Press Release
The Land of Warraq Island Belongs to its People and Residents
It is not Permissible to Evict them or Force Them to Sell it
(Translated)

Al-Warraq Island is the largest of the natural islands in the Nile River. A decision was issued in 1998 to consider it as a nature reserve, and in 2017, a decision was issued by the Prime Minister to exclude it from the decision of nature reserves and turn it into an investment area, and in 2018 a decision was issued to establish a new urban complex on its lands. In accordance with these decisions, the police and the army carried out successive campaigns to demolish the homes of the island’s residents, and burn their agricultural crops because of what it said was an assault on state property.

On the other hand, the people demonstrated in protest of their expulsion from their land, and clashes took place, and dozens were arrested. In December 2020, the Supreme State Security Criminal Court sentenced 35 of the island’s residents to prison terms of between 5 and 25 years in connection with those clashes (Al-Jazeera, 10/8/2022).

At the time, we examined the matter with the judge who at the time justified the state’s action towards the people by being forced on the grounds, and that the state has the right to defend its lands and recover it in the event of an attack on it, even if it was leased to some individuals or arranged for them to have a right to use, and concluded by saying: Al-Warraq, some of which are owned by the Egyptian Endowment Authority, and some are owned by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Urban Communities Authority. The Ministry of Irrigation had the right to supervise its strength and preserve its great Nile, and it was confirmed from the papers that some of the squatters on this land had built on it without a license, and built on the precincts of the Nile River.” (Al-Shorouk, 12/27/2020).

Human rights lawyer Khaled Ali confirmed that the people of Warraq Island did not attack state lands, but rather possessed title deeds to lands and homes, and posted on his personal Facebook page pictures of notarized sales contracts and building licenses for the people of Warraq. (Al-Jazeera, 10/8/2022)

Then, the Minister of Housing, on the development of Warraq Island, said that the state is consensually buying an acre of Warraq Island for 6 million pounds, explaining that the exchange was an acre of land on Warraq Island for 16 acres in Sadat City.

At times the regime declares that the island belongs to the state and that it has the right to restore it as stated in the rationale for the ruling issued in December 2020 after they unlisted it from being a nature reserve accusing its people of violating state ownership, then the regime announces that it buys from the people what it previously claimed to be ownership for the state! Does the land of that island really belong to the state, assuming that its people do not have papers proving their ownership of it? Is it permissible for the state to take it away from them under the pretext of investment and development and forcing them to leave it and move away from it? And what should the state do towards them?

First: This island, like all the lands that the people of Egypt revived, lived and inherited from one generation to another, are private property to them, proven by their cultivation, construction and residence, according to the hadeeth of the Messenger (saw):

«مَنْ أَحْيَا أَرْضاً مَيْتَةً فَهِيَ لَهُ» “If anyone makes a barren land productive, then it belongs to him.”

The origin of the land is that its construction and revival is one of the reasons for its legal ownership, which was not addressed by the judge who claimed that it is state property, which may expropriate it from the people against their will, despite the fact that they live on it and survive from its crops.

Second: It is not permissible to take it away from them either by temptation or by force or coercion under the pretext of developing it as the system claims.

Third: The state must provide them with everything they can for a decent and stable life, and if it really wants to develop the land and provide services to it, what prevents them from doing that?! Should the big money and elites buy it in order for services to reach it?! Is it not the duty of the state to take care of the people of Egypt and provide them with all services and provide them with a decent life, or is that decent life depends on the status according to what they have of money and according to their position in power and their proximity to decision-makers?!

O People of Al-Warraq Island: It is your land; it is a legitimate right that you should not neglect, and your steadfastness in the face of the regime’s campaigns is a duty, and the people of Egypt must support your right and prevent you from the regime and its brutality, so that you become one hand that prevents this regime’s tyranny and greed.

O People of Egypt Al-Kinana: The regime that thinks with the mentality of the merchant and contractor will not stop at Al-Warraq Island, but will extend to every land in which it hints, even if something of distinction and the possibility of investment, as it did with the Maspero Triangle and the Gardens of Al-Mamoura in Alexandria, and it will seize them by force and coercion, and your standing in the face of the regime now and preventing it from the encroachment and assault on the people of Al-Warraq and the expropriation of their land from them is a legal duty. And if you let them down today, the regime will be alone with you one by one, and you will say on that day, “I was eaten the day the white bull was eaten,” and we were attacked on the day we left the people of Warraq alone in the face of the regime.

O People of Egypt, Al-Kinana: What guarantees you justice and rights is the application of Islam in its state, the Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly-Guided Caliphate), upon the method of the Prophethood. That idea that the regime fights and its workers fight for, and it alone is the lifeline for you and the Ummah in general, and we in Hizb ut Tahrir carry for you its civilized project complete and ready for immediate implementation, so work with us to implement Islam that restores rights to its people and guarantees justice for the people of Al-Warraq and for all of Egypt.

O Loyal Ones in the Kinana Army: When Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, was in his prison in Damascus, the executioner came to him and said to him: Forgive me, O Sheikh, for I am commanded. Ibn Taymiyyah said to him: By Allah, had it not been for you, they would not have been wronged! By Allah, had it not been for you, the regime would not have oppressed Egypt and its people, nor forced them, nor was it able to enslave them as it does now. By Allah, you will be responsible on the Day of Judgment, the day when the Lord, the Mighty and Sublime, will call upon you:

(وَقِفُوهُمْ إِنَّهُمْ مَسْئُولُونَ * مَا لَكُمْ لا تَنَاصَرُونَ) “And detain them, for they must be questioned. ˹Then they will be asked,˺ “What is the matter with you that you can no longer help each other?” [TMQ As-Saffat: 24-25].

They will not benefit you, neither them nor their money nor their positions and their privileges with which they tempt you and buy your religion, your honor and your conscious, so prepare for a day when you will meet Allah while people are clinging to your neck saying, O Lord, they let us down and empowered your enemy and our enemy against us.

O Loyal Members of the Kinana Army: Your legitimate duty is to protect people from the oppression of this regime, to protect people from it, and to prevent its oppression.

Your first duty, which guarantees people their affairs and preserves their rights and dignity, is uprooting this system from its roots with all its tools, symbols and implementers, and supporting the workers to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing the Khilafah (Caliphate) upon the method of Prophethood. It protects people from the oppression of every oppressor and restores their dignity and victory. This is your role and that is your job that you will be asked about before Allah the Almighty, so hurry, may Allah open up for you, so we see it as a reality that pleases Allah for all of us, and Egypt will be enlightened by you, Allah willing, O Allah sooner rather than later.

(يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ)

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Egypt