http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=31809
Muslim Brotherhood Officials Advocate Egyptian Modesty Police
Written by David E. Miller
Published Sunday, April 03, 2011
http://www.themedialine.org/test/UplImg/Salafis.jpg
Call adds to concerns among liberals that the country is going Islamic
Officials of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's leading Islamic group, have
called for the establishment of a Saudi-style modesty police to combat
"immoral" behavior in public areas in what observers say in another sign of
a growing Islamic self-confidence in the post-Mubarak era.
In the political sphere, the Brotherhood led a successful drive to get
voters to approve a package of constitutional amendments. On the street
level, at least 20 attacks were perpetrated against the tombs of Muslim
mystics (suffis), who are the subject of popular veneration but disparaged
by Islamic fundamentalists, or salafis. After some initial hesitation,
Islamic leaders have publicly praised the revolution.
"This is incredibly worrying to many Egyptians," Maye Kassem, a political
scientist at the American University in Cairo (AUC), told The Media Line.
"The salafis were always undercover in Egypt and now they are emerging as a
political force. They are getting too vocal."
Newly freed from the political strictures of the Mubarak era, Egypt has
turned into a battleground between those who envision a liberal, secular
state and those who advocate various shades if Islam. The conflict mirrors
those taking place elsewhere in the region. In Bahrain, unrest has evolved
into a conflict between Sunni- and Shiite Muslims and the U.S. has pulled
back from supporting Libyan rebels over concerns they are dominated by
Islamists.
Issam Durbala, a member of the Brotherhood's Shura council, told the
Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Youm on Sunday, that he supported the
establishment of a virtue police, or Hisbah, which had existed in medieval
Islamic societies to oversee public virtue and modesty, mostly in the
marketplace and other public gathering spaces.
But he seemed to stop short of advocating a force along then lines of that
which operates in Saudi Arabia today under the auspices of the Committee for
the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. It enforces a dress
code, separation of sexes and the observances of prayer times.
"The new police must have a department with limited authorities to arrest
those who commit immoral acts," Durbala told the newspaper.
Nevertheless, liberal, secular Egyptians, who led the protests that brought
down President Husni Mubarak and ushered in a new but as yet undefined era
in Egypt, regard the proposal as the latest sign that Islamists are emerging
as the dominant force in the country.
Sa'id Abd Al-Azim, a leader of the salafi movement in Alexandria, attacked
Egyptian "liberals" for waging a media campaign against his movement.
"Despite the attacks against the salafi movement, it is constantly advancing
- untouched by the attack," Abd Al-Azim told Al-Masry Al-Youm. "If the
Christians want safety they should submit to the rule of God and be
confident that the Islamic sharia [law] will protect them."
But it was not only Islamic fundamentalists who foresaw a growing role for
Islam in Egypt. In an editorial published in the New York Times April 1,
Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the country's leading religious figure, condemned the
attacks saying they harmed Islamic unity. But he said the world must expect
a more Islamic, albeit tolerant, Egypt.
"Egypt is a deeply religious society," Gomaa wrote. "It is inevitable that
Islam will have a place in our democratic political order . while religion
cannot be completely separated from politics, we can ensure that it is not
abused for political gain."
Last Tuesday, Egypt's foreign minister, Nabil Al-Arabi, said his country was
interested in "opening a new page with all countries, including Iran," which
he said was "not an enemy state." Egypt and Iran have not enjoyed full
diplomatic relations since 1979, when Iran's Islamic revolution took place
and Egypt signed a historic peace treaty with Israel and gave shelter to the
ailing Shah of Iran. On Wednesday, Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi
welcomed the Egyptian overture and said he hoped to witness an "expansion of
ties" between the two countries.
Nagib Gibrail, a Coptic attorney and head of the Egyptian Union of Human
Rights, said the Egyptian revolution had been kidnapped by Islamist
radicals.
"There are areas in Egypt where Christian girls can't walk outside after
eight o'clock in the evening for fear of being kidnapped," Gibrail told The
Media Line. "Moderate Muslims should be more scared than Christians. It is
very worrying that the military regime hasn't issued a statement declaring
Egypt a secular state."
Maye Kassem of AUC said parliamentary elections should be postponed in order
to allow smaller liberal opposition groups to properly organize.
Parliamentary elections are to be held by September, with presidential
elections following a month or two later, according to a timetable announced
by the government last week.
"We need a longer transition period," Kassem said. "Otherwise, we will
revert to a dictatorship which is not what we were fighting for."
In a four-page essay titled "The Tsunami of Change," American-Yemeni cleric
Anwar Al-Awlaki, an Al-Qaeda propagandist, referred last week to the popular
protest movements sweeping the Arab world.
"I wonder whether the West is aware of the upsurge of mujahedeen activity in
Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Arabia, Algeria and Morocco?" Al-Awlaki wrote
in the English language Al-Qaeda magazine Inspire. "The mujahedeen around
the world are going through a moment of elation."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list,
[email protected].
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[email protected]
http://www.intellnet.org
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe: [email protected]
Unsubscribe: [email protected]
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods,
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,'
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
