For the scholar, following the example of Muhammad in Medina, the Constitution should be the result of negotiations and consensus among all groups of the population, not imposed by a referendum. For all this, Islam must apologize to the Christians. The risk of civil war in Egypt is a "Zionist plan" that will produce only contempt for Islam, branded as "backward" and "stupid."

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) - The Constitution enacted in Egypt by President Mohamed Morsi as a "new dawn" for the country is an offense to Islam, it is a "reckless and misleading" step for which Muslims should "apologize to Christians" and other groups in Egyptian society. The same referendum on the constitution is contrary to Sunni Islam and totally "without wisdom." This heavy judgment against the policy of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt comes from an international authority on Islam, Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein, well known for his attempts to create a dialogue with the Muslim religion and the modern world. Hosein, 72, was born in Trinidad and lived a long time in the United States, then in Pakistan and now lives and works in Kuala Lumpur. His speech on the Egyptian Constitution was posted on Youtube on 23 December.

His heavy judgments against the Egyptian leadership - accused of betraying Islam - emerge exactly as the Morsi government claims that the referendum was a success and that the new Constitution is supported by 63% of voters.

Imran Nazar Hosein bluntly states that the method by which it was launched the Egyptian Constitution is contrary to the practice of Islam, the sunna. He admits that a constitution is necessary in a society when there are "groups of people", when society is not "uniform." But the Constitution should be drafted with a "patient negotiation" and discussion with different social groups.

To give strength to his argument, he uses the example of the way in which Muhammad produced the agreement between the pagan and Jewish tribes that existed in Medina. "He - says the sheikh - spent seven months patiently weaving together negotiations with each group." Thus he condemns the Constituent Assembly - which excluded Christians, secularists and even representatives of Al-Azhar - that drafted the Egyptian constitution. "Muhammad negotiated consent ... You can not have a constitution without consent, you can not have a constitution with a referendum or by voting."

To this he adds that we must "apologize to the Christians of Egypt" because the way in which the Muslim Brotherhood has acted is "careless and misleading."

Even the application of Sharia law in a pluralistic society (as the Egyptian government aims to do) is not "a wise choice", but will be "an embarrassment [for Islam]" and "problematic." According to the sheikh Sharia law should be applied, but in parallel, keeping all civil laws and Muslims must demonstrate in practice that "sharia is superior" to any legislation by convincing the people that Shariah better solves economic and social problems.

But the heaviest blow to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood comes when Sheikh Hosein accuses them of dividing the Egyptian population and laying the foundations for a "civil war."

For Hosein there is a "Zionist plan" that is facilitating the power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to split the country and make it an example of the failure of Islam, so that everyone can say, "This is Islam and this is what it is doing", revealing its "stupidity "," backwardness "," lack of wisdom ".

During his speech in the video, Imran Nazar Hosein apologized several times to the Egyptian leadership, hoping that they "are not offended or wounded" by his words, but every time he also reiterates that their attitude is "careless and misleading" creating "embarrassment" for Islam and is not according to the sunna.

 

• egypt
• malaysia
• sunna
• islam
• referendum
• constitution
• morsi