CAIRO – Islamists and an alliance of liberal revolutionary groups are about to reach an agreement on a set of demands ahead of a major demonstration on Friday, in a bid to defuse expected tensions and confrontations. The liberal alliance held meetings with the Islamists, who have planned a major demonstration tomorrow to demand the application of the Sharia (Islamic Law). This is something that runs counter to liberal demands to create a liberal system of rule in Egypt, after a popular uprising that, ousted Mubarak after 30 years in power. "Friday will be a Friday for unity among all the political powers in this country," said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science and a liberal activist. "It will be an opportunity for the people to prove that they can overcome their differences and unite to achieve one goal.” There are fears the demonstrations planned by the Islamists on Friday could descend into a confrontation with the liberal activists, who already occupy major squares in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The Islamists want no delay in the parliamentary elections. They also want Egypt's current Constitution to be replaced with one that puts into effect an Islamic system, something the liberals and the secularists oppose. This latter group want the parliamentary elections to be postponed, so that the political powers that have appeared since the revolution have time to get themselves noticed on the political stage before the elections. Deep beneath the schism between the liberals and the Islamists is an ideological difference that is expected to haunt nation-building in post-revolution Egypt for years to come. Some people have called this a ‘fight' for Egypt's future. But this fight seems to be polarising the nation, even before any kind of elections have been held. This polarisation is clearly manifested in the language both the liberals and the Islamists use to describe each other. The Islamists describe the liberals and the secularists as an ‘unrepresentative few'; the liberals describe the Islamists as ‘self-centred'. "We need to prove to the whole world that we are able to be one thing," said Essam el-Erian, the deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. "I am sure we can do this," he added during the inauguration of a new party office in Fayyoum, Upper Egypt Wednesday. Even as the Islamists and the liberals talk about grand ideas such as unity, the gap between the two sides seems to be unbridgeable. Assem Abdel-Maguid, the spokesman of the Jamaa Islamiya organisation which is championing the call for Friday's demonstrations, says the liberals need not be rash. "They do not have the right to ask us to give up our desire to apply the Sharia," he told the Gazette in an interview. "They do not have the right to ask us to forget about our desire to hold the elections first.”
