“This version of Islam is not Egyptian. Real and honest moderate Egyptian Islam has receded in the face of Wahhabi Islam coming from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. For thirty years masses of oil money has been used to drown Egypt in Wahhabi ideas. The purpose of this support for the Wahhabi school of thought is basically political, in that the Saudi system of government depends on an alliance between the ruling family and the Wahhabi sheikhs. Hence spreading the Wahhabi ideology reinforces the political system in that country. At the same time millions of Egyptians have migrated to the Gulf seeking a livelihood and have then come back to Egypt full of Wahhabi ideas……… As for the Salafists, who are more numerous than the Brothers, they stood quite openly against the revolution. Their sheikhs in Egypt and Saudi Arabia issued fatwas that demonstrations are haram and that Muslims have a duty to obey a Muslim leader, even if he is unjust. They asserted that democracy is haram because it advocates government by the people, while they believe that God alone can rule, not mankind. When the revolution succeeded in deposing Hosni Mubarak we found the Salafists suddenly changing their beliefs, forming parties and taking part in democracy, which had been haram a few days earlier. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists made a deal with the Military Council.……….”
So writes
Alaa Al Aswany about Egypt’s new/old political “elite”. Mr. Mubarak and his al-Azhar appointees helped to gradually convert Egypt into a quasi-Wahhabi society. Even the courts started handing down Wahhabi-style sentences not aligned with Egypt’s traditionally tolerant laws. They changed some laws to fit the Salafi ‘proclivities’, like allowing temporary marriages, vacation marriages, under-age marriages, and other exotic Saudi Wahhabi forms. You notice Salafi Wahhabi proclivities evolve mostly around “bodily” functions (and a lot of bodily fluids, both kinds of bodily fluids). Just to accommodate repressed male Saudi tourists who spend their holidays seeking ‘halal’ sex in Cairo (and Alexandria). Away from the Kingdom of Repression and Frustration.
(The Salafis also received a lot of Saudi and Gulf money for their election campaign. Which means they will likely always have a strong influence in the Egyptian government, as long as the money keeps coming. Which it will. A fifth column on the Nile).
Cheers
mhg
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