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Diversity of egyptian islamists revealed in aboul fotouh candidacy by ferujkll sdff
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Diversity of egyptian islamists revealed in aboul fotouh candidacy |
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As Egypt prepares to elect its first president after HosniMubarak s three-decade rule, it s no surprise that one of thefront-runners is an Islamist. What is surprising is that he isn t the candidate of the MuslimBrotherhood, whose political party took nearly 50 percent of theseats in parliamentary elections and is the best-organizedpolitical force in post-uprising Egypt. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh was a long-time reformist member of thegroup, but the Brotherhood expelled him last year when he defiedgroup leaders in order to run for the presidency. Once consideredby some to be a long shot, he is now seen as a front-runner with achance of winning a spot in the runoff when Egyptians go to thepolls next week.
After decades as the main representative of political Islam inEgypt, the Brotherhood is now facing challenges for that role, evenas the organization holds more formal power than at any other pointin its 84-year history. Dr. Aboul Fotouh s candidacy is perhapsthe greatest challenge yet to the Brotherhood s hegemony, and anindication of how Egypt s revolution revealed the rifts within theBrotherhood and opened the field to Islamists outside theorganization. And while the dominance of Islamists in post-Mubarak Egypt hasconcerned some in the West, Aboul Fotouh's candidacy highlights howthis force is not monolithic. Diversity and democratic competitionis growing within the Islamist spectrum.
The Brotherhood was never the only force in political Islam inEgypt, but they were the dominant force. Now this dominance isbeing challenged, says Omar Ashour, a visiting fellow at theBrookings Doha Center. On one side, says Dr. Ashour, are the more conservative Islamists,including the Salafi Nour party and politicized Salafi sheikhs, theformerly jihadist Islamic Group, and young independent Salafiactivists. On the other side is Aboul Fotouh and otherreform-minded Brotherhood members who left the movement to pursuetheir own strain of political Islam after Egypt s uprising.
One of those is Mohamed Afan, a former Brotherhood member who leftafter the uprising last year and helped start the Egyptian Currentparty, a small moderate Islamist party. He now supports AboulFotouh. Egypt s uprising, which displaced the regime thatoppressed Islamists and opened up space for them to participate inpolitics and public life, exposed rifts in the Brotherhood thatwere there all along, he says. Before the revolution I had many comments and many demands forimprovements in the Muslim Brotherhood, and they were alwaysexcused because of the Mubarak regime's suppression, and thesesecurity issues. After the revolution it was clear to me that allthese excuses before the revolution were just excuses, he says.
While he knew he had differences with others in the organization,he was surprised to discover just how wide the gaps were. The surprise here was not just that we are different, but that weare opposite, he says. He was unhappy with the way theBrotherhood formally waded into politics, starting its ownpolitical party and forbidding members from joining other parties.He also disagreed with the group s use of religion in politics,and its view on the application of sharia , or Islamic law. Like Afan, many young members of the Brotherhood left or wereexpelled from the organization last year over demands for greaterinternal democracy, for supporting Aboul Fotouh, or for joining orforming political parties. Aboul Fotouh, a moderate Islamist, was expelled when he announcedhis intention to run for president.
At that time, the Brotherhoodhad pledged not to run a candidate in the presidential race. Aboul Fotouh, a physician with a following among young Brotherhoodmembers, was a proponent of internal reform in the organization.But he was marginalized by more conservative leaders, and in 2009lost his post on the organization s highest executive body. Some Brotherhood leaders have publicly backed his bid for thepresidency, even though the Brotherhood is now fielding its owncandidate, Mohamed Morsi, also considered a top contender for thepresidency. I am Electrical Ceramics writer, reports some information about sterile surgical gowns , lycium barbarum fruit.
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