Prominent Salafi preacher Mohamed Hassan has launched an initiative to do away with US military and economic aid in order to shield Egypt from American influence.
“The initiative should be implemented as of tonight,” he told a talk show on state television late on Saturday.
Hassan is an independent Salafi preacher, and he has been known for defending the applicability of Sharia law.
"I swear to God that the Egyptian people can in one night raise a hundred times more than the trivial US aid," he said.
Egypt and the United States have been close allies for more than three decades. Egypt receives an annual US$1.3 billion in aid.
But Cairo's campaign against the pro-democracy groups has raised concern over the relationship between the two strategic allies.
"I say to my enemy America that Egypt is great and will remain so forever, and we shall not bow to her pennies,” he said, adding that Egyptian youth, scholars and businesspeople can raise tens of billions of pounds under his initiative.
"If America is humiliating us with $1.3 billion, I swear to you that I can raise this amount in one day with the help of God,” he added.
“Egyptians will not accept such humiliation even if they have to die of hunger."
