Egypt's top religious authority: It's not anti-Islam to be anti-Morsi
| Cairo
As the Egyptian opposition's demands for the resignation of President Mohamed Morsi and fresh elections gain momentum, the beleaguered president's supporters are slamming the opposition as secular and hostile to Islam.聽
In the deeply religious country, it is a serious criticism, and it has brought many Egyptians to Mr. Morsi's side. But his opponents point to support from the leading voice of the Sunni establishment in Egypt.聽
Earlier this month, Ashraf Abdel-Moniem, a conservative preacher and a vocal supporter of Morsi, declared that it was obligatory for Muslims to confront, even kill, anyone protesting against the government. The head聽of Al Azhar聽University,听Egypt's leading Sunni institution, disagreed saying 鈥減eaceful opposition to the government is acceptable聽in Islam.鈥�
Since, the political temperature in Egypt has only risen.聽 At least two people were killed and scores injured in clashes over the weekend between supporters and opponents of Morsi.聽
The ongoing conflict between some聽Islamists 鈥� who see the attempt to topple Morsi as an affront to his electoral mandate 鈥� and聽the opposition has plunged Egypt into the 鈥渄eepest crisis since the Jan. 25聽revolution,鈥� says Khaled Fahmy,听a professor at the American University in Cairo. (Editor's note: Khaled Fahmy's name has been corrected.)
A broad coalition of opposition groups 鈥� dubbed Tamarod or 鈥淩ebel鈥� 鈥� is planning to hold protests beginning June 30 and lasting聽until Morsi is removed from office. They say Mr. Morsi has spent the last year shoring up his party's control of Egypt's institutions instead of stabilizing a shrinking economy and mounting energy shortages.
With his number of allies shrinking by the day,听Morsi聽has聽turned to a handful of salafy Islamist groups who see聽his government as the first step towards an Egypt聽governed聽by their interpretation of Islamic law.聽Morsi's salafy allies have threatened to use violence to preserve his presidency.聽鈥淣ot necessarily the Brotherhood,鈥� says Mr. Fahmy, 鈥渂ut people to the right of the Brotherhood are taking things into that direction.鈥�
In a bid to show its street strength,听the Muslim Brotherhood聽organized a day-long rally聽on June 21聽in Cairo's Nasr City neighborhood.
鈥淵es to Islam, no to violence, no to secularism!鈥� shouted supporters at the rally, which drew hundreds of thousands of聽people from all over Egypt. 鈥淭here is no shame in聽sharia聽(Islamic law),鈥� read a sign held by a protester.
Sabry Gaad, a teacher who attended the protest, said he is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but opposes Tamarod because 鈥渢hey are against聽sharia.鈥� He questioned the group's claim that it had widespread support聽鈥撀燭amarod says that its campaign to gather 15 million signatures on a petition calling for new elections is close to reaching its goal.
Former President Hosni Mubarak suppressed聽religious groups like the Muslim Brotherhood,听routinely jailing聽the Brotherhood's members 鈥� including Morsi 鈥� and charged them with supporting violent Islamist groups.
Since his election Morsi has pushed for the release of many Islamists jailed under Mubarak, including leaders from Al Gamaa al-Islamiya (GI), a former militant group that renounced violence a decade ago after聽a 1990s聽insurgency that killed hundreds of civilians and security officials.
At the rally last week,听Assem聽Abdel聽Maged,听a GI leader,听warned that the opposition sought to overturn a democratic mandate to implement Islamic law in Egypt. "Some who lost at the ballot box want to take power through anarchy," he said.
Mr. Abdel Maged has previously said the Tamarod campaign is led by 鈥渃ommunists, [Mubarak loyalists], and Coptic extremists,鈥� who are 鈥渉ostile to Islam.鈥� Safwat Abdel Ghany, a leading member of the group, said earlier this month that the Tamarod campaign was not a campaign in response to economic problems, but a 鈥渨ar on Islam.鈥�
Not everyone agrees. 鈥淓gypt is a religious country, we love Islam,鈥� said Ahmed Marghani, a dentist from Alexandria who attended the pro-Morsi rally. 鈥淏ut we do not need聽sharia聽鈥� people do not need laws to control them.鈥澛�
Marghani said he simply wanted to make sure Morsi, a democratically elected president, was not toppled by an opposition that did not respect the country's constitution.
Amal Sharaf is one of the founding members of the聽April 6聽Youth Movement, which began as a campaign to support factory workers in 2008. It helped organize the 2011 protests that toppled Mr. Mubarak and backed Morsi in the 2012 elections because his only opponent was Ahmad Shafiq, a former Mubarak regime member.
She rejected the claims that the opposition is predominantly secular, implying the accusation was merely a vote-getting tactic.聽
鈥淸The Brotherhood] is mixing politics with religion,鈥� Sharaf says. 鈥淭o win people's votes, their attention, their sympathy. The 15 million signatures we have are not from聽atheists..they are using religion in a very cheap way.鈥�
In fact, acknowledgment,听if not聽support,听of聽the opposition's grievances聽has come from a number of Islamist quarters.
The Al Nour party, the country's largest聽party聽of ultra-conservative salafis聽and the second-largest party in the government after the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party聽鈥� has refused to participate in the pro-Brotherhood campaign.聽While聽he聽does not support calls for a fresh election, Al Nour spokesman Nadr Bakr denounced pro-Brotherhood rallies by Islamists as 鈥渙nly fostering the current crisis, which harms the country and its economy."
鈥淲e hoped Morsi would turn Egypt into a new country,鈥澛爏ays聽Ramy聽El-Swissy,听another founder of聽April 6, 鈥淎 sovereign country based on human rights and equality for everyone....but he started to work for his own benefit, for his own Brotherhood.鈥�
鈥淲e will never accept this, after two years of fighting the old regime and then the military council.鈥�
