The leaders of the Islamic Group, along with police and State Security leaders, spent nearly ten full months touring Egyptian prisons to explain the details of the non-violence initiative to members of the Islamic Group. They started from the New Valley detention center in the far south of Egypt, then Fayoum, then al-Aqrab, then Wadi al-Natrun, then Damanhour, and then returned again to New Valley and Fayoum.

It was an arduous and perilous journey, filled with fear and anticipation alongside great trust in God. Everyone feared the failure of the experiment and hoped for its success, for it was a unique experience in every detail.

The first and most famous success in the New Valley was encouraging for everyone, and one of the secrets of its success was the presence of Major General Khaled Khalfallah as an inspector for State Security in the governorate, who swore from the first day that he would dedicate his entire life to this great project.

It was a unique and wonderful experience in self-review and course correction. The experience was new for both sides—security and the group—and it contained many scenes of cohesion and coexistence, where distances melted away and vendettas and grudges ended.

It was not easy for the leaders of the group to go to their followers openly and without equivocation, each saying about himself: 'I am the primary responsible person who bears for them all the mistakes that occurred, and that the time for correction and review has come.' This is rare courage and great mental strength.

Our words and phrases were not merely letters uttered by tongues, but they represented a solemn covenant to transition from the logic of weapons to an oasis of peace, from ambushes and vendettas to compassion and brotherhood, from violence to gentleness and wisdom. This transition did not happen overnight but was the product of many years, just as the initiative took five years.

The wonderful reception and great welcome for these leaders were the beginning of success. There was great credibility on both sides of the initiative—the group and security—for success would benefit both parties, and before them, the nation and religion.

And thank God that all these decisive moments in the history of the initiative are recorded in audio and video, and they contained wonderful human scenes. I believe they are important for every young person who has not understood religion correctly.

Our words met with rare acceptance, only because of the detachment and sincerity that enveloped the initiative from both sides. Thus success was the ally of both parties until this experience became a model to be emulated, and its ideas were applied in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Libya. All countries of the region praised it and the hero of the initiative, Major General Ahmed Raafat, until he became a symbol for such pioneering projects.

Among the most important of my words during the initiative days are the following:

We launched the initiative to spare bloodshed that would be wasted in an improper field or spilled without a legitimate, valid interest. We launched it in service of Islam and homelands.

The decision of the initiative is a strategic decision resulting from a religious conviction and valid evidence arising from an insightful vision of religion and life. It is a covenant we made upon ourselves and committed ourselves to before anyone else committed us to it. We launched it unilaterally, without any conditions or stipulations, and without compensation.

We launched the initiative to prevent violence that led to grudges and vendettas that gradually grew until they almost made us forget that we are of one religion, one homeland, and we face one qibla.

The initiative is a religious duty in self-review, characterized by the self-reproaching soul. It is not a trade-off between religion and freedom, but a revolving around religion and homeland wherever they turn.

It was fortunate that this initiative preceded the bombing of the World Trade Center towers in New York by four years. Had it come after, Egypt would have lost its credibility.

The initiative is an implementation of Sharia, not a neglect of it; an application of the Book and Sunnah, not an abandonment of them; a prevention of discord, not a fall into it; and a return to the correct religion and its core message: 'guidance of all creations'.

Reconciliation needs brave men like al-Hasan ibn Ali, who endure the blame of the blamers and the exaggeration of the exaggerators.

Guiding creation to the truth, glory be to Him, is the ultimate goal of those who call to God.

We cannot live two lives or live our lifetimes twice: one life to experiment and err, and another to learn from our mistakes. The solution is to abandon the trial-and-error approach, for it is destructive to individuals and groups. We must add the lifetimes of those who have experimented to our own, and their experiences to ours, for 'a believer is not stung from the same hole twice' as the Prophet, peace be upon him, advised us. By analogy, 'do not be stung from a hole from which your brother was stung,' and 'do not repeat the mistakes of others,' and 'start from where others ended, not from where they started.'

We are guides, not rulers; we are callers, not judges; we are callers, not rebels; we are guides, not harsh ones. These four are our constitution from today until the end of life.

We do not excommunicate a Muslim for a sin or an act of disobedience; that is not our task and never will be.

The greatest caller is the one who combines religious duty and practical reality in a way that does not compromise either, and who brings together the requirements of Sharia and the interests of homelands, and between Sharia and the beneficial customs of his society, even if they are newly introduced.

The Prophet borrowed the idea of the trench in the Battle of the Confederates from the Persians, fire worshippers, and triumphed with it. Great Islam combines firmness and flexibility: firmness in its lofty goals, major objectives, and fundamental beliefs; flexibility in means and mechanisms, and that is what makes it fresh, vibrant, and youthful.

As quoted from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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