CAIRO: The Egyptian government continued its series of arrests of members of the Quranist movement in Egypt as Ahmed Sobhy Mansour, leader of Ahl Al-Quran group, currently taking refuge in the United States, was added to the list of Quranists charged with contempt for religion, the press reported. The movement is a non-political one whose members believe that Muslims should rely solely on the Quran as a frame of reference, as it is the most reliable source that comes straight from God, and not follow Prophet Mohammed's (PBUH) sunnah (example revealed in his sayings). But these ideas are not popular within religious circles. There is no such thing as Quranists in Islam. Whoever denies the sunnah is an infidel, Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour, former deputy of Al-Azhar and member of the Islamic Research Center told The Daily Star Egypt. The sunnah is a fundamental aspect of Islam. According to Ahl Al-Quran s website, the group is committed to spreading a vision of Islam that is true to the letter and spirit of the Quran and that focuses on the consistency between the word of God and democracy and human rights. Other alleged members of the Quranist movement include Ahmed Dahmash, Abdel Hamid Abdel Rahman, Ahmed Sayed, Adellatif Mohamed Saied and Amr Tharwat a researcher at Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies (ICDS). Tharwat is an employee at the center who works in programs and information, and he s been accused of something that we have no idea about, said Ahmed Rezk, a businessman and member of the board of trustees at ICDS. We ve hired lawyers in order to figure out if the case has something to do with the center itself. Hossam Bahgat, president of Egyptian Initiative of Personal Rights, said that it is still too soon to figure out if the trial is a violation of human rights because they have not been charged yet. The organization sent a lawyer to attend the court sessions in order to note any type of violation, he added. The questions being asked are solely based on the detainees personal belief system, which proves that they have been captured because of their religious ideas, said Bahgat. He added that this violates the Egyptian constitution and a host of other laws and regulations. Most of these cases are inspired by the emergency law, which gives the government free reign to arrest anyone it deems a threat to national security, said lawyer Ahmed Sayed. Civilians are arrested and their homes are broken into despite the false charges. Most cases don t even reach the courts but instead the charges are renewed and they issue arrest warrants without a case, added Sayed. The public prosecutor's office could not be reached for comment.
