Religion and politics in Egypt now days

The cooperation of Muslim scholars

 tyrants is well known in Egypt and across the Muslim world, in fact , the political conservatism (in the sense of supporting strong leadership despite their religious and moral commitments and the prohibition of any dispute ) was a characteristic of mainstream Sunni Islam from the early history of Islam. However, the speech Gomaa is still very remarkable , not only in its explicitness encourage and legitimize mass murder by the state (and not only to justify ex post facto) , but also for its decidedly aggressive tone and , one might say , language notably top, this is EGYPT.

Obviously , Gomaa was to confer religious legitimacy in terms of the violent crackdown on protesters to security troops " clear conscience " before embarking on his assault . And to do that , using various strategies Gomaa . began with the story , which is equivalent to the "hypocrites " protesters living in Medina at the time of the Prophet Muhammad and tried to undermine Islam. They were also associated with a group of Muslim fanatics called Khawarij (meaning " separatist "), which , a few decades after the Prophet's death , were some of the first Muslims to use violence against other Muslims who disagree with their understanding of Islam groups. then described the security troops , who supposedly died in killing protesters as martyrs , God bless in heaven. He also said that God , the Prophet Muhammad , and " believers " supported Due to the security forces . known for his association with one or another version of Sufism ( Islamic mysticism ) , Gomaa went on to say that the visions ( dreams that supposedly sacred experience of people and are seen as a source of advice on the right way , often with the prophet Muhammad is they died or saints) , confirmed that the security forces were on the right side . Last but not least ostensibly , protesters are dirty and filthy, and smell is offensive. God chose to create in this way, Gomaa said in Egypt.

Only days later, the Egyptian security forces launched their jihad Gomaa ' allowed not only for the sake of Egypt, not only for the cause of Islam , but also for the environment. Live ammunition was used against protesters , their tents were burned , their bodies and streets were cleared with bulldozers . In one case, a Granada tear gas was thrown into a police truck packed unventilated where prisoners were bound together for seven hours despite her cries. Unsurprisingly, most of them were murdered there . Without the context described above, it can be very difficult to understand the cruelty of this scene or attributed to the brutality of the regular police .

Apparently shocked by the unexpected release of the video, Gomaa was quick to deny spoke of the MB or the protesters and said he heard " terrorists in the Sinai and elsewhere. " Hardly anyone took these accusations given the frequent references his speech the president Gomaa Morsi (lack of ) legitimacy . In fact, Gomaa has kept a low profile since the incident a few weeks ago, and probably would not play an important role in Egypt's future , even if the current regime managed to stay in power . For the current leadership of Egypt , it would be prudent to seek the support of a religious scholar who probably " taken too far" when there are many other scholars who maintain a degree of credibility and are willing to play the traditional role of most Sunni scholars .

But the importance of this episode goes beyond the Gomaa status and future role, which could indicate that the alliance between the religious system of Egypt's military / political leaders and can take a serious turn , not only religiously (not just the Islam , but also Christianity , like Pope Tawadros II was also present and blessed the coup) and the policy of General Sisi , but also in the level of religious / political Azhar , ie speech, what can you say about the use of religious language in the process of justifying the state's relationship with the opposition forcesof Egypt.

The new Constitution of Egypt ( being developed by a designated committee composed almost exclusively of figures "liberal" ) determine the new relationship between the military and the ruling elite "official Islam " . In all likelihood, the old organization to give some concessions to the clerics of Al Azhar in exchange for any silence or occasional support when absolutely necessary , policy issues , will give way to a new relationship in which both parties are returning more interdependent. The religious establishment must be relentless and explicit in its support for the regime and the adoption of policies, while military leaders seek active partnership (and not what we might call the old "positive marginalization " ) religious institution and its services to justify their policy before, not after , put into force of EGYPT.

This is not to underestimate the role of Al- Azhar has traditionally played . However, the new position of Al Azhar , will be much more important as a partner in the new coalition of interests that govern Egypt. In other words , researchers can now Azhari tofight be willing to maintain the current military regime (even if a civil authority is placed in the foreground ), since failure to do so could have serious consequences for its own existence. At the same time , the army should be aware that the need to express religious justification in political matters is priced , General Sisi ordered both the Sheikh of Al Azhar and Pope of Alexandria should be given armored vehicles, a step that is more than just symbolic in EGYPT.