Several top religious authorities and the Azhar lashed out at the candidacy of Dr. Muhammad Yusrī Ibrāhīm, Secretary General for the general association for rights and reformation, as Minister of Religious Endowments (Awqāf).
Sufī orders called on Dr. Muhammad Mursī, President of the Republic, to withdraw his decision, meanwhile, the Azhar rejected Salafists’ control over mosques. On the other hand, al-Jamā’ah al-Islāmīyah stressed the right of the president to choose the ministers he wants free of guidance.
Sources close to Dr. Ahmad al-Tayīb, Grand Shaykh of the Azhar, said that sūfī leaders gave assurances of their support for al-Tayīb if he announced his rejection of Yusrī.
Muhammad ‘Abd al-Khāliq al-Shabrāwī, Shaykh of the sufī al-Shabrāwīyah order, said that a salafī appointment in the Ministry of Awqāf would be a disaster and could lead to bloodshed between sūfī orders and salafīyah.
“Shrines would not be protected in the hands of a salafī,” said al-Shabrāwī.
Jābir Qāsim, Deputy of the general headquarters of sūfī orders, said that the Muslim Brotherhood wants to restrict and marginalize the Azhar and they need to be stopped by moderate Islamic movements. [Usāmah al-Mahdī, Haytham al-Sharqāwī, Khālid Kāmil, Shirīf al-Dawākhlī and ‘Amr Khālid, al-Misrī al-Yawm, July 31, p. 5] Read original text in Arabic
Dr. Yāsir ‘Alī, presidential spokesman, said that the presidential team that would assist the President was finalized and will be announced on Thursday, August 2, 2012.
