[antimedia] antimedia: Is the MidEast finally waking up....

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Posted by antimedia:
Is the MidEast finally waking up....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1176664479.shtml


   ....to [1]the dangers of jihad?

     In recent months, as the Egyptian regime has been taking action
     against the Muslim Brotherhood, various spokesmen for Egypt's
     religious establishment - the sheikh of Al-Azhar, the Mufti of
     Egypt, Egypt's minister of religious endowments, and the
     vice-president of Al-Azhar University - have unanimously rejected
     the concept of a religious state headed by clerics, saying that
     this concept is incompatible with the principles of Islam. They
     have argued that Islam has from its outset decreed that there
     should be a civil democratic state with man-made laws, and that
     these laws may be based on Muslim religious law.
     Columnists in the Egyptian government press also expressed
     objections to a state headed by clerics. Gaber 'Asfour, lecturer at
     Al-Azhar University's faculty of literature and head of Egypt's
     Supreme Cultural Council, even depicted a cleric-led state as the
     tyrannical state longed for by Islamists, which would abolish civil
     liberties and endanger all humanity with jihad and a new form of
     Nazism.
     This firm public statement by the Egyptian establishment against
     the idea of a state headed by clerics is apparently driven by
     several developments in Egypt and in the region. The first of these
     is the Egyptian regime's fear of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in
     Egypt gaining strength. For several months now, the regime has been
     engaged in a campaign against the movement, including extensive
     arrests and interrogations, shutting down the places of business,
     publishing houses, newspapers, and websites of those close to the
     movement, and engaging in an anti-Muslim Brotherhood media
     campaign. [1]
     Further, due to the Egyptian regime's wish to show the West, and
     particularly the U.S., that it is in the midst of processes of
     reform and democratization, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
     declared constitutional reform, which was brought to a referendum
     on March 26, 2007 and passed by a large majority. One of the
     amendments that was approved was a ban on religion-based political
     activity, along with declarations that religion and politics must
     be separated. [2] With this, Egypt is looking to dispel any image
     it may have as a regime opposed to authentic movements, and to show
     that its fight against the Muslim Brotherhood is a fight for
     liberal civic values.
     The Egyptian regime is likewise seeking to end the debate that has
     been going on in Egyptian society in recent weeks, over Article 2
     of the Egyptian constitution, which defines Islam as the state
     religion and shari'a as the main source of legislation, and was not
     included in the referendum. The country's Coptic Christian
     community and also parts of the intellectual community are in favor
     of amending Article 2, but the regime has clarified that Article 2
     will remain as is. The regime also stressed that this does not mean
     that Egypt is either a religious state or a secular state, but a
     democratic civil state that respects all its citizens and their
     religion, as Islam commands.

   Separation of church and state in Egypt? I don't know about you, but I
   find that stunning.
   There's still a long way to go, but if these reforms continue to
   spread, we could see Iran and Saudi Arabia increasingly isolated (and
   looked down upon) by the more liberal states surrounding them.

References

   1. http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=IA34107