Yasser Borhamy:
No deal with Shafiq; men can beat wives on conditions, says Salafist leader
Salafist cleric Yasser Borhamy denies accusations of a deal with former military candidate Ahmed Shafiq, argues against constitutional articles forbidding men from beating their wives.
Ahram Online , Saturday 29 Sep 2012
Popular Salafist preacher Yasser Borhamy confirmed in a media statement Friday that the meeting which he was blamed for attending, with former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, was part of an initiative made by El-Nour Party to mediate between different groups.
Borhamy said the meeting was arranged because of the rising fear at the time that Shafiq might win. He confirmed that discussions tackled only very specific points, including that violence should not be used against protesters, that the Muslim Brotherhood should not be again isolated, that Copts should not be given any “special position” in society and that Quranic verses should not be removed from school curriculums.
According to Borhamy, El-Nour Party member Ashraf Thabet, who had earlier also come under attack for meeting with Shafiq, was also present during the talks, which were only part of an initiative that also included several other meetings with various concerned parties, like the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Borhamy underlined that no deal had been struck with Shafiq, although he had requested that the Salafists support him in the second round presidential elections. “Everyone knows the Salafist Call supported Morsi,” stated Borhamy.
The Salafist El-Nour Party, of whom Borhamy is known as its “godfather,” has been experiencing deep internal divisions of late. After the party’s Supreme Committee withdrew confidence from Chairman Emad Abdel-Ghafour last Wednesday, Abdel-Ghafour claimed that several committee members, including Thabet, had been negotiating with Shafiq. Borhami also faced similar accusations.
The controversial preacher went on to warn the media Friday in Kafr El-Dawwar that liberals were attempting to remove from the constitution restrictions on gender equality established by Islamic jurisprudence.
“We do not support violence against women, but God allowed a certain form of beating,” said Borhamy, arguing that in Islam the husband is permitted to beat his wife as long as no physical damage or scar would result.
Borhami is known for his controversial statements, including one in which he reiterated his stance on Jews and Christians, describing both as INFIDELS. (like it’s news or a shock that they call us infidels}
“I hold on to my stance that Jews and Christians are infidels, but they do have rights that Allah has given them,” he once stated during a press conference in Dakahliah, north east of Cairo.
Borhamy, the deputy leader of the Salafist Call (Al-Dawaa Al-Salafiyya), was instrumental in forming El-Nour Party in 2011, commonly viewed today as Al-Daawa’s political arm.
El-Nour Party was the second biggest winner in parliamentary elections in November 2011, behind the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).
Borhamy is a professional surgeon who began his preaching activities in the 1970s. He contributed to the establishment of the Salafist Call in Egypt and is a member of the movement’s six-man Trustees Council.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/54254.aspx
I’m pretty sure it was a Salafist from Al Nour who got hold of the trailer movie and doctored it!
Emadeddin Abdel-Ghafour (picture above)
Egypt’s Salafist Nour Party racked by internecine squabbles
Country’s largest Salafist party faces unprecedented rifts over ongoing party elections and recent changes in party’s top echelons
Sherif Tarek, Tuesday 25 Sep 2012
Ongoing disputes within the Nour Party – over both leadership issues and ideology – appear far from settled, leaving the future of Egypt’s largest Salafist party hanging in the balance.
The disagreements, which have recently burst into public view, have led to rifts within the party, the unity of which is now being harshly tested for the first time since its establishment in the wake of last year’s revolution.
The division became apparent when Nour Party Chairman Emadeddin Abdel-Ghafour decided to postpone internal party elections until after Egypt’s yet-to-be-scheduled parliamentary polls. The decision came after the party reportedly received a large number of complaints from its provincial branches regarding the first round of party elections.
However, the Supreme Committee, the party’s highest authority after its General Assembly, challenged the decision by ordering polling to continue on schedule.
“It is the Supreme Committee that decides on the fate of the internal elections, not the party president,” party spokesman Nader Bakar told Ahram Online.
Other leading party members also challenged Abdel-Ghafour’s decision to postpone elections, including Nour Party Secretary-General Galal Morra, who stressed that, according to party regulations, the party president was not entitled to make such a decision.
Speaking to Ahram Online on condition of anonymity, one high-ranking Nour Party member said: “It’s fair to say that between 75 and 80 per cent of the party’s members have come out against Abdel-Ghafour’s decision.”
Meanwhile, the party’s central elections committee has already upheld results of the first round of party polls, conducted earlier this month in 19 governorates. Second-round polling is slated to begin on 28 September in the Cairo, Giza, Qalyoubia, Dakahlia, Gharbia, Sharkia, Matrouh, Port Said and North Sinai governorates.
Abdel-Ghafour, for his part, along with his supporters who collectively call themselves the ‘Reformist Front,’ have reportedly filed a lawsuit aimed at halting the elections for hundreds of administrative posts within the party, including that of secretary-general.
Changes at the top
Appearing to add insult to injury is the reported commissioning of cleric Saied Abdel-Azim to be in charge of proselytising issues within the party, a leading post previously filled by prominent preacher Yasser Borhamy, considered the Nour Party’s godfather.
The move was reportedly made based on the recommendation of the Salafist Calling’s Trustees Council, consisting of the six founders of Egypt’s Salafist Calling who originally launched the Nour Party.
Since replacing Borhamy, Abdel-Azim has unsuccessfully sought to contain party divisions. According to media reports, Borhamy is reluctant to give up his post, thus hindering his successor’s attempts to end the rift and leading to speculation that further division is inevitable.
The high-ranking Nour Party member, for his part, refused to comment on the replacement of Borhamy, but explained the Salafist Calling’s general vision.
“They want those in top management positions to be qualified enough for their respective posts,” he said. “It used to depend on the individual’s popularity rather than on his respective qualifications.”
Without elaborating further, he added: “We can say that up to 80 per cent of the party’s members favour this vision; the disagreement is only over the timing of the application of this vision and not the vision itself.”
Borhamy and Abdel-Azim, both of whom are professional surgeons, began their preaching activities in the 1970s. They both contributed to the establishment of the Salafist Calling in Egypt and are both members of the Salafist Calling’s six-man Trustees Council.
The Salafist Nour Party was founded shortly after last year’s Tahrir Square uprising that led to the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak, whose regime had persecuted Islamist activists for decades.
The party rose to prominence in last winter’s parliamentary elections, when it secured the second largest number of seats in the People’s Assembly – the lower house of Egypt’s parliament – after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/53736/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-Salafist-Nour-Party-racked-by-internecine-s.aspx
Not much difference between any of them mentioned in the article. They’re all Salafists. One of them got the trailer movie video and dubbed the words. Which one was it...