If you want to be just you better be quick: perceptions of a just retaliation in the discourse of the Egyptian arab spring

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IF YOU WANT TO BE JUST YOU BETTER BE QUICK: PERCEPTIONS OF A JUST RETALIATION IN THE DISCOURSE OF THE EGYPTIAN ARAB SPRING

A. Bogomolov

1. INTRODUCTION

Almost from the onset of the Egyptian uprising of 2011, the call for QISAS (RE-TALIATION) was among its most popular slogans. It soon became a common practice among the protesters to call each day of protest a specific name-slogan that expressed the message that the protesters meant to convey to the government and the larger public. A lot of events had QISAS as a key element of such names, one of the earlier ones among them was a million-strong demonstration on Friday July 8, 2011 dubbed jum`at al-qisas (the Friday of QISAS). Muhammad Mursi, who clearly saw his presidency as an accomplishment, if not the completion, of the revolution, was also thematizing QISAS in his public discourse1. A critically-minded local observer describing the Egyptian popular uprising of 2011 noted: ata`ajjib katiran min hal misr - awwal marra fi ta'rih ajid tawra mubniya `ala al-qisas (I am very much surprised at the state/situation of Egypt: [it is] the first time in my life that I find a revolution built on retaliation)2. As early as October 2011, the phrase tawrat al-qisas (revolution of retaliation) was used occasionally by the revolutionaries themselves, albeit not in reference to revolution in general3, but as a name for series of consecutive events, which used QISAS as a motto4. Later, when the military deposed president Mursi, his supporters used the phrase tawrat al-qisas in reference to the growing anti-coup protest movement5. Evidently, QISAS appears to be one of the key concepts in the family of texts that we describe as the Egyptian revolutionary discourse. It is indeed so significant that, as we shall demonstrate below, it may even be seen as a marker that defines the temporal limits of this discourse as the manner and context, in which QISAS is used in the mainstream media, changes with the transition from what could be described as revolutionary period back to the authoritarian regime.

Unlike some other concepts of the Egyptian revolutionary discourse, such as FULUL6, QISAS is not a new concept for the media discourse and even since January 25, 2011, as it appears more and more frequently in the language of Revolution, it maintains essentially the same semantic structure as before. The novelty is only in the way the new context is foregrounding certain frame-semantic elements at the expense of others, as well as the manner, in which what could be described as the concept's inherent semantics interplays with other conceptual frames and, last but not least, its salience and pragmatic significance in the revolutionary discourse.

Our overall approach to the analysis of the political discourse concepts is based on frame-semantic analysis7. Yet, as our previous studies demonstrate8 there is more than one frame that is at play, when it comes to the way concepts function in the discourse and not only the core, but often also the non-core elements of the frame underlying the concept appear to be essential for understanding the concept's semantic structure and the way the language semantics are shaped by meaning structures located outside of language proper, in the domain of the semiotics of culture (beliefs, values, religious traditions etc.). The material that we have collected for the purposes of our study of the concept QISAS in the context of the Egyptian revolutionary discourse turned out to be so rich that it now appears to be impossible to address all aspects in a single paper in view of the size constraints and we will, therefore, present it as a series of articles, one of which has already come out of print and explores the relationship between QISAS and other key value concepts that featured as part of the revolutionary slogans, namely, HURRIYA (freedom), `ADALA (justice) and KARAMA (dignity)9.

This paper will address the functioning of QISAS in the Egyptian revolutionary dis-course in the context of three most frequent attributive collocations with adjectives `adil (just), san` (speedy, fast), `ajil (immediate) and najiz (prompt, complete).

2. JUST RETALIATION

discourse egyptian arab

QISAS often occurs in collocation with an attributive `adil (just). This is particularly characteristic for news items describing rallies demanding qisas li-s-suhada' (retaliation for the martyrs), cf.:

lam tamurr siwa sa`at `ala al-hukm hatta harajat masira й al-qahira wa talatha ba`d yawm wahid muzahara fi al-iskandariya tunaddid bi-tahawun wa tutalib bi-qisas `adil yusaddid `uqubat surtiyeyn qatala muwatinan duna danb [a few] hours had not passed since the verdict until a procession came out in Cairo and a demonstration followed it a day after in Alexandria denouncing complacency and demanding a just QISAS [that would] strengthen punishment of the two policemen [who] killed an innocent (lit. without guilt) citizen

While as of mid January 2015 Google search returned 31,600 results for al-qisas al- `adil (the just retaliation, def form), the indefinite form qisas `adil ([a] just retaliation, indef form) returned only 3,570 results11. The phrase does not accept negation except for a very specific set of contexts. The Google search for standard negation al-qisas gayr al- `adil has returned no results, while for the indefinite form qisas gayr `adil it showed only 8 results. Syntactically, the definite form in Arabic mostly functions as direct object, subject, or a Genitive attribute (e.g. jum`at al-qisas al-`adil- Friday of just retaliation), while the indefinite one appears in the predicative position12. In the latter case, the sentences most often may be structured as X [is] a just retaliation for Y, less frequent are more complicated cases with indefinite qisas featuring in Genitive case, e. g. 90 % min jaraim al-qatl al-mumanhaj li-s-suhufiym duna qisas (90 % of systematic murder crimes of journalists [are] without retaliation)13. The contexts where negation does occur are pragmatically limited to ironic and polemical ones. These observations lead us to the following conclusions: (1) the notion of JUSTICE is part of the semantic structure of QISAS and the adjective `adil (just) is used as attributive with qisas merely to reinforce this meaning component - (al)- qisas (al)-`adil is not a type (a subset) of QISAS, but QISAS proper, the attribute `adil in the discourse serves a pragmatic purpose14; (2) pragmatically, QISAS features about ten times more often as a subject of demand compared to factual statements, i. e., speakers are ten times more likely to ask for QISAS then to assert that it has actually been performed.

While we have being writing this piece, a dramatic change has occurred in the Google search counts for one of the collocations that we study in this paper, which happened within a period of slightly over one month. As of 24 February, 2015, the score for the indefinite form of the noun phrase qisas `adil (just QISAS) went up to 69,300 results, while for the definite form it showed only an insignificant increase (33,100 results)15. The updated figure for the indefinite form includes 1,370 reposts of essentially the same news item quoting a Twitter message by an Egyptian oppositional politician Hamdin Sabah! on the Egyptian air force retaliatory attack on ISIS in Libya16. The nature of many other more recent posts in the selection is similar to the following: i`dam `isabatal-ihwan qisas `adil (death penalty for the [Muslim] Brotherhood gang is a just retaliation)17; i `dam qatalat dubat kardasa qisas `adil min al-qada' (death penalty for the killers of officers of Ker- dasa is a just retaliation from the judiciary)18. For all their relative scarcity, entries with the indefinite form related to President Mursi period are similar in nature19, highlighting the persistent public perception of a just government as the one capable to duly punish the offenders. The 20-fold increase in texts asserting that QISAS has been performed compared to effective decline in the number of texts demanding QISAS to be performed20 may signify the change in discourse formation: the rapid come back of the authoritarian self-congratulatory rhetoric that had dominated the public discussion during the Mubarak period.

Contexts could be found, where nominations qisas and Idala (justice) feature as full synonyms. Cf. the following two items, one of which represents a news article title and the other the body of the news item both referring to the same event21:

(1) 90 % min jaraim al-qatl al-mumanhaj li-s-suhufiyin duna qisas - 90 % of systematic murder crimes of journalists [are left] without retaliation;

(2) ... inna al-amr al-aktar itaratan li-l-qalaq yakmun й al-ihsa'iyat as-sadira `an al-lajna ad-duwaliya li-himayat as-suhufiyln bi-anna 90 % min al-qatala lam yatimm taqdimuhum li-l-`idala

... the most troubling matter lies in statistics issued by the International Committee for the protection of journalists [which say] that 90 % of killers have not been brought to justice.

It is obvious that nominations taqdlm li-l-`adala (bringing to justice) and qisas in the two segments refer to the same event, and, hence, `adala and qisas in this context are treated by the author as fully synonymous. The cited news article is largely based on an English original, which allows to match Arabic to source-language nominations: duna qisas matches the phrase `get away with if, `90 % min al-qatala lam yatimm taqdimuhum li-l-`adala' corresponds to the English phrase `90 % of murderers walkingfree\ while the English segment `370 journalists have been murdered in direct retaliation for their work has been translated as `370 suhufiyan qutilu (...) fl-intiqam mubasir li-qiyamihim bi-`amalihim,22. In the latter segment, an apparent negative evaluation embedded in the English word retaliation has prompted the Arab journalist to refrain from translating it as qisas, and to use Arabic intiqam (revenge) instead23.

In the following paragraph QISAS is not only contrasted to the notion of (in)JUSTICE expressed as zulm24, but appears to be somewhat superior to `adala, which in this context seems to be used in a more narrow sense (criminalprosecution), cf.: `indama yatga az-zulm wa tata'ahhar al-`adala, hinama yagib mabda' al-qisas li-yatalasi as-su`ur bi-l-amn hlnama yatakarrar al-hadit wa la yataharrak ahad la tandahis hlnama tara al-muwatinln wa qad tahawwalu li-qudat wa jalladin й al-waqt nafsihi li-tasud sari`at al-gab bayn an-nas25

When the injustice is excessive, and justice is late, when the law disappears, and the principle of QISAS is obliterated so that the feeling of security vanishes, when the incident is repeated and no one moves, don't be surprised when you see citizens having turned into judges and executioners at the same time, so that the law of the jungle prevails among the people.

QISAS here comes at the conclusion of a list of nominations representing various aspects of JUSTICE and is even elevated to the status of an overarching principle of some sort. The author of the article then goes on describing in much detail the lynching by villagers of two thugs (baltagiya)26, who came from outside and settled in the village and had been then engaged in criminal activities and harassed the locals for a long time, `which has raised the ire and wrath of the people so that they issued a summary verdict on QISAS' (mimma zada min hanaq al-ahallwa gadabihim fa-asdaru hukmahum al-jama! bi-l-qisas21). The villagers repeatedly attempted to seek redress from local authorities and alert police, but to no avail. The wrath of the villagers is described as a just one, while the act of punishment, however barbaric and unlawful it may appear28, is described as an act of QISAS, which is framed as the right episode to make the story complete, just like a long story about sickness would be best completed by an episode of death or recovery. The author's criticism is aimed not at the purport of the act but the manner, in which it was performed, particularly, the fact that the citizens had to perform their retaliation li-anfusihim (for themselves) or bi-aydihim (by their own hands), not through the agency of a public institution. The journalist is also displeased with the public manner of the execution - `ala mar 'a wa masma` al-jami ` hassatan al-atfal alladina istajfu li-ru'yat hada al-mashadad-damayi wa sarakfihi al-ba`dminhum (on the hearing and sight of all, including, children, who lined up to see the bloody scene and some of them participated in it). The latter phrase is attributed to a local female teacher, who has also described this act of retaliation as jarima (crime). The local security chief, while commenting on the event warned the villagers, that - `inda tammakunihim min al-qabd `ala ayy baltagi darnrat at-tamahhul wa taqdimihi li-l-`adala li-tatbiq al-qisas al-`adil wa infad al-qanun badlan min an-nayl min ha'ula' al-baltagiya wa al-fatk bihim hatta la yatahawwal al-mujtama` ila gaba29 if they manage to capture any thug, it is necessary for them (lit. the necessity is) to take re-spite and bring him to justice for the performance of the just QISAS and the enforcement of the law instead of harming and killing these thugs so that the society does not transform into a jungle

All actors featuring in the article, including villagers, who committed the act of QISAS, the local teacher and the law enforcement officer, and, notably, the author of the article appear to be in agreement about one thing, namely, that in situations as described in the article, QISAS just has to be performed. Situations that call for QISAS to be performed are the ones that involve violence. All actors appeared to be in agreement that such situation had indeed taken place. Yet, the teacher described the incident as a crime and the law enforcement officer's comment, although presupposing that QISAS is a necessity, argues for a different manner, in which it has to be performed in the future, namely, through the formal institutions of justice. Although the villagers in this feature article do not speak for themselves, their presumed line of argument is reflected in the manner of the author's account of the incident. It hinges on the idea that justice system had either been too slow to react or simply failed, which prompted the villagers to perform QISAS with their own hands. Characteristically, the law enforcement officer also shows concern over the time factor: he is insisting on the necessity of tamahhul (respite, delay) for the JUSTICE to be achieved. The word `adala in this segment features in two senses: instrumental one, referring to the institutions of justice (criminal prosecution, courts) and a broader ethical one. For, the phrase al-qisas al-`adil (just retaliation) is not necessarily interpreted as `performed through the agency of the formal justice system'. Although the law enforcement officer might have preferred precisely this interpretation, the villagers probably would argue that, as the formal justice system had failed them, their act of retaliation was also just. Consequently, among the two closely related concepts QISAS and `ADALA it is the former one that appears to be beyond any argument, while the latter depends on contingencies such as time, the availability of means etc., which may also be a matter of individual opinion and interpretation. QISAS, hence, functions as a stronger moral imperative, a value whose validity all concerned parties, despite their disagreement, do not dare question.

In frame semantics terms, QISAS evokes situations with a set of frame elements similar to those of Revenge frame on the Framenet30, including the core elements - Offender, Injury, Injured Party, Avenger and Punishment. The frame refers to situations that happen at what could be described as social micro level, i. e. the level that involves only the im-mediate participants. The inclusion of the `ADALA concept expands the scope of discussion to a social macro level - that of the society at large, including the role of public institutions such as law enforcement and courts, allowing for the discussion of issues of broader public concern, such as legality vs. societal disorder (cf. the notion of the law of jungle)31. The projection of ADALA on the situation as discussed in the cited text changes nothing in the core structure of QISAS as described above. It incorporates it, builds on it, while elaborating on some of the non-core elements of the frame, namely, Instrument and Manner, in the language of the cited Framenet description32.

3. SPEEDY RETALIATION

There is ample linguistic evidence both within what we have described as the discourse of the Egyptian revolution and in other genres of Arabic texts that QISAS is generally expected to be performed in a speedy manner. Procrastination in the dispensation of justice, on the contrary, is often described as harmful to social peace and an incentive to further growth of crime. The discourse of the Arab Spring seems to pay far less attention to the notion of the quality of justice and attendant costs of it, including, notably, the time cost. The demand for a speedy QISAS is a frequent occurrence in the language of political slogans during street protest, cf.:

wa talab al-mutazahirnn bi-dawla madaniya wa qisas sarV min al-qatala wa al-fasidin and tathir ajhizat ad-dawla.. ,33

and the demonstrators demanded a civil state and speedy QISAS against the killers and corruptionists and cleaning the state agencies.

Aside from sart` (fast, speedy) there are at least two other adjectives that frequently co-occur with QISAS in the revolutionary discourse: `ajil (fast, immediate) and najiz (full, complete, prompt). The semantic difference between the three adjectives is slight, which is attested by the infrequent co-occurrence of any two of these adjectives in collocation with QISAS34. Cf. a few examples: qalat ad-duktura Karima al-Hafanawi inna dima' suhada' tawrat 25 yanayir lan tadi` musiratan ila annahum mustamirrun min ajl qisas `ajil min mubarak alladi yajib am yuhakam `ala kull as-suhada' alladina saqatu fi tawrat yanayir.

Dr. Karima al-Hafanawi said that the blood of martyrs of January 25 revolution will not be wasted, having pointed out that they (probably in reference to her political party) continue for the sake of an immediate QISAS against Mubarak who has to be tried for all the martyrs who fell in January 25 revolution.

The adjective `ajil probably conveys the idea of urgency as compared to other adjective on our list. The phrase al-qisas `ajil often occur in texts justifying political violence. Echoing the famous Islamist slogan Islam huwa al-hall (Islam is the solution), an article titled al-qisas al-`ajil huwa al-hall (immediate QISAS is the solution) calls for sur`at tatbtq al-qanun (a speedy application of law) over the members of anti-government Islamist rebellion in Sinai underscoring the urgency of the matter by claiming that la badtla siwa an taqum ad-dawla bi-d-darb bi-yad min hadtd li-l-qada' `alayhim (there is no choice for the state but to deal a blow by a fist [lit. hand] of iron to get done with them)36. Speediness of QISAS also implies simplicity, cf.: badlan min an yakun al-qisas an-najiz aysar ahdaf at-tawra wa asra`aha tahaqquqan waqa` tuna'i al-hukm al-`askari wa al-madani fi hata' fadih `indama ta`amal ma`a malaff jara'im rumuz al-`ahd al-ba'id bad'an bi-ra's an-nizam husni mubarak wa intiha'an bi-adnabihi min al-baltagiya wa sugar al-fasidin kama law kan ta`amal ma`a jarimat nasl waqa`at fi otobis naql `am aw hadit murur.37

Instead of [for] the prompt QISAS to be the easiest and the speediest in achievement of the goals of the revolution, the military civilian duumvirate fell into a fatal error when [it] treated the file of crimes of the symbols38 of the bygone era beginning with the head of the regime Hosni Mubarak and ending with its tails including the thugs39 and small corruptionists as if it [would be] treating a crime of pickpocketing that happened on a public bus or a traffic accident...

It is characteristic not only of this example but of the entire sample that we have as-sembled for the purposes of this study using collocations of qisas with adjectives `adil (just), sar!` (speedy), najiz (complete, prompt) that they all appear to be built on a presupposition that the nature of crime is clear and there is no doubt whatsoever as to who is the offender.

The adjective najiz (complete, prompt) is semantically somewhat more complicated compared to the former two adjectives. The source meaning of the root n-j-z is `accomplish, fulfill, complete', the temporal semantics is part of the presupposition: whatever has been completed must have had some length, which by completion was cut short, hence the idea of promptness. Cf.: inna al-`adala al-intiqaliyya yajib an tatimm `abra qanun wa laysa hadafuha al-intiqam bal, qisas naji` yurih qulub ahali as-suhada' wa al-mawju`In.40

The transitional justice has to be performed through law and its goal is not revenge but complete (prompt) QISAS [that would] relieve families of martyrs and those who feel pain (lit. pained ones).

Here the adjective najiz is used to reinforce the meaning, which is already part of QISAS semantics, i. e. the capacity to bring (prompt or complete) relief from moral pain41.

All three adjectives do not function as definitive attributes but rather as intensifiers, for the idea of speediness that is embedded in the semantics of QISAS. The adjectives in col-location with the noun qisas do not accept negation: phrases *al-qisas (al-)gayr (as-)sari` or * qisas gayr sari` return no results on Google search, while al-qisas al-muta'ahhir (the delayed QISAS def) showed 3 and qisas muta'ahhir (delayed QISAS indef.) - only one result, which renders them rather anomalous. A speedy QISAS, hence, is not a type of QISAS but rather QISAS proper. Consider also the following example: inna al-qisas min al-mujrimin huwa aqsar at-turuq li-tathir al-bilad min al-fasad (QISAS against (lit. from) the criminals [is] the shortest way of clearing the country from corruption)42. The phrase, which contains no attribute explicitly conveying the idea of speediness is obviously built on a presupposition that may be formulated as: it takes little time to perform qisas or, in other words, qisas is speedy. In line with this presupposition, QISAS is presented in the cited text as some sort of magic bullet - an instrument that may bring about a quick solution to complicated (and notably, protracted) social problems.

It is notable as well that the notion of speediness in relation to justice does not seem to have a negative connotation. An April 6 movement activist, `Ala' `Abd-ul-Fattah, along with 25 others was arrested for protesting against the newly re-introduced restrictions on the freedom of assembly in the early post-coup Egypt43. The activists were then submitted to al-muhakama al-`ajila (speedy trial)44 and an activist's mother commented on it saying: la yujid ladayna qada' `ajil fi misr wa lakin yujid qada'yulqi al-qabd bi-sakl `aswa'i `ala al-muwatinin (there is no speedy/immediate [discharge of] justice in Egypt, but there is justice that randomly arrests citizens). Obviously the two parts of the utterance are contrasted as normative/commendable vs. abnormal/deplorable, and the first part is based on a presupposition that speedy Justice is good.

In the media discourse, the demand for a speedy QISAS is often contrasted to the de-scription of justice system as prone to procrastination. Specific lexis combining temporal semantics with negative evaluation such as taqa`us (sluggishness, failure to do something) often feature in such contexts, cf.: al-taqa`us fi jam` adillat qatl as-suhada' hatta ba`d al-i`lan ad-dastufl yu'akkid du`f ragbat man bi-s-sulta fi al-qisas45

Sluggishness in collecting evidence of the killing of martyrs even after the Constitutional Declaration confirms the weakness of desire [on the part] of [those] who are in power in [performing] QISAS.

The idea of the desirability of speediness may feature in a text discussing justice even without QISAS being explicitly mentioned, cf.:

... fa-qimat al-`adl ta`lu wa tazid wa tastaqirr ft damrr al-mujtama` `indama ta'ti ahkam al-qada' najiza sarl`a la yuqayyiduha tabati al-ijra'at wa la tu`attiluha `aqabat sakliya aw mu`awwiqat `amaliyya46.

. for the value of justice goes up and increases and stabilizes in the conscientiousness of the society when the verdicts of judiciary come prompt and speedy, and the slowness of procedures does not restrict them and formal obstacles and practical impediments do not disrupt them.

This contraposition between the speedy QISAS and sluggish formal justice system, a recurring theme in the discourse of the revolution, contributes to creating tensions between the notions of (formal) JUSTICE and QISAS.

The moral imperative of speedy QISAS is so deeply embedded in the Arab culture that it functions as part of the interpretative narrative used to make sense of the formative events of Arab history. It is a common belief that the disagreement about how soon QISAS had to be performed may have led to the most important schism in Islamic history, cf. a modern account of the event by a prominent Egyptian 20th century author Taha Husain: tawalla al-imam `ali bnu abi talib al-hilafa fr zuruf institaa'iyya haytu kanat al-fitna ta`sifu bi-bilad al-islam, wa qad sala `ala ardiha dam halrfatiha. wa kana amama `ali al-katrr min al-maham al-jisam allati la tahtamalu at-ta'jil, wa min athariha al-qisas min qatalat `utman, gayru anna al-imama `aliyyan kana yara darurat al-intizar raytana yuhkimu saytaratahu `ala ad-dawla, amma al-mu`awiya bna abi sufyan wa man saya`ahu fa-aradu al-qisas as-sarl`. wa dalika kana ra's al-fitna allati raha dahlyataha hayru al-muslimin, wa tahawwala bi-ha nizam al-hukm min as-sura ila al-wirata wa zahara as-si`a - ansar `ali bni abi talib wa al-hawarij - mu`ariduhu - ka-ahzab siyasiyya qabla an tattahadu masha ijtima`iyya wa diniyya, lakinna an-natija al-aktar ilaman hiya anna katiran min an-nakabat allati ta`sifu al-yawma bi-l-muslimin ta`udu juduruha ila tilka al-fitna allati ma zalat judwatuha mut- taqada hatta al-yawm47.

Imam Ali Ibn Abu-Talib assumed the [office of] Caliph in exclusive circumstance while FITNA was raging through the country of Islam and the blood of its Caliph had been spilled on its land. And in front of Ali were many big tasks that would not endure delay, one of the most important of which was QISAS against (lit. from) the killers of [Caliph] Othman and those who joined him, however Imam Ali was seeing the necessity of waiting until he is in full control over the state. Meanwhile Muawiya Ibn Abu-Sufyan and those who joint him wanted a speedy QISAS. And that was the head of FITNA, which claimed the lives of the best of Muslims, and the regime of rule had thereby transformed from consultative to hereditary, and Shia emerged - the supporters of Ali Ibn Abu-Talib, and the Kharijites - his opponents - as political parties before they assumed a social and religious touch. But the most painful result is that many of the troubles that rage today on Muslims, their roots go back to that FITNA, whose firebrand is still burning to this day.

The formal justice system may often be presented as an instrument for performing QISAS, while the promptness of retaliation is justified by the need to mitigate a negative psychological effect, cf.: kama akkad `ala darurat tahqiq al-`adala wa ittihad al-ijra'at wa sann al-qawanin al-lazima wa as-safl`a fi al-qisas kay tabrud qulub ahali as-suhada' wa yatahaqqaq al-itsqrar al-mansud48 [He] also stressed the need to implement justice and take measures and adopt the necessary and speedy laws in [respect to] QISAS in order for the hearts of the relatives of martyrs to cool down and the desired stability to be achieved.

Note the metaphoric `hot hearts', which are supposed to be cooled by QISAS. The causative link between the notion of HEAT and speedy action could also be illustrated by examples from other contexts: a rubric on urgent matters in a media publication, for in-stance, may be called qadaya sahina (hot issues)49.

While the notion of justice delayed as justice denied in the English-language debate on justice, seems to be similar to the idea of immediacy associated with QISAS, there is a significant difference between the two. Different elements including both the core and non-core ones are foregrounded in the English (and generally Western) discussion on timely justice. Trial is the key locus and instrument of Justice in the English-language notion of the speediness of Justice. It is also notable that speediness in the Western legal tradition is seen as serving the interests of the defendant50, while the QISAS-centered discussion strongly foregrounds Punishment as the outcome of the process and the Victim and the Victim's next of kin as the key protagonists. Cf.: al-qisas al-`ajil ya siyadat ar-ra'Is ya`nI haqq ahalI as-suhada' wa laysa amwal wa hajj wa `umra wa ta`_wIdat51

The immediate QISAS, Mr. President, is a right of the relatives of the martyrs and not money and hajj and umra52 and compensations.

QISAS is presented here as serving the interests of victim's next of kin first and fore-most. It also appears to be superior to other, milder, forms of justice.

The prominence of QISAS in the set of related concepts such as JUSTICE is such that its essential semantic elements may be evoked even when the concept does not feature explicitly in the text. The following text that explicitly mentions JUSTICE and not QISAS, features three essential elements associated with the latter: speediness, deterrence of further crimes, and the psychological relief for those affected, cf.: wa la`alla al-hukm as-sadir mundu yawmayn bi-i`dam 26 irhabiyan yakun bidayatan haqIqiya li-rad` kull man yuhaddid amn al-watan .. wa yazill as-su'al kayfa tatahaqqaq al-`adala ft asra` waqt li-ya`ud al-aman wa as-sakIna й nufus al-masriyIn?53 And perhaps the verdict issued two days ago on the death penalty for 26 terrorists will be the true beginning for deterring everyone, who is threatening the national security ...and the question remains how may the justice be achieved in the nearest time for the calm and quite to return to the souls of the Egyptians?

A frequently reoccurring theme in the revolutionary discourse is the idea that the adju-dication of cases that emerged in the context of the revolution needs to be speeded up to ensure a speedy QISAS, which is seen as essential for the progress of Revolution - an in-strument that will quickly move the Egyptian society from the past to a better future. Cf.:

kulla ma narju tahsIs dawa'ir kafiya tatafarrag li-nazr hadihi al-qadaya min ajl sur`at al-injaz l-iglaq malaffat al-madt wa at-tawajjuh nahwa al-mustaqbal al-afdal bi-dni-llah54 All what we ask for [is] to designate sufficient [number of] departments [specifically] dedicated to the review of these cases for the speediness of delivery and in order to close the files of the past and turn toward the better future with God's permission.

Here is the same idea expressed in a slightly different manner:

nurld as-sur`a й tahqlq al-`adala wa al-qisas li-kay narmI halfa zahrina hadihi al-hiqba al-bagIda min tanh misr wa li-naksif `an sawa`idina wa na`mal `ala raf` misr min hada al-hadId alladI agraqa misr й al-fasad wa al-mufsidIn55.

We want speed in ensuring justice and QISAS in order to throw behind our backs this abhorrent era of Egypt's history and roll up our sleeves and work on raising Egypt from this abyss which has drowned Egypt in corruption and corruptionists.

In this context a speedy QISAS apparently lends its momentum to the Revolution, which is understood as a purposeful forward-going movement of the Egyptian people56. QISAS may even be presented as an instrument of a broad social reform: kama anna al-qisas islah li-anna isti'sal al-fasTdTn wa al-mujrimTn ya`nl tajhlz al-ard li-wad` asas al-bina' as-salTm min nahiya wa yuwajjih risalat rad` li-ayy mas`ul turawiduhu nafsuhu `ala al-fasad ba`d an yata'akkad inna miqsalat al-muhasiba mawjuda wa tantazir raqabat ayy fasid57.

QISAS [is] also reform because the eradication of the corruptionists and the criminals means the preparation of ground for laying the foundation for a healthy (also' whole, sound) construction, on the one hand, and [it] sends a message of deterrence to any official [whose] soul/self is tempting him to [engage in] corruption as he is convinced that the guillotine of accountability exists and is waiting for the neck of any corruptionist.

From^that perspective, it is clear why a prominent revolutionary Islamic preacher Mazhar SahTn named an immediate QISAS the key demand of Revolution:

nahnu mustamirrun fT tawratina hatta tahqTq jamT` al-matalib wa `ala ra 'siha al-qisas al- `ajil58

we continue our revolution until the fulfilment of all our demands and foremost (lit. at the head of them) among them the immediate QISAS

CONCLUSIONS

QISAS is the embodiment of the idea of natural justice, which also is believed to be divine, as it is sanctioned by the Islamic tradition. Qualities that are believed to be immanent to QISAS, which in fact are encoded in the Arab culture and reflected in the discourse, include speediness, which by extension also implies easiness and completeness: once it's done it will bring a relief to those affected by crime and forestall more crime. QISAS is essentially egalitarian as it is meant to re-instate a sense of balance in the community and to give everyone their due by privileging the Victim and his or her next of kin and empowering them against the Offender. By way of contrast, `ADALA (JUSTICE), which is associated with formal institutions of power, is non-egalitarian by definition59. The Egyptian revolutionary discourse reflects a growing tension between the two concepts, and by privileging QISAS and making it their key demand the revolutionaries challenge the powers that be and their slow JUSTICE system. They converted QISAS effectively into an instrument of power struggle, which accounts for the high salience of the concept in the revolutionary discourse. The proponents of the authoritarian regime, on the contrary, hold the formal JUSTICE for an overarching value and argue that QISAS, whose value they acknowledge as well should be done according to their rules. With the re-institution of the authoritarian regime, this tension is discursively overcome as the public discussion witnesses the comeback of the old self-congratulatory rhetoric, which proclaims QISAS as something that has already been delivered, praise be to the authorities who did it promptly and will do it again, whenever the interests of national security (not the blood of the martyrs of revolution) would require that.

LITERATURE

1 Cf. a characteristic media article of 2 June, 2012 titled `Mursi committing to retaliate for the martyrs of the revolution' (mursT yata`ahhad bi-l-qisas li-suhada' at-tawra) on Al-Jazeera.net - http://www.aljazeera.net/mob/f6451603-4dff-4ca1-9c10-122741d17432/ee5af389-1dbb-4835- b696-6146cdd70af7

2 The phrase is cited in an article titled Culture of Retaliation and Revenge (taqafat al-qisas wa l-intiqam) by an Egyptian journalist Rola Kharsa published by an electronic publication al-Misri al-Yawm, 14.2.2012 and is attributed to an unidentified `socialist, friend' of the author - http://m. almasryalyoum.com/news/details/52941

3 Which would be more often described as tawrat yanayir (January Revolution) or the Revolution of Dignity.

4 Cf. a media article title on al-Misr al-Yawm halid sa`id min dahiyat ta`dib ila mufajjir tawrat al-qisas min ad-dahiliya (Khaled Said: from the victim of torture to the exploder of the revolution of retaliation against the [Ministry of] Interior) - http://rn.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/121627

5 For some graphic imagery advertising August 2014 events tagged as Revolution of Retalia-tion see: http://goo.gl/txoNuR

6 FULUL is a key term used for othering political opponents in the discourse of the Egyptian Arab Spring, initially used mainly in reference to the government officials and clients of the An- cien Regime, but later expanding its meaning and the range of reference. Cf. Alexander Bogo-molov. Constructing Political Other in the Discourse of the Egyptian Arab Spring // Scripta Neo- philologica Posnaniensia. Tom XIV, 2014.

7 Cf. of Charles J. Fillmore. Frames and the semantics of understanding. Quaderni di semanti- ca. Vol. VI, no. 2, December 1985, pp. 222-254.

8 Cf., particularly, Alexander Bogomolov. Constructing Political Other in the Discourse of the Egyptian Arab Spring // Scripta Neophilologica Posnaniensia. Tom XIV, 2014, p. 29.

9 See: O. V Bogomolov. Bread, Dignity, Justice and... Retaliation: the concept of QISAS and the values of the Egyptian revolution // The Oriental Studies, 2014, № 67, pp. 20-38.

10 http://m.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/121627

11 We have limited our search to Egyptian web resources only.

12 We have discounted from our analysis the Accusative case indefinite form, which functions as a direct object, for it is graphically different from Nominative and Genitive case forms (it has the letter 'alif at the end of each word) and does interfere with search results that we discuss in this section.

13 A news article title on al-Yawm as-Sabi` newspaper - http://goo.gl/m6A5c6

14 For instance in the above example the illocutionary point is the demand for a stronger pu-nishment, which is based on the presupposition that just QISAS is the one that is strong enough.

15 We have noted that Google search results may vary over time and even during the same day, for instance, on 25 Feb 2015, the number was initially 62,300 and then dropped to 59,700, but such variations are anyway no where near the 20-fold increase that we have registered.

16 The significance of the Twitter post that could have led to its reprinting by every media out-let in Egypt seems to be that a well-known politician with revolutionary credentials and a certified opponent of Husni Mubarak regime was now congratulating the Air Force, and by extension the military establishment - the backbone of the president Abd-al-Fattah as-Sisi regime.

17 A news article title heading dated 28 April 2014, on al-Wafd website citing a local `political activist' Muhammad Abu-Hamid praising the verdict of Minya governorate court in Upper Egypt, which issued 37 death and 491 life imprisonment sentences for members and supporters of Mus-lim Brotherhood - http://goo.gl/ANaHz1

18 A news article title heading dated 3 February 2015 on Misr al-Balad website praising the death sentence for 183 defendants in the case of an assault on district police station at the village of Kerdasa, Giza governorate - http://misralbalad.com/page.php?id=25493#.VO3yP3yUcT8

19 Cf. news article titled islam as-satir: hukm majzarat bur sa`idqisas `adil (Islam as-Satir: the verdict on Port Said slaughter is a just retaliation) dated 26 January 2013 on Masress website - http://www.masress.com/alnahar/102280

20 The little growth in the number of definite form al-qisas al-`adil occurrences effectively means that almost no new cases have been registered by the search engine during the period under review.

21 Here and in the paragraph that follows, we cite a news article by Rim Abd-al-Hamid pub-lished on 3 November 2014 on electronic newspaper al-Yawm as-Sabi` under the heading `taqrir duwali: 90 % min jaraim al-qatl al-mumanhaj li-s-suhufiyin duna qisas' - http://m2.youm7.com + on-site search or http://goo.gl/kZrUp0

22 For the original English text see article `90 % of journalists' murderers across the world get away with it - report', The Guardian, 28 October 2014 - http://www.theguardian.com/media/ greenslade/2014/oct/28/journalist-safety-press-freedom

23 Note also the rendition of qisas as `legal retribution' in the pious English translation of the Quran (Saheeh - http://quran.com/2).

24 There are several nominations in Arabic that express this idea with zulm being perhaps the most comprehensive one and very common in the religious discourse.

25 A feature article titled intiqam al-ahali min al-baltagiya (people's revenge against thugs) published on al-Ahram al-Yawmi on 8 September 2012 - http://digital.ahram.org.eg/articles. aspx?Serial=1122056&eid=837

26 baltagiya (pl., sing. baltagi- lit. ax-holders), often translated as thugs in English. In the dis-course of the recent Egyptian revolution this term is used mainly in reference to irregulars em-ployed by the Mubarak regime to harass participants of the antigovernment rallies.

27 Ibid.

28 The two thugs were dragged along the streets of the village, slaughtered with knives, their arms and legs cut and, finally, hanged on the street light pillars.

29 Ibid.

30 FrameNet is a web-based corpus based on the ideas of Charles J. Fillmore's frame semantics that contains description of the internal structure of various semantic frames that refer to situa-tions, actions, events - cf. https://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu/fndrupal/home. Cf. Revenge on the Framenet Frame Index - https://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu/fndrupal/index.php?q=frameIndex

31 The scope of `ADALA is of course much wider than that of QISAS, as aside from situations related to violent crimes, it is applicable to any situation that may presuppose judgment of right and wrong, e. g. the distribution of goods or expenses (cf. hissa `adila, qist `adil - a fair share, taqsim `adil - a fair/just distribution).

32 We do not propose to treat Revenge frame description as fully corresponding to the frame structure of QISAS; while some non-core elements of Revenge frame may appear to be extra-the-matic or non-relevant altogether for QISAS, the whole set of core elements and some non-core elements, including notably, Instrument and Manner, appear to be similar.

33 Quotation from a news article on al-Misri al-Yawm newspaper, dated 8 August 2011, enu-merating three standard demands of the January 25, 2011 revolution that would appear on plac-ards held by protesters - http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/102540

34 Google search has returned 5 results for al-qisas as- sari` wa an- najiz; 6 for al-qisas as-sari` wa al- `ajil; 2 for al-qisas an-najiz wa al- `ajil and 49 for al-qisas al- `ajil wa an-najiz, which may be accounted for by the fact that najiz has additional meaning component (complete), while the other two only express slightly different aspects of temporality.

35 An appearance on at-Tariq TV channel by a prominent politician a co-founder of Kyfaya movement and the National Association for Change Karima al-Hafanawi - dated 13 August 2014 - i. e. just a weak before a highly contested 20 August retrial of former President Mubarak - http://www.atvsat.com/latest-news/item/53021

36 An op-ed article published on al-Ahram daily newspaper on 25 November 2014 - http://digi- tal.ahram.org.eg/Community.aspx?Serial=1726025

37 From an op-ed article with a characteristic title al-Qisas Tathir and Islah (QISAS - cleansing and reform/improvement) dated 7 July 2011 - http://www.shorouknews.com/columns/view. aspx?cdate=07072011&id=51006460-fb78-48aa-9fad-a6671a551fb8

38 The idiom rumuz (symbols) of smth. e. g. regime, political organization, historic period is used in reference to leaders and most prominent figures associated with some entity or period.

39 See footnote 26 above.

40 News article dated 5 August 2014, titled Sabahi: attafaq ma'a qanun `adala intiqaliyya la intiqamiyya aw intiqa'iyya (Sabahi: I agree with the law on transitional justice, not the revengeful nor the selective [one]) - http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/442821

41 Pain of relatives, as we shall see below, is an essential part of the frame semantics of QISAS.

42 From an op-ed article with a characteristic title al-Qisas Tathir and Islah (QISAS - cleansing and reform/improvement) dated 7 July 2011 - http://www.shorouknews.com/columns/view. aspx?cdate=07072011&id=51006460-fb78-48aa-9fad-a6671a551fb8

43 The story is related in a news article titled ihalat 26 nasitan siyasiyyan baynahum Ala ' `Abd-ul-Fattah wa AhmadMahir li-muhakama `ajila (The transfer of 26 political activists among them Ala' `Abd-ul-Fattah and Ahmad Mahir to a speedy trial) published on 2 December 2013 - http://www.masress.com/fjp/98669; for mother's comments dated 14 March 2014 published on al-Badil website see: http://goo.gl/MR60yw

44 This term frequently occurs in the 2011-2015 Egyptian media texts (19,800 results on Google search for muhakama `ajila - and 5,610 for al-muhakama al-`ajila), it is essentially a technical term used in reference to an abridged procedure applied in simple cases and has nothing to do with the notion of speedy trial in the Western legal tradition as discussed below.

45 The phrase is attributed to the relatives of martyrs killed during January 2011 events - pub-lished on 17 December 2012 - http://albedaiah.com/node/11586

46 An op-ed article dated 17 January 2013 - http://www.gamalnassar.com/main/art.php?id=6& art=632

47 Taha Husayn. al-Fitna al-Kubra (al-juz ` at-tani): `AH wa Banuh. (The Great Fitna, Part 2: Ali and his Sons) - http://www.hindawi.org/books/46307961/

48 From an article on Misr 11 website (www.masr11.com), the quotation is attributed to a `po-litical analyst' Muhsin Salabi - http://goo.gl/8L8afM

49 See: http://albedaiah.com/node/11586 for an article under this rubric.

50 Cf. the notion of speedy trial in the US Constitution Sixth Amendment. Speedy trial, as de-scribed in the Sixth Amendment, is in fact only one of the many aspects that constitute a fair trial, others include public nature of the trial, impartial jury, the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, the right to defense, etc.

51 The phrase is attributed to Karima al-Hafnawi, a member of the oppositional National Asso-ciation for Change and Social Justice Alliance - http://www.cairoportal.com/story/126174

52 Hajj is a regular annual pilgrimage to Mecca, also one of the five pillars of Islam (duty of every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it to be performed at least once in a lifetime), Umrah is a non-compulsory irregular minor pilgrimage; al-Hafnawi is referring to a practice of sponsoring pilgrimage to holy places as a type of award of compensation by the government.

53 http://goo.gl/g6Y6N9

54 From an article published in al-Ahram newspaper on 17 July 2011 titled kalimat haqq (A Word of Truth) - http://www.ahram.org.eg/archive/Columns/News/90086.aspx

55 http://www.egyptianoasis.net/showthread.php?t=58345

56 Cf. Alexander Bogomolov. Constructing Political Other in the Discourse of the Egyptian Arab Spring // Scripta Neophilologica Posnaniensia. Tom XIV, 2014, p. 29.

57 From an op-ed article with a characteristic title al-Qisas Tathir and Islah (QISAS - cleansing and reform/improvement) dated 7 July 2011 - http://www.shorouknews.com/columns/view. aspx?cdate=07072011&id=51006460-fb78-48aa-9fad-a6671a551fb8

58 The phrase is attributed to a prominent revolutionary Islamic preacher Mazhar Sahin http:// www.el-balad.com/154193.aspx

59 In that sense it appears to be similar to the way Wierzbicka describes the pre-modern Anglo notion of Justice, cf. Anna Wierzbicka. English: Meaning and Culture. Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 158-159.

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