Mohamed Morsi is an Egyptian politician who served as the fifth President of Egypt, from 30 June 2012 to 3 July 2013, when he was removed by army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi after the June 2013 Egyptian protests and the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état. He was the first democratically elected head of state in Egyptian history.
Background
Mohamed Morsi was born in the Sharqia Governorate, in northern Egypt, of modest provincial origin, in the village of El-Adwah, north of Cairo, on 8 August 1951. His father was a farmer and his mother a housewife. He is the eldest of five brothers, and told journalists that he remembers being taken to school on the back of a donkey.
Education
In the late 1960s, Mohamed moved to Cairo to study at Cairo University, and earned a BA in engineering with high honors in 1975. He fulfilled his military service in the Egyptian Army from 1975 to 1976, serving in the chemical warfare unit. He then resumed his studies at Cairo University and earned an MS in metallurgical engineering in 1978. Morsi then earned a government scholarship that enabled him to study in the United States. He received a PhD in materials science from the University of Southern California in 1982 with his dissertation "High-Temperature Electrical Conductivity and Defect Structure of Donor-Doped Al2O3."
He started his career as a lecturer at the California State University, Northridge, and served as an Assistant Professor from 1982 to 1985. Being an expert on precision metal surfaces, he also worked for NASA helping to develop Space Shuttle engines.
In 1985, he resigned from his job at CSUN and returned to Egypt and became a professor at ‘Zagazig University’, where he was appointed head of the engineering department, a post he served until 2010. In 2000, he was first elected as a Member of Parliament, officially as an independent candidate because the Brotherhood was technically barred from running candidates for office under the regime of Mubarak. From 2005, he served as a member of the Guidance Office of the Muslim Brotherhood until the founding of the ‘Freedom and Justice Party’ in 2011, at which point he was elected to be the first president of the new party.
He was arrested several times under Hosni Mubarak's regime for various protests; he spent seven months behind bars in 2006, and was detained for a brief period in 2011, along with several other Brotherhood leaders.
Initially nominated as a backup candidate of the party, he emerged as the new Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate after Khairat El-Shater was disqualified from the 2012 presidential elections. Following the first round of Egypt's first democratic presidential elections, he was officially announced as the president on June 24, 2012. Almost immediately afterward, he resigned from the presidency of the Freedom and Justice Party. On June 30, 2012, he took oath as the first democratically elected president in Egypt's history, and became the first Islamist to lead an Arab country. He resumed Parliament in its original form from July 10, 2012. In August 2012, he fired some of the army's leading officers and also announced that the constitutional amendments passed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) restricting the president's powers would be annulled. In October 2012, his government unveiled plans for the development of a major economic and industrial hub adjoining the Suez Canal. The following month, he moved toward grasping more power for himself which sparked much outrage, including public protests throughout the country.
By the following year, his actions continued to indicate his lust for power and Egypt's political environment worsened. He also refused to adhere to an army ultimatum requiring the president to share power or step down. As a consequence, millions of people rallied across Egypt calling for his resignation from office. In June 2013, millions of protesters gathered outside his presidential palace calling for his removal from office. On July 3, 2013, he was officially ousted as president by Egypt's armed forces and was placed under house arrest. Meanwhile, the military suspended the country's constitution and ordered new elections.
Achievements
Religion
He believes in religious equity. Morsi said Coptic Christians "are certainly just as Egyptian as I am, and have as much a right to this homeland as I do." He said freedom of religion is a right granted by Allah and sharia commands Muslims to respect the rights of non-Muslim compatriots.
Morsi also compared free markets to the Islamic system, but said Islam requires there to be an ethical component to ensure that the poor share in society's wealth.
Politics
His political views are clearly seen from his work. After his great endeavors and proven excellence in political work in his five-year term in parliament, Dr. Morsi was chosen by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Shura Council as a member of the group’s Guidance Bureau. After the January 25 Revolution, he was elected by the Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council as Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party when that was established by the group.
In Egypt’s Parliament in 2000, Dr. Mohamed Morsi played a prominent and influential role as leader of the parliamentary bloc. He was one of the most active members of parliament, responsible for the most famous questioning sessions in Parliament – for the train crash incident – in which he held the government responsible for the tragic accident. Internationally, he was chosen as the best parliamentarian in the years 2000 - 2005 due to his effective parliamentary performance.
In the 2005 Parliament elections, Dr. Morsi won the highest number of votes, leaving his nearest rival far behind. But a run-off was announced, after which his rival won through blatant fraud.
Dr. Morsi played a major role in the political section of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was supervisor of that section which has seen significant action during the recent period, starting from the reform initiative launched by the group in 2004, then the publishing of a political program in 2007, and led the political operations during the parliamentary elections in 2010.
Views
Stacher, who knew Morsi well and spoke to him by phone three days before he assumed the presidency, says Morsi was “rural and conservative” in his outlook and politically tone-deaf. He cites one occasion when Morsi scheduled a constitutional vote on the same day as Christian Coptic Easter, oblivious of the message of insensitivity that would send to one of Egypt’s oldest and most embattled communities. “He was almost a careerist, and I don't say that affectionately. He was watching where the wind goes, and he went with it.”
Quotations:
"I will treat everyone equally and be a servant of the Egyptian people."
"If there is a spot where you have dictatorship, where people are not free, people are not satisfied, they do not find food and shelter, they are under the poverty level, this is a dangerous spot for the whole world, because those people will move, and they will move to different places. They will be carrying bad feelings towards others."
"I know about technology, about research, scientific applications, culture, civilization, differences between nations of the world, the nature of history."
"We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom."
"We must confront this Zionist entity. All ties of all kinds must be severed with this plundering criminal entity, which is supported by America and its weapons, as well as by its own nuclear weapons, the existence of which is well known. It will bring about their own destruction."
Personality
According to Harvard's Masoud on Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi; 'he is a fighting personality'
Physical Characteristics:
He is of average height, and a little bit plump.
Quotes from others about the person
Joshua Stacher, a professor of political science and an Egypt expert at Kent State University: "Morsi was an incredibly flawed leader. He was a competent administrator within the Muslim Brotherhood, but I don’t think he was up to the task of being president of Egypt.”
Connections
He is married, and has four sons and a dsughter
Spouse:
Naglaa Mahmoud
offspring:
Osama Morsi, Omar Morsi, Abdullah Morsi, Ahmed Morsi, Shaima Morsi