“The delicate and critical circumstances through which the country is passing, the threat of the collapse of the state on which some parties at home and abroad depended, and the need to prioritise the welfare of the nation over the welfare of the group and the party are what propelled the Nour Party to agree to the roadmap and then to agree to participate in the Committee of Fifty,” Yasser Burhami, vice president of the Salafist Calling, said recently. The Nour Party is the political wing of this ultraconservative Islamist organisation. But the situation is not as clear-cut as the Salafist official would have us believe. The Salafist Calling has other, undeclared reasons for signing onto the roadmap. It wavered over whether or not to join the committee charged with amending the 2012 constitution, suggesting its resolve — certainly with regard to the reasons Burhami did mention — was not as resolute as he makes out. What is clear is that the organisation and its political party are struggling for political survival and this is causing them some internal confusion. Bassam Al-Zarka's withdrawal last week from the Committee of Fifty, ostensibly due to health reasons, and his replacement by another Nour Party official, Mohamed Ibrahim Mansour, is one product of this confusion. Burhami was far from reserved in his criticisms of the amendment proposals being deliberated by the Committee of Fifty. The Egyptians who took to the streets on 30 June did not demand the “downfall” of the constitution, he said. He also objected to the composition of the committee which he claimed comprised an “absolute majority” of people with political and ideological affiliations that were known to be “extremist liberal” or “extremist leftist” and intensely hostile to everything connected with the Islamist trend. He also criticised the 10-man technical committee which had reviewed the 2012 constitution and passed on recommendations to the Committee of Fifty for suggesting Article 4 — on Al-Azhar — and Article 81 be amended to eliminate restrictions on the exercise of rights and freedoms. “I do wonder if they want to destroy or neglect components of the state and society in exchange for rights and freedoms that are vaguely worded and applied,” he remarked. The Salafi leader was hardly moderate in his language. Some of the committee's decisions, he said, were “an attempt to sanction orgies as practised in the rituals of Satan worshippers as occurred during the Hosni Mubarak era”. “We are not as remote from such profligacy as some would claim,” he added. Al-Zarka maintains that the Committee of Fifty is straying from its designated task as stipulated in the roadmap and the constitutional declaration issued by the interim president. He argues that its role should be restricted to discussing amendment proposals submitted to it by the Committee of Ten. That the larger body is reviewing the 2012 constitution “article by article” is a clear sign it is seeking to rewrite the entire constitution and then present the novel draft as an amendment. Yet the people doing this, he complains, were not elected and have no popular mandate. The list of his objections continues. He did not approve the addition of the word “civil” as an attribute of the state. He objected to the proposal calling for replacing “Christian and Jewish Egyptians” with “non-Muslim Egyptians” in Article 3 so as to read: “The canonical principles of non-Muslim Egyptians are the main source of legislation for their personal status laws, religious affairs, and the selection of their spiritual leaders.” “This implies accepting religions other than the divinely revealed religions, such as Bahaai, Qadiani, Buddhism and even Satan worship,” he warned. Nour Party officials have often stated that they would not have taken part in the Committee of Fifty had they not felt obliged to protect what they refer to as “Islamic identity” articles (articles 2, 4, 81 and 219). They are particularly keen on the last which delimits Article 2, setting perimeters for the “principles of Islamic Sharia” which are the main source of legislation. Article 219 narrows down the principles of Islamic Sharia to the rules, principles and sources of Islamic jurisprudence accepted by Sunni doctrines and the Sunni community. While the Nour Party's statements in defence of Islamic identity are intended to give the impression that it is more vigilant over Egyptians' religious identity than others and is in the vanguard of the defence of Islam which is being attacked by its enemies, many believe its position is mere posturing. The party, they say, has concocted an imaginary and needless battle. The Nour Party's new representative on the Committee of 50, Mansour, has reiterated his party's commitment to the principles agreed upon in the sessions of the Constituent Assembly last year. In a gesture of flexibility he said that his party had no objection to negotiating over the status of Article 2 pertaining to the identity of the state. He explained that negotiations would focus on three proposals to resolve problems with the article. These would be to either strike out the word “principles”, introduce wording to define it, or replace it with another word. In a statement to the press issued as he attended his first session of the Constitutional Amendment Committee he said that political forces had approved articles 2, 3, 4 and 219 last year and that “we ask no more than adherence to what has already been agreed upon.” Mansour stressed that his party was not solely concerned with Article 219. “The Nour Party has a vision regarding all the articles of the constitution,” he said. This includes a “complete concept” with regards to constitutional articles pertaining to the Armed Forces which he will submit to the committee during forthcoming sessions. Yet it is on its championing of the so-called Islamic identity articles that the Nour Party is campaigning outside the Committee of Fifty. It has launched a “Sharia Law and the Constitution” campaign. On its Facebook page the campaign organisers state that their aim is to raise popular awareness of the need to incorporate an Islamic frame of reference into the constitution and that they will attempt to mobilise the public into voting in favour or against the constitution when it is put to a referendum solely on this issue. According to the campaign, six articles — 2, 11, 43, 44, 81 and 219 — must be retained as they stand in the 2012 constitution. Vice President of the Salafist Calling Burhami, addressing a seminar in Alexandria earlier this week, said he would call on people to vote no in the constitutional referendum if the Islamic identity articles are omitted in the amended version of the 2012 constitution. According to sources in the Nour Party the campaign will extend beyond the Internet to include rallies, marches and the distribution of leaflets explaining the party's position on the constitutional articles. A statement issued by the party's branch in Fayoum made it clear the campaign was now active. During a conference held in the town of Sinourus under the banner “Know your Constitution”, the secretary of the local branch of the Nour Party spoke of the media's role in steering public opinion and the limited capacities of the Islamist media compared to its opponents. Mainstream media, he said, invests all its energy in distorting the image of Islamists and casting suspicion on Islamic Sharia. Many political analysts argue that the Nour Party's determination to turn the “Islamic identity” articles into its sole bone of contention is part of its strategy to position itself as the Islamist alternative after the collapse Muslim Brotherhood. By taking part in the roadmap and the Committee of Fifty, the Nour Party presents itself as the responsible face of the Islamist trend. Following the Muslim Brotherhood's failure in government it is trying to drive home the idea that Islamists should not be lumped together. It is significant that Nour Party spokesmen have said the party will not field a candidate in the forthcoming presidential elections, an oblique reference to the Muslim Brotherhood's reversal of its original decision not to field a candidate which would not be lost on those who might be inclined to support the Salafis. But the Nour Party is not speaking to a single constituency. It is, as analysts note, also addressing Saudi Arabia, the nation with which the Salafist trend is most closely connected and which solidly supports Egypt's post-30 June dispensation. Even so, if the articles pertaining to Islamic identity are abolished or amended in ways not to the Nour Party's liking it will undoubtedly place its energies behind a drive to drum up a no vote in the referendum on the constitution. The party has invested all its political stock in posing as the antithesis to the “secularists” and the foremost protector and defender of Islam in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities are not keen to alienate the only Islamist representative that remains in the political process. The authorities, and the political forces that are represented on the Committee of Fifty, will most likely work to ensure the continued presence of the Nour Party's representative until the constitution is completed.
