Younis Makhyoun, a member of the Constituent Assembly, said on Sunday that representatives of the Islamist current and civilian powers have finally agreed on the phrasing of the much-debated Article 2 of the constitution.
The article as currently agreed upon will read, “The principles of Islamic Sharia are the main sources of legislation,” with an additional article, Article 221, defining principles as “general evidence and fundamental and jurisprudential rules and their sources in the well-recognized schools of the Sunnis and the community.”
Article 2 was the subject of heated debate over the past weeks, with Salafis wanting the word “principles” omitted and replaced with “Islamic Sharia” and civilian powers and the Brotherhood wishing to keep the phrasing in the 1971 constitution as it is.
Salafis called for staging protests on 9 November to push for the adoption of wording in Article 2 that clearly calls for Sharia.
Makhyoun told the press that the two articles were approved by political powers, Al-Azhar and the Coptic Church.
The committee responsible for the document’s phrasing has finished reviewing the chapter on the components of the state and 65 articles in the chapter on rights and freedoms.
Press reports said that the Constituent Assembly is expected to issue a second draft of the constitution soon.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
