One of Egypt’s prominent Salafi sheikhs, Mohamed Hussein Yaqoub, said that religion won in Saturday's referendum on constitutional amendments.
The Muslim Brotherhood and some Salafi groups had urged supporters before the referendum to support the changes, which leave untouched a part of the Constitution that names Islam as the primary source of legislation. More than 77 percent of voters voted in favor of the proposed amendments, but some groups wanted more changes made.
Yaqoub described the constitutional amendments as a “battle for the ballot boxes” in which the boxes “said ‘yes’ to religion.” He called for opponents of the majority that approved the proposed amendments to leave the country if they are not willing to coexist with the democratic majority.
“Those who voted 'no' in the referendum on constitutional amendments now know today their own destiny as well as that of religion,” Yaqoub said in a video on his website of a sermon he delivered Sunday.
The Salafi preacher criticized those who voted “no” in the referendum and told his supporters, “Khalas, al-balad baladna,” a colloquial Egyptian expression meaning “That’s it. The country is ours.”
Passing the amendments was widely perceived to be in the interests of the Brotherhood because they necessitate that parliamentary elections be held in six months. Informal opposition groups have complained that an early election will not give them sufficient time to organize.
Sameh Ashour, vice president of the Nasserist party, has said religious slogans must be kept out of politics and must not be used for political publicity.
A spokesperson for the leftist Tagammu party, Nabil Zaki, meanwhile, has criticized the mobilization of voters by the Brotherhood, Salafis and Christians as a criminal attempt to break up national unity and abort the revolution.
Ahmed Drag, media spokesperson for the National Association for Change, had accused political Islamist groups of opportunistically using Copts as a scarecrow to push for "yes" votes.
Drag said certain groups turned the referendum into a sectarian affair. He urged the Brotherhood to issue a statement clarifying its position and condemning the statements issued in its name. Drag added that religion should be separate from politics.
Wael Nawwara, secretary general for the liberal Ghad Party, also described the Brotherhood's slogans as "sectarian." He said they may lead to a disaster.
Political experts from the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies expressed similar concerns. Diaa Rashwan said the future of democracy in Egypt will be at risk if religious groups continue to engage in politics along sectarian lines, while Nabil Abdel Fattah, an expert at the same center, said what happened before the referendum deepens the gap between Egyptians by evoking religion at the expense of political and ethical responsibility toward society.
