It was originally planned that Mohamed ElBaradei would perform the Friday prayer at Shiekh Hassaan Mosque during his visit to Mansoura. That mosque, large enough to accommodate more than 3000 visitors, was replaced at the last minute with el-Nour Mosque, which hardly accommodates 500 people. It was said ElBaradei would be safer in that smaller, more easily secured mosque. However, the real motive behind that change of plans was soon revealed as the mosque preacher started delivering his Friday sermon. The frequent mosque visitors were surprised to see a new preacher at the mosque. The new preacher focused on matters not ordinarily discussed in sermons. Here are some of the aspects that most caught the visitors' attention: 1) The preacher's repetitive calls to "obey those in charge," citing the Quran verse "O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you." (4:59) 2) The preacher's keenness to commend Mubarak for his efforts to serve Islam and Muslims, saying that the president has managed to make Cairo into a city "of no less significance" than Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. 3) The preacher's prayers for Mubarak's health and for "his presidency to continue in order that peace, security and stability prevail." This is a political wish that shouldn't have been uttered by a preacher during a religious sermon. Dozens of the mosque's visitors were annoyed with the preacher's insistence on "obedience to those in charge" to the extent that they went outside the mosque and waited until the call to prayer was raised. According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, security apparatuses assigned that particular preacher to deliver the sermon instead of the regular preacher. Curiously, the plan to have the preacher replaced with another flatly contradicts the state's declared policy which advocates against exploiting religion to serve political ends--the very same pretext it uses to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood. What the security apparatus did in Mansoura grossly undermines the regime's credibility. The regime's calls against abusing religion to serve political objectives would have been acceptable had they been addressed to everyone indiscriminately. Those calls, one can conclude, are therefore meant to tighten the regime's grip on power. Those behaviors will damage whatever has remained of the credibility of official religious institutions, including Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Enowments) and open wide the door to extremist ideas. For this, the entire Egyptian nation will pay dearly. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
