http://www.smh.com.au/world/rise-of-islamic-hardliners-raises-prospect-of-strict-sharia-in-egypt-20111204-1odgw.html Rise of Islamic hardliners raises prospect of strict sharia in Egypt December 5, 2011 Click to play video Egyptians react to election results Residents in Cairo express mixed feelings following the country's first free elections in decades.
a.. Video feedback b.. Video settings An election upset is terrifying liberals and challenging the Muslim Brotherhood, writes David Kirkpatrick in Cairo. To Sheik Abdel Moneim el-Shahat, the Muslim Brotherhood's call to apply only the broad principles of Islamic law allows too much freedom. Sheik Shahat is a leader of the ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis, whose coalition of parties is running second behind the Brotherhood party in the early returns of Egypt's parliamentary elections. He and his allies are demanding strict prohibitions against interest-bearing loans, alcohol and ''fornication'', with traditional Islamic punishment like stoning for adultery. ''I want to say: citizenship restricted by Islamic sharia, freedom restricted by Islamic sharia, equality restricted by Islamic sharia,'' he said in a public debate. ''Sharia is obligatory, not just the principles - freedom and justice and all that.'' Advertisement: Story continues below Ultraconservative ... Sheik Abdel Moneim el-Shahat, leader of the second-placed Salafis. Photo: The New York Times The unexpected electoral success of the Salafis - reported to have won about 25 per cent of the votes in the first round of the elections, second only to the roughly 40 per cent for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party - is terrifying Egyptian liberals and troubling the West. But their new clout is also presenting a challenge to the Muslim Brotherhood, in part by plunging it into a polarising Islamist-against-Islamist debate over the application of Islamic law in Egypt's promised democracy, a debate the Brotherhood had worked hard to avoid. ''The Salafis want to have that conversation right now, and the Brotherhood doesn't,'' Shadi Hamid, a researcher with the Brookings Doha Centre, said. ''The Brotherhood is not interested in talking about Islamic law right now because they have other priorities that are more important. But the Salafis are going to insist on putting religion in the forefront of the debate, and that will be very difficult for the Brotherhood to ignore.'' The Brotherhood, the venerable group that virtually invented the Islamist movement eight decades ago, is at its core a middle-class missionary institution, led not by religious scholars but by doctors, lawyers and professionals. It has long sought to move Egypt towards a more orthodox Islamic society one person and family at a time. After a long struggle in the shadow of the Mubarak dictatorship, its leaders have sought to avoid potentially divisive conversations about the details of Islamic law that might set off alarms about an Islamist takeover. But their evasiveness on the subject has played into suspicions of even fellow Islamists that they are too concerned with their own power. The Salafis are political newcomers, directed by religious leaders who favour long beards in imitation of the prophet Muhammad. Many frown on the mixing of the sexes, refusing to shake hands with women let alone condoning any sort of political activity by them. Although their parties are required to include female candidates, they usually print pictures of flowers instead of the women's faces on campaign posters. And while the Salafis' ideology strikes many Egyptians as extreme and anachronistic, their sheiks command built-in networks of devoted followers. Even those voters who disagree with their puritanical doctrine often credit the Salafis with integrity and authenticity. After the first election results last week, the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party quickly declared it had no plans to form a coalition with the Salafis, with some members ending months of restrained silence by striking back. Dina Zakaria, a spokeswoman for the party, derided the Salafis' prohibition on women in leadership roles and refusal to print the faces of their women candidates. ''We don't hold stagnant positions,'' she said, insisting the Brotherhood's party favoured an evolving understanding of Islam that supported women's right to choose their own roles. Such debates, however, threaten to knock the Brotherhood off the fine line it has attempted to walk. In public statements, the party's leaders have focused on broader themes of Islamic identity and the bread-and-butter questions that are more urgent concerns of voters. On the campaign trail, the Brotherhood sometimes even seemed to appeal to both sides from the same podium - sounding like Salafis one minute but avowing moderation the next. ''The garrison of religion in Egypt has special characteristics,'' the top candidate on Brotherhood party's list, Essam el-Erian, said, ''tolerance and moderation.'' The New York Times Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/rise-of-islamic-hardliners-raises-prospect-of-strict-sharia-in-egypt-20111204-1odgw.html#ixzz1fgLn0Q2R [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
