What happens in Egypt does not stay in Egypt.

The country described by Greek historian Herodotus and Napoleon Bonaparte as the “gift of the Nile” has just gone through its second revolution removing two presidents in two years. Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011 after 32 years of dictatorial rule while Mohammad Morsi, his Muslim Brotherhood successor, barely lasted a year. Both were swept away by a popular uprising, which is far from over.  

If anything Revolution II is reverberating across the Arab and Muslim worlds, posing an open challenge to politicized Islam.Iran and Hezbollah, the two seats of Shiite Islam in the Middle East, have been baffled. On one hand they have had no greater enemy than Egypt’s Sunni leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose hatred of Shiites transcends their loathing of liberals, secularists, and atheists.

A few days before June 30, the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood called for the murder of the Shiite ”dogs,” which was followed by an attack on a Shiite enclave near the pyramids by a mob that hacked to death the religious leader of the small shia community in Egypt and three of his guests. Their bleeding bodies were dragged in the streets for all cameras to film. Iran was speechless and in shock, as was Hezbollah.

Neither can the West shyly avert its eyes, as it has done for years while pumping welfare benefits to its own substantial minorities of Muslims and simultaneously overlooking the terror growing and feeding amongst them fed and funded by the worldwide movement of the Muslim Brotherhood on the web and in the mosques.

It would be a mistake to interpret the events in Egypt as a revolt against the Muslim religion. In Egypt it was striking to see most so many veiled women among the millions who marched. In plain sight pious Muslims signaled revolt against chicanery in the name of their religion.

The upheaval was instigated months ago by Egyptian youths gathered under an umbrella they named the ‘’Rebel Movement.’’ They did not disguise their intent or sneak around.  Instead they set, and kept, a rendezvous with Political Islam, meeting it with millions of people.

The moment of June 30 was advertised for months. Millions of dollars were given to fund it by small people and rich millionaires alike. Millions of petitions were printed and distributed openly by volunteer print shops. With between18 million and 20 million people — one in five of Egypt’s 90 million — roaring one word, ‘’Leave,’’ the regime had to go.

Several Western governments, including ours,  thought political Islam was could not be breached. They hung back out of fear or political correctness. The Rebel Movement braved that barrier. There can be little doubt that such countries as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, which for two decades have been piling blasphemy laws upon do-not-insult-the-Prophet laws, will have to revise their calculations.

Desecration, impiety, and sacrilege are not an acceptable currency to subdue a people, any people. Good governance will be the only way.

That is the enduring postcard of the Rebel Movement.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, to mention only some regimes using Islam as a weapon, dramatically rushed to increase their already astronomical subsidies of everything from energy to food. It’s doubtful that will work. Egypt is poor, destitute, hungry, practically bankrupt, and its infrastructure in shambles. Yet its middle class allied with its Internet-savvy young and many of nation’s richest millionaires and billionaires teamed up to overthrow a government. 

On Sunday, Senator John McCain called for cutting off the U.S. yearly financial aid of $ 1.5 billion to punish Egypt’s army for mounting a coup. He, too, missed the point. There was no coup in the McCain sense. The army could hardly ignore millions of people who together were far greater in numbers than those who voted the Muslim Brotherhood man into office. 

The fact is that no army can stand by when huge numbers of its people do this. It’s hard to think of a single example of a people marching on the scale we saw on June 30.

The Egyptians are now under attack from the Muslim Brothers. Egyptians are standing up and resisting, peacefully, even as bombs and bullets are aimed at them. So far 800 have died since June 30 and thousands have been wounded.

In Egypt it can be said that democracy has transcended the narrow definition a ballot box. If anything Morsi, as before him Mubarak, has proven that it takes more than a vote to claim legitimacy. That is but the beginning. One then has to live up to one’s promises and abide by the will of the people. Democracy stands far beyond one vote one time.