The Salafist Al-Nour Party was once again the target of attacks from other Islamist parties after last week's announcement it would back Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in the presidential elections. Al-Sisi, who sided against Mohamed Morsi after popular demonstrations demanded his ouster on 30 June, is public enemy number one as far as the majority of Islamic parties are concerned. They hold him responsible for the deaths of hundreds of their supporters in clashes with the army and police over the past 10 months. Al-Nour, which adheres to Quranic interpretations from the first 300 years of the Holy Book, emerged in the 2012 parliamentary elections as the second largest party. As the political wing of the Alexandria-based Al-Daawa Al-Salafiya group, it may have shared with the Muslim Brotherhood aspirations for an Islamic state, but there were longstanding differences in the two organisations' religious and political views. Being part of the Salafist movement, says Al-Nour Party President Younes Makhyoun, means prioritising the bringing up of the Muslim individual and preaching Islam over getting involved in political conflicts. “We exert every effort to avoid bloodshed, and when the choice is between politics and saving Muslim blood and maintaining daawa we opt for the latter because we believe Muslim blood is sacred,” says Makhyoun, 59, a dentist who has been preaching for 40 years in his hometown of Abu Homs, near Alexandria. It is a position that has led other Islamist groups to charge that the Salafists always favour whoever is in power, be it former president Hosni Mubarak, Brotherhood president Morsi or the favourite to win this month's presidential elections, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. The Nour Party denies the charge, insisting it remains loyal to its principles of preserving traditional Islam. In the lead up to the 30 June protests against Morsi, Al-Nour tried to stand on the middle ground: on one hand it called upon the Brotherhood to make major concessions to its secular opponents and agree to share power, on the other it voiced objections to Morsi's forced removal. Yet when Morsi's removal became a reality after millions of Egyptians took to the streets on 30 June, Al-Nour sided with the new order. It was represented at 3 July meeting during which Al-Sisi announced the appointment of an interim president until new elections could be held. In the aftermath of Morsi's ouster Makhyoun and other senior party figures attempted, and failed, to mediate between the Brotherhood and the army. While Brotherhood supporters dub Al-Nour as “traitors” who are unrepresentative of the Salafist movement, especially Salafi groups that believe in Jihad, Makhyoun accuses Brotherhood leaders of courting a conflict in which many were killed not for the sake of Islam but to pursue the Brotherhood's own political goals. Following are extracts from an interview with Al-Nour President Younes Makhyoun: Why did you decide to support former Defence Minister Al-Sisi as president? We first determined the biggest dangers Egypt is facing. We found the greatest danger was the threat the country would be divided which would lead to its collapse. The second danger was to end up as a failed state because we had a president with no experience of running its institutions. We can no longer afford trial and error. Comparing Al-Sisi and [Hamdeen] Sabahi we concluded that Al-Sisi is more capable of confronting these two dangers. The institutions of the state will be more responsive to Al-Sisi who, as a former military intelligence chief and defence minister, is no stranger to them. Do you really think Egypt faces the prospect of being divided? I'm not speaking about illusions but real dangers. There is a plot to divide the entire region. It has succeeded in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Sudan. We have given information to the authorities pertaining to 17 camps established in Libya by Jihadi and Takfiri groups determined to launch attacks against Egypt. They are setting up an army loyal to Al-Qaeda, similar to that of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, calling it the Islamic State in Libya and Egypt. They want to control Libya and use it as a base to attack Egypt. The threat of dividing the countries of the region is real. The only country that remains united in facing the Israeli entity right now is Egypt. These camps are being financed to destabilise Egypt and divide it as part of the Zionist-American project to assure Israeli control over the new Middle East. We felt that Al-Sisi was the only candidate able to protect Egypt from these dangers. But there are those who fear that Sisi will deepen divisions in the country because the Brotherhood will never accept him as president. I think the two candidates are on equal footing from this perspective. The Brotherhood strongly opposes Sabahi and sees him as someone who provided legitimacy for what they describe as the coup. Sabahi also demanded Morsi's removal when he was in opposition under the umbrella of the National Salvation Front (NSF). When Al-Nour was negotiating with the NSF Sabahi was among the first to call for early presidential elections. Other leaders seemed willing to give Morsi more time. And like Al-Sisi he has said he will not allow for the existence of the Brotherhood or their political party if he became president. We have based our position on the two great dangers we have identified. We cannot afford to see the chaos all around continue. There are a lot of weapons in the country that came from Libya and Sudan. They are mainly in the hands of terrorist groups and gangsters. If the state collapses Egypt will fall into their hands. We will become like Libya and Syria. Why didn't Al-Nour present its own candidate for president? We decided in the aftermath of 25 January, 2011 that an Islamist presidential candidate would only divide Egyptians. We see no reason to change that position now. We don't need a president ruling Egypt in the name of any ideology. We need someone who can unite Egyptians. Are you also worried that the popularity of Islamists has declined? Of course it has. The failures of the Brotherhood negatively impacted the entire Islamist current, including Al-Nour. But we shouldn't be held responsible for those mistakes. We did not take part in the 30 June demonstrations. We decided not to support either side. Sometimes to be neutral is a positive position. When opposition to the Brotherhood increased, and the Tamarod movement emerged calling for early elections, we sat with the Brotherhood and asked them to carry out reforms. They chose another path, opting to face the masses that came out on 30 June with masses from their own side. When they asked us to take part in their first large demonstration on 21 June we refused. We wanted solutions, not masses against masses. We also felt a president elected by the ballot box should only be replaced by the ballot box. Parliamentary elections were coming up and we were hoping to have a prime minister who would balance the powers of the president. Neither side listened to us. The masses occupied the streets. We didn't want to take part in street protests because we feared blood would be spilled, and that's something we reject vehemently. Blood — the blood of any Egyptian — is sacred in Islam. Our position is that we do not take part in any event that could lead to bloodshed. After people came out in large numbers on 30 June we decided to participate in the announcement of the 3 July Road Map in order to preserve the country. To side with the Brotherhood would have led to a civil war with the police and army. We also refused Brotherhood attempts to portray the conflict as one between Islamists and those opposing Islam. It was a purely political conflict all along. Some claim your popularity, particularly among Islamists, has deteriorated sharply because of your stands. I have been a member of the Salafist movement for 40 years. We care most for the teaching of religion, bringing up the Muslim individual and strengthening his belief. The Brotherhood, meanwhile, paid more attention to organisational aspects and this came at the expense of religious teaching and daawa. They also demand allegiance to their leader — baya'a — obedience and discipline. In the Salafist movement we don't believe in baya'a. Because of the Brotherhood's beliefs some disastrous decisions were taken but it was impossible to fix them because no-one can oppose the leadership. This is very dangerous. It is also difficult to accept having a state within a state, in which followers promise loyalty to their own leader. In our opinion loyalty, or baya'a, should be for the Imam or the Khalifa, not the leader of a group within a specific country. Our grassroots remain convinced of our decisions. People have seen Al-Nour usually turns out to be correct, especially in comparison to the disastrous decisions taken by the Brotherhood and those who support them. Brotherhood leaders are betting on the collapse of the state and its division, though there is nothing to gain from that. On the contrary, Brotherhood members have been dying daily, daawa has stopped and their own party has practically ceased to exist. They could have done much better had they accepted to keep the party and stuck to daawa. Their choices have led them to a dead end. When we took our decision to back the 3 July Road Map it was because we decided to side with the people and public interest. This decision was difficult to accept, especially among the young who are more emotional and were influenced by the Brotherhood's propaganda that they were fighting against the exclusion of religion and Islam. We faced very strong pressure to take part in the Rabaa sit in. We refused because we are convinced with our stands. Yet it seems many younger Salafists disagree with Al-Nour's position… There is a more general problem with the young. They feel frustrated and unwilling to take part in politics anymore. People expected a lot after the 25 January Revolution, which was spearheaded by the young. They received one shock after the other, and nothing was achieved. Young people were marginalised again and they lost hope that they could fulfill their dreams. This is one of the challenges that will face the next president, how to foster hope among the young people who comprise 60 per cent of the population. We want a new formula. There has to be a new national project that creates hope among the people. We have to know the resources of this country and how we can compete. Perhaps our biggest treasure is our young people but there has to be a project and a vision that gives them hope.
