"The ulema of the nation led by Shaykh Muhammad Hassān, Dr. Yāsir Burhāmī, the deputy leader of the Salafī Da'wah (Call) Group, and Engineer 'Abd al-Mun'im al-Shahāt, the group's spokesman, have said that voting for al-Nūr is a religious duty. These are the scholars of the nation and it is incumbent on everyone to obey them," the leaflet read.
Meanwhile, Dr. Muhammad Sa'īd, the media spokesman for al-Nūr, the political entity of the Salafī Da'wah Group, denied that the party has changed its positions regarding Israel.
"Dr. Yusrī Hammād, the spokesman for the party, had received a phone contact from an announcer, who revealed his Iraqi nationality but did not say where he works. Like many other correspondents, the announcer asked Hammād a few questions, which the al-Nūr spokesman answered to," said Sa'īd.
He noted that al-Nūr's position as far as the "Zionist entity" has always been firm and will never change. [Muhammad Khayāl,Al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Dec. 22, p. 3] Read the original text in Arabic
Hammād, for his part, said that the contact was not with the Israeli radio but with an Iraqi working as a correspondent for it. [Al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 22, p. 3] Read the original text in Arabic
"What Israel has done was just a test balloon for the Salafists who achieved success in the second phase of the People's Assembly elections as he obtained more than 30% of the votes," said Hammād. [Al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 22, p. 3] Read the original text in Arabic
He, however, pledged that the group would respect the peace treaty with Israel in an unprecedented interview with an Israeli radio station. [The Egyptian Gazette, Dec. 22, p. 1] Read English text from its source
"We are not against the (1979 peace) agreement, but we say that Egypt is committed to the agreements signed by the previous governments," Hammād said in a telephone interview with Israel's army radio, in which he spoke in Arabic. [The Egyptian Gazette, Dec. 22, p. 1] Read English text from its source
Meanwhile, al-Jamā'ah al-Islāmīyah (Islamic Group) said it supports brining forward the time for presidential elections in accordance with a national accordance.
"The Jamā'ah is in favor of any proposal that would help speed up power transfer to an elected civil government, which should be a way out of the crisis Egypt is going through at present," said Tāriq al-Zumur, a member of the Jamā'ah's Shūrá Council and a leading member of the Jamā'ah's Building and Development Party [Author not mentioned, Al-Akhbār, Dec. 22, p. 6] Read original text in Arabic
The Muslim Brotherhood and the Jamā'ah announced that strongly-worded statements in which they announced that they were not planning to participate in the "Honor-Restoring Friday" protests.
The two Islamist groups called for calm and accelerate the democratic march in order to transfer power from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to an elected civil government. [Usmah al-Sa'īd, Muhammad al-Fiqī and Ahmad Dā'ūd, Al-Akhbār, Dec. 22, p. 9] Read original text in Arabic
On the other hand, Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III said that the church is committed to its position rejecting any interference in political affairs or commenting on any political developments.
Pope Shenouda, during his Wednesday's weekly sermon at the Saint Mark Cathedral, his first ever since he returned home from a treatment trip in the United States, apologized for not declining to answer questions asking for comments on the parliamentary elections and their results. [Ashraf Sādiq, Al-Ahrām, Dec. 22, p. 8] Read original text in Arabic
Al-Dustūr has learnt that clergymen called inside the churches on the Christian residents in the area of Kafr Tuhurmus, Giza governorate, to vote for the candidate of the Egyptian Bloc, a coalition of liberal parties, including the Free Egyptian Party, founded by Coptic tycoon Najīb Sawirus. The Bloc's candidate is vying against the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate. The church also advised the Christian voters to support the Brotherhood's candidate against the Salafī contender. [Hānī Samīr, Al-Dustūr, Dec. 22, p. 5] Read original text in Arabic
Coptic sources revealed that relations between Pope Shenouda and Coptic billionaire Najīb Sawirus are growing tense as the pope declined to return home from his treatment trip in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, the United States, aboard Sawirus' plane as usual and his insistence to return aboard an EgyptAir flight, which he also used to go to the U.S. this time.
The relations are not bad yet but it somehow eroded as financial support furnished by Sawirus to the church has been reduced, in addition to Sawirus' rejection of having dialogue with the Islamist movements in general, while the church leaders are inclined to holding a dialogue with the moderate Islamist groups, according to the source. [Ahmad Habīb, Al-Hurīyah wal-'Adālah, Dec. 22, p. 1] Read original text in Arabic
The Copts without Restrictions movement appealed to leading Coptic Church clergymen all over Egypt and abroad that the Eastern Christmas celebrations would be confined to holding the mass rituals without any jubilant appearances.
The movement also called on the church to avoid inviting any government or military officials and refrain from accepting Christmas congratulations in observance of respect for the souls of people killed in the Two Saints Church, Maspero, Tahrīr Square and al-Qasr al-'Aynī incidents. [Majdī Fikrī, Hānī Samīr and Nūrhān Husayn, Al-Dustūr, Dec. 22, p. 1] Read original text in Arabic
On the other hand, clashes erupted between supports of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafī al-Nūr Party in Beni Suef as a "battle of fliers" was reported in the runoffs round. [Author not mentioned, Al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 22, p. 1] Read the original text in Arabic
Shaykh Yāsir Burhāmī, deputy leader of the Salafī Da'wah Group, the parent organization of al-Nūr Party, said that Salafists must not vote for the Democratic Alliance led by the Muslim Brotherhood's FJP because "it includes liberal and secular parties."
"One has to choose between those who are going to support the faith and maintain the sharī'ah and supporters of the liberals and seculars who do not adopt the issue of implementing the law of Allah," Burhāmī said in reply to a question on the Sawt al-Salaf (Voice of the Salafīs) website. [Hamdī Dabash and Hānī al-Wazīrī, Al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 22, p. 5] Read the original text in Arabic
Salafīs have handed out fliers and posters terming Muhammad 'Abd al-Mun'im al-Sāwī, the former culture minister and founder of the al-Sāwī Culture Wheel in the area of Shaykh Zāyīd in the 6th of October City, where the runoff for the second round of the parliamentary elections was taking place, as "secular liberal who does not support the sharī'ah". [Hudá Rashwān, Al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 22, p. 5] Read the original text in Arabic
Also, in front of the Imbābah district ballot stations, fliers were handed out against 'Amr al-Shobakī terming him as "the candidate of the church who is supported by the Egyptian Bloc and Coptic businessman Najīb Sawirus".
The leaflets did not carry signatures or emblems of certain political party but Shobakī described them as "cheap propaganda by the Muslim Brotherhood". [Ibtisām Ta'lab, Ihāb al-Fawlī and Ihāb al-Jinaydī, Al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 22, p. 5] Read the original text in Arabic
In an opinion piece by al-Hurīyah wal-'Adālah, the mouthpiece of the FJP, Karīm Muhyī al-Dīn, in a column titled The Farce of Sectarian Liberalism, writes that it was despicable to trick the simple citizens by the use of pictures of clerics to blackmail them into voting for parties those clerics do not belong to let alone support.
Likewise, those recent elections have disclosed a unique phenomenon, which is called Sectarian Liberalism, a 100% locally-made one that has no match in the countries of liberal origin.
Some sectarian businessmen have allied with some priests on one hand and some Muslim seculars on the other in order to charge the sectarian batteries of Christian citizens and convince them to vote for the Egyptian Bloc. [Karīm Muhyī al-Dīn, Al-Hurīyah wal-'Adālah, Dec. 22, p. 11] Read original text in Arabic
