Is Alexandria deciding the future of Muslim political religious groups in the Middle East today!?

By: Alaa Bayoumi

The first district in Alexandria is witnessing today a run off battle between Abdel-Moneim El-Shahat, from the Salafi AlNour Party, and Hosni Dewidar, from the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

This could look like another run off between two candidates in the first round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections, where 52 individual seats are still up from grab. But, it is not. And, if we look carefully we will find an election battle watched by many Egyptians, Arabs, and those interested in the future of Muslim political religious groups in the Middle East.  

The Salafi candidate, Abdel-Moneim El-Shahat last week raised hackles when he accused the late Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel prize winner, of "inciting promiscuity, prostitution and atheism." He is a religious scholar and one of the top leaders of the Salafi movement in Egypt, who came second after the Muslim Brotherhood.

Like many of the Salafi candidates, El-Shahat has little political history, and is hardly known to Egyptians and the world alike. He comes from a clear religious scholarship background and he has been leading a tough political religious rhetoric since the revolution.

But, he is being confronting by a heavy weight Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Hosni Dewidar. And, this is not the only confrontations between Salafis and the MB’s FJParty today. the FJParty is competing over 47 seats and according to some reports AlNour is competing over 25. This means in about 20 seats that MB will have to confront and defeat Salafi candidates.  

Here is an Arabic online video being circulated to tell Egyptian voters why they should chose Dewidar over El-Shahat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go0_I-34xnY&feature=share

The FJParty candidates come mainly from professional backgrounds, Physicians, Engineers, and lawyers. They also have a history in political activism as leaders of labor unions and former parliament members. They emphasize a more moderate version of Muslim political religious groups and activism in Egypt. And, they made it clear after their victory in the first round of Egyptian elections that they will not impose Islamic values.

Today, the Muslim political religious groups are confronting each other in very important and breathtaking political battles, throughout the country, that Egyptians and the world are watching for. It is a battle between two versions of Muslim political religious groups and their future in Egypt and may be in the region as both groups have many political sympathizers throughout the Middle East.