My people of great Egypt, who today celebrate democracy in our country; those of you standing in the public squares, in Tahrir Square, and all the public squares of Egypt; my dear people, big family, brothers and sons, you who are awaiting the future, who want security and safety, goodness and revival, and development and stability for our country, I turn to you praising God for having brought about this historic moment.

This is a shining course written by the hands of Egyptians, by their will, their blood, their tears and their sacrifices. I would never have been able to stand before you today as the first elected president by the will of free Egyptians in the first presidential elections after the revolution of 25 January, nor I would have been able to stand before you now with this overwhelming happiness that extends to the four corners of our beloved country without the support of God almighty and the sacrifices and precious blood of our noble martyrs and the noble, wounded citizens.

I give my thanks and greetings to the martyrs, to their souls, to the mothers and fathers of the martyrs, and all my people who lost their dear ones and sacrificed for Egypt. I offer my sincere prayers for them and for the wounded who watered the tree of freedom with their blood and cleared the way for us to arrive at this moment.

We are grateful to the families of all, who taught their sons the meaning of patriotism and true martyrdom. They have shown steadfastness and courage in confronting the great loss of their own flesh and blood, the price of freedom.

I renew with them the pledge that this sacred blood would not be lost in vein. I salute the great Egyptian people, and salute the army, the best soldiers on earth, our armed forces, wherever they are. I offer my heartfelt greetings and love to them. I value their role and I am keen to strengthen and secure them and their esteemed institution which we all love and value.

I also extend similar greetings to the honourable police, whose role many people wrongly perceive that I appreciate less than others. This is not true. Whoever committed a crime would be held accountable before the law. As for the honourable policemen, who make up the majority among the police in Egypt, they are entitled to the highest expressions of appreciation. They have a great role in the future to maintain internal security and peace in our nation.

We are duty bound to acknowledge the judges of Egypt who supervised the elections of revolutionary Egypt. Even those who did not participate [in the electoral process], we equally hold them in a position of esteem and love. Our judges make up the third source of authority, which would always remain strong and prominent. Our judiciary owns its will; it is separate from the executive and it must remain so in the future, to be independent of the executive and by necessity the legislative powers.

I affirm to all segments of the Egyptian people that I have today, by your choice and your will, through the favour of Allah, become the president of all Egyptians, wherever they are, at home or abroad, and in all the provinces of Egypt, on its eastern borders and the west, and in the south and north and central Egypt.

I turn to you all on this historic day, in which I have become president of all Egyptians, equally. Everyone will be afforded due respect, without any privilege, except that rendered by their service to our nation and their respect for the constitution and the law.

It is not possible to forget the members of the diplomatic corps, and those who work in it, as well as the members of the general intelligence; I will not forget any of them.

My beloved Egyptians who astonished the world with their revolution and whose youth surprised the world by standing in long lines to vote – whether in the referendum for the constitutional proclamation, the parliamentary elections, the elections of the consultative assembly, or the presidential elections – Egypt today is the Egypt of the entire nation. Our country is in urgent need at this moment for the consolidation of ranks and unity of purpose so that our great and patient people would reap the rewards of their sacrifice to live with dignity.

Social justice, freedom and human dignity are our basic slogans. These are the main goals for which the revolution was started in all the squares of Egypt on 25 January 2011 and the strong voices which demanded them still do so in every expression of our ongoing revolution.

The revolution will continue until it realises all its objectives. Together we will complete this process. The Egyptian people have been patient for long, enduring tyranny, oppression, marginalisation and forgery of their will and elections.

We used to look around us and say: when will Egypt and its people become the owners of their destiny? Today you have become the source of authority and the world bears witness to your endeavour for a better future.

O people of Egypt, you have bestowed upon me a heavy trust and great responsibility. I say to all of you, by the grace of Allah and your will, that I have been entrusted with this and I am not best of you. I will sacrifice all my efforts to be loyal to the duties and pledges which I made before all of you, and that all would be equal in rights and duties.

As for myself I have no rights but I have duties; so I call upon you my people to support me as long as I establish justice and righteousness among you, and as long as I obey God in your affairs. If I don't do so, and I disobey God and I do not adhere to what I promised, you are not obliged to obey me.

At this historic juncture, I call upon you the great people of Egypt to strengthen our national unity and close our ranks and stand together. We are all Egyptians. Even though we differ in our views we are all citizens of this country, even if our parties are different. There is no room for the language of confrontation and there is no room to accuse each other.

National unity is the way to lift Egypt out of the present situation and to embark upon a broad project of renaissance, one that is truly Egyptian, leading to real development of our resources. God has blessed us with much, but as you know [our wealth] was squandered and not put to proper use. We are today about to use these resources to realise our interests.

I call upon you to begin this renaissance project. We Egyptians, Muslims and Christians, are harbingers of development and civilisation and we will remain so. We will meet the trials and schemes which are aimed at undermining our resolve and national unity as we did during the revolution. I am determined with you to astound the world with the Egyptian revival that realises prosperity, dignity and stability.

I am determined, with your help, to build a new Egypt, a civil state, which is democratically constituted. All my energies will be devoted to this great project. I will work to preserve Egypt's national interests on all fronts, Arab and African, regional and international.

We will respect the international treaties and conventions we signed, and we will work to have a system of Egyptian values, especially in the area of freedom and human rights, and women's and children's rights, and to remove all forms of discrimination.

We will establish balanced relations with the entire world community, relations based on mutual interests and respect between equal parties.

We will not allow ourselves to intervene in the internal affairs of any country and we will not allow interference in our affairs.

We will preserve our national sovereignty and the borders of the Egyptian state and everyone must know that Egyptian decisions will come from within and by the will of its people.

Egypt is capable with its people and its forces and history to defend itself and to prevent any hostility or anyone from contemplating aggression against it or its people, wherever they are in the world.

My Egyptian people, we recognise the challenges of the moment. I am convinced that with help of God we will together be able to pass through this phase quickly so that Egypt becomes stronger and assumes its leadership role. This is the destiny of Egypt and what awaits it in the future.

We all are happy and we celebrate this great democracy, the elections and triumph of the will of our nation. I reaffirm what I announced before, that I will never betray Allah in your affairs, or disobey Him in the affairs of my nation. I place before me His saying, "Fear a day when we will return to Allah".

Therefore, say with me together my beloved people, by our will and our unity and our love for each other, we will be able to make a great future. My beloved people some may see these hopes as distant, but we, together, see them very near, by the grace of God and "He is able to enforce His will but most people do not know".

• This is a translation provided by the Muslim Brotherhood of a speech made in Tahrir Square on Sunday following Mohamed Morsi's confirmation as president as Egypt. The sentences in italics are Qur'anic verses.