The grand sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, released a document yesterday that tried to shed light on Egypt's largest Islamic institution’s understanding of what it would mean to have Islam as a main source of legislation in the Constitution.
One of the main issues on the political scene is whether Egypt should have a religious constitution or a civil one and whether they’re mutually exclusive. According to Tayyeb, they are not.
As is the case with many questions regarding the role of religion in civil life, this issue was often open to controversy. The Egyptian government’s flagship paper, Al-Ahram, therefore describes the document as “historic.”
The document states that Islamic jurisprudence does not denote the need for a “priestly state” that enforces religious practice, and that the concept of “Shura,” a religious term, indicates pluralism. According to Al-Ahram, the document also states that the nation would resort to Islam for supporting a democratic and constitutional nation based on free elections and equal representation.
Independent daily Al-Shorouk calls the document “revolutionary.” Tayyeb said that the parliament would be the only legislative authority. The rest of the document talked about respecting women, children, freedom of speech, the practices and values of Egyptian society, and all religions.
According to Al-Shorouk, the document’s long list of signatories contains the names of many Islamic, political, literary and intellectual figures, including Coptic thinkers and activists.
State-run daily Al-Akhbar quotes Tayyeb as saying that Islamic principles would remain the main source for legislation and that members of other religions should be guaranteed the right to resort to their own religious authorities for administering their personal affairs if they choose.
Al-Wafd’s party paper ran the headline, “Al-Azhar clings to the civil state.”
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) conducted a Facebook poll of presidential candidates. ElBaradei came in first with 37 percent, followed by newly announced Mohamed Selim al-Awa, with 19 percent. Ahmed Shafiq, Amr Moussa, Hesham el-Bastawisi and Omar Suleiman followed. Others, such as political/sports sideshow figure Mortada Mansour, received support of 0 percent, according to Al-Shorouk.
Political pundit Amr Hashem Rabei told Al-Shorouk that the SCAF was prematurely polling for the presidential election and should have focused the poll on whether the constitution should be drafted before or after parliamentary elections.
Most papers address the debate of when the constitution should be written, after Prime Minister Essam Sharaf made a statement regarding his preference for drafting the constitution first. Both Al-Wafd and the independent paper Al-Dostour ran prominent op-eds criticizing the call, as well as Sharaf’s statement. It is worth noting that both papers are owned by Wafd Party or its allies.
Al-Wafd also ran a story on a campaign called “The Constitution First” by the Free Front for Peaceful Change, which reportedly gathered a million signatures in support of the cause.
Al-Ahram says the call for a constitution first is causing a rift between revolutionary forces, especially after groups like “We Are All Khaled Saeed” and the April 6 Youth Movement decided the constitutional issue would be the main topic of the “Third Friday of Anger” planned for 8 July.
In an interview with Al-Akhbar, presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei said that “the constitutional declaration is not sacred… and I request setting the constitution first.”
Hussein Salem, aka Friend of Israel (Al-Dostour), aka the Spanish Man (Al-Ahram), aka The Fugitive (Al-Wafd), is back in the newspapers again. Al-Wafd says that he is not included in a list of businessmen whose Swiss accounts Egypt requested to have frozen.
Al-Dostour claims that his detainment in Spain and the question of his extradition to Egypt is more of a political matter than a judicial one. Al-Ahram says it is likely he would be extradited to Egypt soon.
Underground metro lovers can rejoice in the fact that the first stage of the third metro line between Attaba and Abbasseya is set to open by January 2012, according to Al-Shorouk, in order to coincide with the anniversary of the 25 January uprising. The wheels are in motion, quite literally, as the transportation minister took a tour on a small monorail to oversee the work now being done on the line.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
