New Egyptian Law On Political Parties Angers Muslim Clerics

Top Egyptian clerics are speaking out against a new law on political parties that no longer requires party platforms to be consistent with Sharia (Islamic law). A member of the Parliament's religious affairs committee says that the legislation was never reviewed by his committee. A report today in Egypt Election Daily News quotes Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, head of Al Azhar mosque as saying that several members of the Academy of Islamic Scholars, a consultative body affiliated to the Al Azhar mosque, wanted to send Parliament a memorandum on the issue. “However, I refused, saying that we did not want to get into problems with the government and parliament.”