Egypt Salafis in The Elections

Idris16

Junior Member
* Salafis said to have done well, believe could have done better
* Islamist opponents voice fears over freedoms

* Doubts over chances of alliance with Brotherhood

* Salafi candidate shows conservatism, flash of pragmatism
(Edits)

By Tom Perry

CAIRO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The Salafi movement wants to model Egypt's future on Islam's past. If the first results of the country's parliamentary elections are anything to go by, many Egyptians agree with them.

Ultra-conservative Islamists may have won 20 to 30 percent of the vote in the first leg of Egypt's three-stage parliamentary vote, an outcome that has surprised and alarmed many Egyptians. They are worried about what this might mean for freedoms and tolerance in the Arab world's most populous nation.

Salafis look certain to emerge as a vocal bloc in the first legislature since Hosni Mubarak was deposed, confirming the historic changes under way since the removal from power of a man who dealt with Islamists mostly as enemies of the state.

Their influence over officialdom could reach further still, depending on cooperation with other Islamists also doing well in the election, namely the long-established Muslim Brotherhood which looks set to win more seats than any other group.

Their role will also hinge on the system of government that emerges from a transitional period steered by the army generals who took over from Mubarak. The military has been silent on the election result, urging Egyptians to vote but not taking sides.

Though official results give little to go on -- the final picture will not be totally clear until January -- both the Salafis and others following the count say they are doing well.

The indications so far are heartening for Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a Salafi planning to run for the presidency in a June election. He sees the results as "a map" of how young Egyptians going to the polls for the first time had voted.

"There's no doubt this is pleasing," said the softly-spoken lawyer-and-politician with a long, grey beard, wearing a suit and tie in an interview on Egyptian television on Thursday.

Voters had realised the Islamists' discourse was "logical and reasonable", he said, at the same time outlining a conservative view typical of the Salafis.

He said men and women should be segregated at work and displays of public affection must stop. There must also be a halt of the sale and production of alcohol.

As in Saudi Arabia, Salafis would want to bar women and Christians from executive posts. They might also ban "un-Islamic" art and literature, as well as mixed beach bathing.

If implemented, such curbs would wreck Egypt's vital tourism industry, which employs about one in eight of the workforce.

In a frontpage editorial, the independent Al Masry Al Youm newspaper said Egypt must not become Afghanistan, a reference to fears of Taliban-style hardline rule. "We are confident that the voice of moderation will prevail in the parliament," it said.

EGYPT'S PIOUS

Tapping support among Egypt's pious population, the Salafis who call for a stricter application of Islamic law believe they can do better in the coming two rounds.

Al-Nour Party, whose followers wear the long beards typical of Salafis, looks set to secure a fifth of the seats contested in the first round, perhaps even more.

Figures displayed on a Brotherhood web site on Friday showed them with 30 percent of the seats assigned to party lists, not far off their own 43 percent. How that translates into seats won't be clear until January, when the results are declared.

"I believe they can bring change," said Mohammed Hussein, 30, who works in commerce, explaining why he voted for the Nour Party in the city of Alexandria, where Salafi banners urge women to wear the Islamic veil. "It is a party that loves religion."

Hussein's enthusiasm for the group is the result of years of listening to Salafi clerics in the mosque. Across the Middle East, the mosque has provided Islamists with a platform for politics denied to secular parties now trying to regroup.

As the remaining two voting stages move into the provinces, the Nour Party could do better still. "Rural areas tend to lean more towards religion than the cities," Hussein said.

The Nour Party says it is learning from its mistakes in the first round. "We are assessing our performance in the first stage. We had some negative points that we are studying how to avoid," Youssry Hamad, spokesman for the party, said.

The leader of the Nour Party, which hopes to siphon votes from the Brotherhood, said earlier this week that organisational failings meant his party had under-performed.

"We were not dispersed across constituencies, nor were we as close as needed to the voter. Other parties with more experience rallied supporters more effectively," Emad Abdel Ghafour said in Alexandria, seen as a Salafi stronghold.

The party emerged from Daawa al-Salafiya (Salafi Call), a movement that has previously only backed preaching, not politics, to spread its purist interpretation of Islam.

Analysts believe the movement has a devoted following of 3 million people and may control 4,000 mosques nationwide. Egypt has around 108,000 mosques and smaller places of worship.

The emergence of ambitious Salafi parties is one of the starkest measures of change in post-Mubarak Egypt.

Egyptians opposed to the Islamists are deeply worried about the influence they could now wield.

Some voice concerns that zealots may see the Salafis' strong showing in parliament as a licence to press their agenda in the streets by harassing women who are not veiled, for example
.

Abu Ismail, the Salafi presidential hopeful, batted away the concerns of anxious viewers who called in with questions during his television appearance on Thursday.

He also said freedoms were holy to Islam, stressing that its laws guarantee Christian rights under Muslim rule.

And he showed a flash of pragmatism perhaps intended to reassure viewers that radical change may not come immediately.

"They imagine that when I give an opinion now, that means it will be implemented right now," he said.

"There is a difference between what I see as right and wrong, and the fact that some of these matters will not be implemented within 10 years or even 20 years." (Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan; Writing by Tom Perry, editing by Peter Millership)

http://af.reuters.com/article/commo...WX20111202?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
 

Shak78

Junior Member
:salam2:

Well done to them, the only issue I have is barring women and Christians from Executive positions, if they are qualified then they should be allowed to do the job. That is discrimination.
 

Idris16

Junior Member
I truly hope the Nour Party will win!! No alliance with Israel inshaAllah. No alcohol, riba, zina and most importantly shirk.

Can any Egyptian or a resident tell us about the elections?
 

Perseveranze

Junior Member
Asalaamu Alaikum,

Mashallah, look how Allah changes things so suddenly, who could've thought it.

The article btw is typically written in Islamaphobic fashion.
 

Hatty

Junior Member
:salam2:

Well done to them, the only issue I have is barring women and Christians from Executive positions, if they are qualified then they should be allowed to do the job. That is discrimination.

This statement was according to the author of the article. I do not think it was - what the Islamic inclined political parties were trying to put forward. Correct if i am wrong...
 

Idris16

Junior Member
Partial results for Egypt's first round of parliamentary elections reveal Islamist parties leading with 65 percent of the party list votes, a stronger-than-expected showing that puts liberal groups on the defensive.

The figures released Sunday by Egypt's High Election Commission put the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party in front with 36.6 percent of the ballots cast, followed by the hardline Salafist Nour party with 24.4 percent. The moderate Islamist Wasat party took 4.3 percent.

The liberal Egyptian Bloc garnered 13.4 percent, putting that coalition of parties in third place.

This past week's voting will determine the membership for about 30 percent of the 498-seat lower house. Egyptians will return to the polls Monday for 52 runoff votes for individual candidates.

Election commissioner Abdel-Mooaez Ibrahim says a record voter turnout took place in the first round vote covering nine provinces. Voters in the remaining 18 provinces will cast ballots in two stages that will take place in the coming weeks.

The man appointed by military rulers to lead a new Cabinet, Kamal al-Ganzouri, says he will delay announcing ministers until Wednesday because ballot counting is taking longer than expected.

After the process is completed for the lower house, voting for parliament's upper house will begin. The entire election process will not be over until March.

The balloting is Egypt's first voting since former president Hosni Mubarak resigned in February.

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed deep concern about the initial success of Islamist parties. Mr. Barak - a former Israeli prime minister - told Israeli television Saturday that although it is too early to predict how the changes will affect the region, he finds the trend "worrisome."

JERUSALEM Dec 4 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Egypt's future rulers to preserve a peace treaty with Israel after Islamists took the lead in the Arab country's first round of elections.
"We hope any future government in Egypt will recognise the importance of keeping the peace treaty with Israel in its own right and as a basis for regional security and economic stability," Netanyahu said in his first public comments on the issue since the Egyptian vote.

A first-round vote last week set Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on course to take the most seats in the country's first freely elected parliament in six decades. The Salafi al-Nour Party, a more hardline Islamist group, is in second place, with a liberal bloc third.

The final outcome of the election will not be known until other parts of the country vote in two more rounds, a process that will not be complete until Jan. 11.

Israel has voiced concern that Muslim groups hostile to it could rise to power in the wake of "Arab Spring" revolutions that have toppled leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

Egypt was the first Arab country to recognise Israel, signing a peace treaty in 1979 that secured Cairo billions in annual U.S. aid and an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Sinai peninsula.

Sinai, which is demilitarized under the peace deal, has in recent years worried Israel as a gun-running conduit to Palestinian militants in the neighbouring Gaza Strip.

Security has frayed there further since veteran Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February, prompting Israel to speed up construction of a security fence along its porous border with Egypt.

In August, eight Israelis were killed by militants who Israel said crossed into its territory from Sinai. Five Egyptian security guards were killed as Israeli soldiers pursued the gunmen.

Netanyahu said the fence, originally meant to keep out illegal African migrants, "today has security importance in light of growing instability in the Middle East" and that its construction would be sped up and completed within a year. (Writing by Maayan Lubell, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
 

Idris16

Junior Member
(AP) CAIRO — Islamist parties captured an overwhelming majority of votes in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections, setting up a power struggle with the much weaker liberals behind the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago. A hard-line religious group that wants to impose strict Islamic law made a strong showing with nearly a quarter of the ballots, according to results released Sunday.

The tallies offer only a partial indication of how the new parliament will look. There are still two more rounds of voting in 18 of the country's 27 provinces over the coming month and runoff elections on Monday and Tuesday to determine almost all of the seats allocated for individuals in the first round. But the grip of the Islamists over the next parliament appears set, particularly considering their popularity in provinces voting in the next rounds.

The High Election Commission said the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party garnered 36.6 percent of the 9.7 million valid ballots cast for party lists. The Nour Party, a more hard-line Islamist group, captured 24.4 percent.

The strong Islamist showing worries liberal parties, and even some religious parties, who fear the two groups will work to push a religious agenda. It has also left many of the youthful activists behind the uprising that ousted Mubarak in February feeling that their revolution has been hijacked.

Since Mubarak's fall, the groups that led the uprising and Islamists have been locked in a fight over the country's new constitution. The new parliament will be tasked, in theory, with selecting a 100-member panel to draft the new constitution. But adding to tensions, the ruling military council that took over from Mubarak has suggested it will choose 80 of those members, and said parliament will have no say in naming a new government.

"The conflict will be over the soul of Egypt," said Nabil Abdel-Fattah, a senior researcher at the state-sponsored Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, calling the new parliament "transitional" with a "very conservative Islamic" outlook.

The Brotherhood has emerged as the most organized and cohesive political force in these elections. But with no track record of governing, it is not yet clear how they will behave in power. The party has positioned itself as a moderate Islamist party that wants to implement Islamic law without sacrificing personal freedoms, and has said it will not seek an alliance with the more radical Nour party.

The ultraconservative Salafis who dominate the Nour Party are newcomers to the political scene. They had previously frowned upon involvement in politics and shunned elections. They espouse a strict interpretation of Islam similar to that of Saudi Arabia, where the sexes are segregated and women must be veiled and are barred from driving. Its members say laws contradicting religion can't be passed.

A Nour Party spokesman, Yousseri Hamad, suggested over the weekend, for example, that alcohol should be banned and that a state agency could penalize Muslims for eating during the day during the holy month of Ramadan, when the devout fast from dawn to dusk.

Many in Egypt's Coptic Christian population, which makes up 10 percent of the country, fear the Salafis will push for laws that will make them second-class citizens.

Egypt already uses Islamic law, or Shariah, as the basis for legislation. However, laws remain largely secular as Shariah does not cover all aspects of modern life.

If the Muslim Brotherhood chooses not to form an alliance with the Salafis, the liberal Egyptian Bloc — which came in third with 13.4 percent of the votes — could counterbalance hard-line elements.
 

saifkhan

abd-Allah
As salam 'alaykum

to all here, I'd like to draw the attention of my brothers and sister

Allahu a'lam, but it seems, if they are not satisfied, they will ruin again, they will demonstrate again, protest again, I have the fear of this. if the majority or near majority doesn't want Islamic, or even 25%, a guess, they will again get into roads.

and under Islamic ruler-ship, they can not beat or kill or even drive out harshly like the others did before, so then again in front of the protest, the govt have to back off, especially when kuffar influence will enter and their interference will disturb the situation.

I hope i'm able to make understand, but may Allah not let it happen

this is the problem of democracy and election

wa-llahu a'lam
wassalam
 

Idris16

Junior Member
and under Islamic ruler-ship, they can not beat or kill or even drive out harshly like the others did before, so then again in front of the protest, the govt have to back off, especially when kuffar influence will enter and their interference will disturb the situation.
How do you know brother:) Those who do fitnah [mischief] on earth should be dealt with!! I hope Nour Party dont water down in some issues.
 

saifkhan

abd-Allah
How do you know brother:) Those who do fitnah [mischief] on earth should be dealt with!! I hope Nour Party dont water down in some issues.

as salam 'alaykum warahamtu-llah

brother I meant actually how the Hosni Mobarak's army shed and even some days ago some people got killed.

however, all i wanned to say, the problem of democracy and you know again the roar will start and the kuffar would send the army to ''help''

i hope you got it :)

of course who creates mischief in the land they must be dealt with and harshly

barakAllahu feek

wassalam
 

Seeking Allah's Mercy

Qul HuwaAllahu Ahud!
Asalaamu Alaikum,

Mashallah, look how Allah changes things so suddenly, who could've thought it.

The article btw is typically written in Islamaphobic fashion.

This.

Look at the following:
Egypt already uses Islamic law, or Shariah, as the basis for legislation. However, laws remain largely secular as Shariah does not cover all aspects of modern life.
If the Muslim Brotherhood chooses not to form an alliance with the Salafis, the liberal Egyptian Bloc — which came in third with 13.4 percent of the votes — could counterbalance hard-line elements.

MB may form coalation with the liberals, Meh! Can they act more idiotic, if the do?

And oh yeah see the bold. That made me laugh so hard. Modern life, eh?
The ultraconservative Salafis who dominate the Nour Party are newcomers to the political scene. They had previously frowned upon involvement in politics and shunned elections.

Why is that so?
 

Seeker-of-truth

Junior Member
Brother thanks for the video but im not quite sure of what the view of this great sheikh is from what he said please clarify for me. Did the shaikh say that the election is a means that leads to fitna and civil war and that we sshould abstain? Jazaakhallahu khairan
 

Idris16

Junior Member
CAIRO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The hardline Salafists surging in Egypt's first free elections suffered an unexpected setback on Wednesday when a prominent spokesman lost a run-off vote to an independent candidate backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Abdel Moneim el-Shahat was one of the most outspoken candidates of the Salafist Al-Nour party, which stunned Egyptians by winning 24 percent of the first round of voting last week against 36 percent for the more pragmatic Brotherhood.

During the campaign, the bearded engineer outraged more moderate Egyptians with his clear calls for Salafi Islam - a strict interpretation inspired by Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi sect - to be made the law of the land in Egypt.

His defeat in the run-off in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria came because liberal, Christian and young voters rallied behind the independent Hosni Dewidar, who also had the Brotherhood's endorsement.

"The Brotherhood doesn't represent me, but they are better than the Salafis," Coptic law student Beshoy Gerges, 23, said in Alexandria. "I would rather die than have a Salafi represent me in parliament."

COMPARISONS WITH THE TALIBAN

Shahat, who is highly popular among Egypt's Salafis, aroused unpleasant memories of Afghanistan's hardline Taliban when it was reported he wanted priceless statues of Egypt's pharaohs to be covered or destroyed because they amounted to idolatry, which is strictly forbidden in Islam.

The Taliban blew up two ancient Buddha statues in Bamiyan in 2001, also arguing that the pre-Islamic art was idolatrous.

Shahat denied the statues should be smashed, but the remarks raised questions about the lengths to which the Salafis would go to make Egypt conform to early Islam.

"If people want to see these statues and they bring income, and if it is proven that sharia does not allow them to remain as they are, then cover them with wax," he told Dream Television. "People would be able to see through wax."

During a television interview last week, Shahat also angered many intellectuals by trashing the novels of Nobel Literature Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz as books "inciting promiscuity, prostitution and atheism."

"We have not had a revolution so that the likes of Shahat come to smear our cultural symbols and call us atheists as soon as they start rising to power," novelist and critic Howeida Saleh told the daily Al Ahram.

Even though Al Nour appeared to have lost out in most of the run-offs it took part in over the past two days, its strong showing in the initial phase of voting looks certain to guarantee it a sizeable chunk of seats in the next parliament.

LAYING DOWN THE LAW

Shahat, spokesman for the Salafi Call umbrella group that includes the Al Nour party, told Reuters before the election that his party would be flexible in enforcing sharia, the Islamic moral and legal code. "We won't force it on you, so the country doesn't turn into a battlefield," he said in Alexandria.

But he made clear Al Nour took a narrow view of what should and should not be allowed in the new Egypt.

"In controversial issues, we are open to what early Muslims were open to and we refuse what they refused," he said, referring to the strict teachings of the early Muslims.

"For things that need a general law, religious doctrine ends the argument," he said, adding Islamic doctrine could be interpreted by an oversight board of senior Islamic scholars from Al Azhar, the famous seat of Sunni learning based in Cairo.

Shahat was blunt about second class status for the Copts, the Egyptian Christians who make up about 10 percent of the population and fear the Salafis will limit their rights strictly if they get into a position to shape future legislature.

"We are very clear about Copts in high posts," he said. "It is neither logical nor religiously or constitutionally valid that they can hold the post of presidency.

"A Copt shouldn't assume authority over Muslims."
The Muslim Brotherhood are jokers.
 

Idris16

Junior Member
From Press TV:
The results released on Friday said Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi al-Nur are in a close race to win the top place.

The parties have already garnered more than two thirds of the ballots cast in the first round, and are projected to win all three stages of the country's elections.

The liberal Egyptian Bloc is, meanwhile, following on the heels of Islamic parties, with even fewer votes than it had in the first round.

The second round of general elections in Egypt was held on Wednesday and Thursday in nine provinces, 10 months after a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule in the country.

Violations reported in the first round were mainly limited to persistent campaigning, but many deem the second round as more chaotic and violent.

Voters accused election officials at a number of polling stations of filling out ballot forms for elderly or confused voters.

Egyptians, however, seem satisfied with the results of the first round and the victories for the Islamic parties -- long oppressed under ousted Mubarak's US-backed dictatorship.

A third round, slated to be held in early January, is not expected to dramatically alter the result, but could even give more seats to Egypt's Islamic parties.
Why is that so?
:salam2:
Voting in democratic elections could be shirk. And this is not even a joke. This should be taken very seriously. But Scholars give their fatwas regarding this. What's happening in Egypt is different to that of other countries. For example, here in Europe. What should we do? Vote for Kufr parties that want not to rule by the law of Allah?

As for Egypt, we have the Islamic Nour Party that want to govern the country according to Islam. They dont want to give hukm due to their whims and desires. I know of a Shaykh that hates democracy very much and I suspect he wouldnt like people vote in general but still he encouraged Egyptians to vote for the Nour Party.

I truly hope the Nour Party don't water down insha'Allaah.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

Democracy is a man-made system, meaning rule by the people for the people. Thus it is contrary to Islam, because rule is for Allaah, the Most High, the Almighty, and it is not permissible to give legislative rights to any human being, no matter who he is.

>>> Ruling on democracy and elections and participating in that system <<<
 

Idris16

Junior Member
(Reuters) - Egypt's two leading Islamist parties said on Sunday their separate party lists secured about three-quarters of votes cast in the second round of a parliamentary election, extending their lead in the three-stage vote.
A source from the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said it was on track to win about 40 percent of votes for party lists, based on results from most districts.

A spokesman for the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour Party said its list received about 35 percent of votes.

In the first round of the six-week poll, the FJP won about 37 percent of votes for lists and Nour secured about 24 percent.

The poll is the first since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. The West long looked to strongmen in the region like Mubarak to keep a lid on Islamists, and has watched warily as they have come top in votes in Tunisia, Morocco and now Egypt.

An official breakdown of results for the list vote has yet to be announced. But party representatives watch the count and their predictions after the first round were broadly accurate.

Despite their commanding position built up so far in the vote that runs till January, it is unclear whether the two rival Islamist groups will form an alliance in parliament, as they have each spoken warily of the other.

The leadership of the Brotherhood is cautious of a wholly Islamist ruling coalition, which Egyptians from other political trends might view as divisive and polarising in a period when they think broader national unity is needed. Nour politicians accuse the Brotherhood of compromising Islamic values.

The FJP source said the 40 percent estimate was based on counting completed in 11 of the 15 second-round constituencies where seats will be allocated by party lists.

In a separate statement, the FJP said it was concerned the final result would be skewed against it, saying it had noted differences between its tally and official numbers. It did not specify how the counting may have been flawed.

Independent monitors have listed electoral abuses such as illegal campaigning outside polling stations. The first-round vote in one district of Cairo will be re-run after ballots were lost or damaged during counting.

The election committee has said violations did not undermine the vote's overall legitimacy.

Under Egypt's complicated election system, two-thirds of parliament's 498 elected seats will be allocated to party lists with the rest going to individuals. In the second round, 60 individual seats were up for grabs.

Abdel Moez Ibrahim, head of the election committee, announced the results for individual seats in a news conference late on Sunday, saying only one person secured a seat outright.

Run-offs will be held for the other seats where no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the votes need for outright victory. Ibrahim did not announce results for party lists.

The FJP said on its Facebook page that 47 of its candidates would contest run-offs.

Yousry Hamad, a Nour spokesman, told Reuters before the committee made its announcement that its list had secured about 35 percent of votes for party lists and the party expected to contest 35 individual seats in the run-off votes.

Nour were the surprise runners up after the first round, pushing liberals into third place.

The election committee said turnout for voters who cast ballots for individuals was 67 percent
.
 

Seeking Allah's Mercy

Qul HuwaAllahu Ahud!
:salam2:
Voting in democratic elections could be shirk. And this is not even a joke. This should be taken very seriously. But Scholars give their fatwas regarding this. What's happening in Egypt is different to that of other countries. For example, here in Europe. What should we do? Vote for Kufr parties that want not to rule by the law of Allah?

As for Egypt, we have the Islamic Nour Party that want to govern the country according to Islam. They dont want to give hukm due to their whims and desires. I know of a Shaykh that hates democracy very much and I suspect he wouldnt like people vote in general but still he encouraged Egyptians to vote for the Nour Party.

I truly hope the Nour Party don't water down insha'Allaah.



>>> Ruling on democracy and elections and participating in that system <<<

Asalamo 'Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakaatuh,

I was actually talking about them frowning at involvement in politics. It's alright to be in politics, isn't it? Look at what they are doing now. It's politics, correct and it's awesome. It's good they are doing it, frowning upon it is just letting the trolls be the kings of the ring.
 
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