office 22 January 1993 – 31 January 2011
President	Hosni Mubarak
Preceded by	Nour El Dien Afeefy
Succeeded by	Murad Muwafi
Personal details
Born	(1936-07-02) 2 July 1936 (age 75) Qena, Egypt
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Egyptian Military Academy Frunze Military Academy Ain Shams University Cairo University
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military service
Allegiance	Egypt
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1954–present
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	North Yemen Civil War[2] Six-Day War[3] October War[3]
*Office vacant from 14 October 1981 – 29 January 2011.

Omar Suleiman (Arabic: عمر سليمان‎, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕomɑɾˤ seleˈmæːn]; born 2 July 1936) is a former Egyptian army general, politician, diplomat, and intelligence officer. A leading figure in Egypt's intelligence system beginning in 1986, Suleiman was appointed to the long-vacant Vice Presidency by then-President Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011.^[4][5] On 11 February 2011, Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and ceased being Vice President;^[1] governing power was transferred to the Armed Forces Supreme Council,^[6] of which Suleiman is not a member.^[7] A new head of intelligence services was appointed by the ruling Supreme Council. Suleiman withdrew from the political scene and did not appear in public after announcing Mubarak's resignation.^[8]

Millions of Egyptian citizens^[9] involved in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 opposed Suleiman or Mubarak remaining in power without elections taking place.^[10][11] Human rights groups tied Suleiman’s career to a regime marked by widespread human rights abuses,^[12][13][14] and asserted that many Egyptians "see Suleiman as Mubarak II."^[12] Torture victims and human rights groups charged that Suleiman oversaw the systematic use of torture on detainees and that in at least one instance he personally tortured a detainee during his career in intelligence.^[15][16][17] In response to the 2011 protests, Suleiman blamed foreign influence and appealed to protestors to go home.^[18]

Early life and education[link]

Suleiman was born in Qena in Upper Egypt. In 1954 at the age of 19, he moved to Cairo to enroll in Egypt's prestigious Military Academy. He received additional military training in the Soviet Union at Moscow's Frunze Military Academy. He participated in both the Six-Day and October wars.^[3] In the mid-1980s, Suleiman earned additional degrees, including a bachelor's degree from Ain Shams University and a master's degree from Cairo University, both in political science. A fluent English speaker,^[19] Suleiman was transferred to military intelligence, where he worked on Egypt-United States relations.

Intelligence career[link]

Torture victims and human rights groups assert Suleiman oversaw the systematic use of torture on detainees and personally tortured a detainee in controversial CIA renditions.^[15][16][17]

Suleiman became deputy head of military intelligence in 1986, and its director in 1991.^[20] In 1993, he became the chief of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service (EGIS). In 1995, he is said to have insisted that President Mubarak ride in an armored car during a visit to Ethiopia. A would-be assassin fired on the vehicle, but Mubarak escaped without injury due to the added precautions.^[21] His name only became known in later years, breaking the tradition of keeping the name of the Egyptian head of Intelligence a secret known only to senior government officials. It was released in the media around 2000.^{[citation needed]}

In his role as Director of EGID, the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph called him "one of the world's most powerful spy chiefs". In 2009, Foreign Policy magazine ranked him as the Middle East's most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Mossad chief at the time Meir Dagan.^[20][22]

According to diplomatic cables leaked to Wikileaks, Suleiman pledged in 2007 to Yuval Diskin of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) to "cleanse" Sinai of Palestinian arms smugglers.^[23]

Commentary on disrupting Palestinian elections[link]

Suleiman promised Israel in 2005 that he would prevent Hamas from gaining control over Gaza in the 2006 Palestinian elections, according to a US diplomatic cable. Amos Gilad, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, and Suleiman discussed their common fear of Hamas winning the Palestinian elections set for January 2006. Suleiman asserted to Gilad that there "will be no elections in January. We will take care of it." Suleiman did not elaborate as to how Egypt would stop the Palestinian elections from taking place.^[24] Suleiman was separately quoted as saying Gaza could "go hungry, but not starve."^[25]

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv wrote that Suleiman feared Hamas rule in Gaza would bolster the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.^[26] Gilad requested that the U.S. closely hold this information and said he did not know how the Egyptians could prevent the elections from taking place but that the "only people the Palestinians can trust now are the Egyptians."^[27]

CIA "rendition" program[link]

Suleiman was directly implicated in the controversial CIA "rendition" program.^[19][28] Journalist Stephen Grey in his work, Ghost Plane, states that after taking over as intelligence director, Suleiman oversaw an agreement with the US in 1995 that allowed for suspected militants to be secretly transferred to Egypt for questioning.^[29] Although Suleiman's Egyptian Intelligence was required to provide "assurances" that prisoners handed over through this program would not be subjected to torture, at least one CIA officer testified that such assurances from them were unofficially regarded as being as worthless as "a bucket of warm spit".^[19]

Suleiman was accused of complicity in the torture of Al-Qaeda suspects in Egypt,^[30] particularly the case of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was captured and handed over to Suleiman. The information al-Libi gave under torture was cited by US officials in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. Al-Libi later retracted his confession.^[29]

Political career[link]

Suleiman is seen as a very close and trusted ally of former President Hosni Mubarak, sharing many of his views on key issues such as Iran, Egypt–Israel relations and the United States, and treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood.^[21] Although he was a military man who by law is not a member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party, he preferred suits to military uniforms and is seen as a major link between Egyptian political and military elites.^[21] Due to his role in the regional political scene and the lack of an alternative candidate acceptable to Hosni Mubarak, some speculated that Suleiman would succeed Mubarak as President. In particular, he is seen as the choice of the Egyptian military establishment.^[21] Suleiman denied any intent to run for election to the office.^[31] On 29 January 2011, he was named Vice President of Egypt during the civil unrest,^[32] ending a vacancy in the position that lasted almost 30 years. He was sworn in two days later.^[33]

On 5 February 2011, a senior Egyptian security source denied reports of an assassination attempt on Omar Suleiman, saying there was no truth to them at all. Fox News reported that an unnamed official in the Obama Administration asserted there was an assassination attempt on Suleiman "soon after Suleiman was appointed", and claimed that it took the form of an attack on Suleiman's motorcade.^[34] Wolfgang Ischinger, host of the Munich Security Conference and originator of the incorrect allegations, later said he "was led to believe that we had a confirmed report but in fact we didn't" and also added that the information had come from an "unsubstantiated source."^[35] Later on 24 February 2011, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-gheit confirmed that Suleiman had survived an assassination attempt on 4 February, when a group of unidentified men opened fire on Suleiman's car from a stolen ambulance in Cairo.^[36]

According to an interview with the Egyptian ambassador to the United States on 10 February 2011, Omar Suleiman became the de facto President of Egypt after President Mubarak transferred his power to Suleiman.^[37] The following day Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and governing power was transferred to the Armed Forces Supreme Council.^[6] According to the Egypt State Information Service, Suleiman subsequently ceased holding the office of Vice President.^[1]

On 6 April 2012 Suleiman announced that he will be running for president, after some demonstration. Suleiman accused the Muslim brotherhood of planning the assassination attempt on 5 February. Moreover, he accused them of some threats of "SLAIN if he run for the president" that he had received before running for it. Furthermore, the Brotherhood and some Islamists arranged a huge protest against Suleiman whose popularity has grown dramatically.

Public image and perception[link]

Al Jazeera describes Omar Suleiman as the unelected Vice President of Egypt, éminence grise to President Hosni Mubarak, and point man for Egypt's secret relations with Israel.^[38] Jane Mayer of The New Yorker notes that Suleiman remains controversial because he "has headed the feared Egyptian general intelligence service" and also describes his role in allowing controversial torture methods under US rendition programs which may have generated bad intelligence.^[39]

In turn, Suleiman blamed journalists for the current uprising in Egypt. "I actually blame certain friendly nations who have television channels, they're not friendly at all, who have intensified the youth against the nation and the state," Suleiman said in a TV address. "They have filled in the minds of the youth with wrongdoings, with allegations and this is unacceptable. They should have never done that. They should have never sent this enemy spirit," he said.^[40] The Committee to Protect Journalists replied that "it is stupefying that the government continues to send out thugs and plainclothes police to attack journalists and to ransack media bureaus".^[41] State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said "we have traced it to elements close to the government, or the ruling party," and said "I don't know that we have a sense how far up the chain it went."^[42]

Domestic[link]

Millions of Egyptians called for the dissolution of the Mubarak regime and new elections

Bloomberg reported that Suleiman "lacks the support where he now needs it most: the streets of Cairo". “The Egyptians don’t want Mubarak and they don’t want Suleiman,” said Chayma Hassabo, a researcher on Arab political movements at Cedej, a Cairo-based research center.^[43] Al Jazeera wrote Suleiman "does not have a high opinion of Islam in politics, and is not shy about telling Western audiences the lengths he will go to allow his security services to keep the Muslim Brotherhood and their offshoots at bay."^[38]

The young guard in Egypt is opposed to Suleiman running the country without elections taking place. Students, union activists and opposition bloggers within Egypt all remain opposed to Suleiman.^[44] Veteran Egyptian journalist Nadia abou el-Magd said it comes down to the protesters. "They that made revolution and they are in the position to impose their conditions," said el-Magd, who works for the newspaper Al-Ahram and The Associated Press. "They don't see that ... anybody else is in a position to impose their conditions on them."^[45]

In response to the appointment of Omar Suleiman as the new Vice President of Egypt, ElBaradei stated that it was a "hopeless, desperate attempt by Mubarak to stay in power, I think it is loud and clear...that Mubarak has to leave today".^[46]

United States[link]

Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks suggested Suleiman enjoyed a strong relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). “Our intelligence collaboration with Omar Soliman is now probably the most successful element of the relationship” with Egypt, said a 2006 U.S. diplomatic cable that used an alternative transliteration of his name, which also described Suleiman as Mubarak’s consigliere on foreign policy.^[43]

In an op-ed for AlJazeera, Lisa Hajjar opines that Egyptian-born Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib, "who was innocent of any ties to terror or militancy", was seized from a bus by Pakistani security forces and suspended from a hook and electrocuted repeatedly at American behest. "His fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks. At one point, his interrogator slapped him so hard that his blindfold was dislodged, revealing the identity of his tormentor: Suleiman," Haijar asserts. According to Haijar, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a shackled prisoner in front of Habib, which he did with a vicious karate kick.^[47] After an article of the ordeal appeared in the Washington Post, the American government announced they would not charge Habib and that they would release him to Australia.^[48] Habib said he would sue the Egyptian government for his treatment.^[49] Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch asserts "the Americans knew what was going to happen to people who were rendered to Egypt".^[50]

On 12 April, Suleiman announced his intentions to run in the Presidential elections, because he fears Islamist forces would turn Egypt into a religious state and isolate Egypt from the international community.

Middle East[link]

Luis Moreno, a U.S. intelligence analyst, wrote that although he deferred to the Embassy in Cairo for Egyptian succession scenario analysis, "there is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of" Suleiman. David Hacham stated an Israeli delegation led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak was "shocked by Mubarak's aged appearance and slurred speech," when it met him in Egypt. "Hacham was full of praise for Soliman, however." Hacham added that he sometimes spoke to Suleiman's deputy several times a day via a "hotline."^[51][52] Maha Azzam, a fellow at Chatham House, a London-based international affairs research institute, said “the Israelis are happy with Omar Suleiman, he has been pivotal in the peace process, he’s someone they know and someone they can deal with.”^[43] Avigdor Lieberman, the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, expressed “his respect and appreciation for Egypt's leading role in the region and his personal respect for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Minister Suleiman".^[53]

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates each repeatedly pressed the United States not to cut loose the Mubarak regime; for example, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi, whom some believe to be the real strongman of the UAE, emphasized the need for “stability” in Egypt. The New York Times reported these countries "worry that a sudden, chaotic change in Egypt would destabilize the region or, in the Arab nations, even jeopardize their own leaders, many of whom are also autocrats facing restive populations."^[54]

PressTV, an Iranian state-owned news outlet, reported that Egyptians "associate Omar Suleiman, now the Vice President who was sworn in today, with a new puppet of the US government – someone to maintain hegemony here in this region because, as I mentioned, without Egypt you have no control over the Palestinian territory, especially Gaza; and, of course, the Israeli connection is something to note."^[55]

Non-governmental organizations[link]

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch assert Suleiman’s career moved in lockstep with a regime marked by widespread abuses. “Torture is an endemic problem in Egypt and ending police abuse has been a driving element behind the massive popular demonstrations that swept Egypt over the past week,” Human Rights Watch said in a January report.^[43]

Human Rights Watch further wrote that "Egyptians, particularly those of us calling for an end to Mubarak's three-decade rule, see Suleiman as Mubarak II, especially after the lengthy interview he gave to state television 3 Feb. in which he accused the demonstrators in Tahrir Square of implementing foreign agendas. He did not even bother to veil his threats of retaliation against protesters."^[12] The Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House also criticized the Mubarak regime for its violence against protesters and suppression of journalists.^[56][57][58]

References[link]