Arguments broke out between Jama'a al-Islamiya members, Salafis and others at the Fateh Mosque on Friday over the shape of the future Egyptian state.
Jama'a al-Islamiya members drove those defending a secular state out of the mosque at the end of the argument.
Abdallah Darwish, the mosque's imam, criticized proponents of the secular state, saying they should leave the country if they do not want it to be an Islamic one that adopts Islamic law. “Grow that secular seed outside Egypt. Since we were young, we have learned that this is an Islamic state.”
Darwish called for the restoration of security and order by ending protests and conducting elections. He also called for the trial of those guilty of corruption, adding that slow justice is a form of oppression.
“Security will not be restored until Islam returns. Reform will not take place without Islam,” he said.
During a protest staged by the Jama'a al-Islamiya and the Salafi Front in Ramsis on Friday, Assem Abdel Maged, official spokesperson of Jama'a al-Islamiya, said there is a plot to tear Egypt apart.
He added that secularists are attempting to hijack the 25 January revolution from Muslims and drive the people and the army apart, and they do not want police to return to the streets.
Abdel Maged added that secularists have attempted to make either Mamdouh Hamza or Mohamed ElBaradei president for Egypt, but failed, and that Egypt's stock market has lost LE40 billion as a result of the presence of "thugs” in Tahrir Square, who he said want to create chaos in the country and serve Western interests.
He said the protesters currently present in Tahrir want to destroy the country, and that they humiliated Salafi preacher Safwat Hegazy and Major General Tareq al-Mahdy – a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces – there to check on hunger strikers.
He accused secularists of wanting it to look like the army is against the people, and of implementing the plans of the US and Israel. He claimed that secularists pay LE5,000 per night to those currently staging a sit-in in Tahrir.
He said that Islamic waves will stage a protest in Tahrir on Friday to say they do not the elections postponed or any supra-constitutional principles adopted.
Khaled Saeed, spokesperson for the Salafi Front, said, “We are against the supra-constitutional principles. The Quran is above the constitution.” He added that Egyptians want Islamists to be in power, citing the result of the March referendum on constitutional amendments as proof of this.
He said Islamists will protest on Friday to make everyone aware of their real weight.
Meanwhile, thousands protested in Tahrir, Alexandria and Suez to call for achieving the goals of the revolution and purging state institutions of members of the former regime. Around 3000 people protested in Tahrir after Friday prayers, and more political powers and youth movements joined the protest after 5 pm. The protesters urged presidential hopefuls to join their protest.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
