MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By Kristen Chick – “The deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo this weekend have heightened already growing concern about the role of fundamentalist Muslims known as Salafis in post-revolution Egypt…

‘They don’t want Christians in Egypt. They want an Islamic state,’ said a woman who gave her name as Mona at a Christian protest Monday against the weekend violence…

They practice what they believe to be the purest form of Islam, and are primarily concerned with living their lives according to such teaching, and not with politics, says Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamist groups at the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. He describes Egyptian Salafis as ‘in this middle place between jihadists like Osama bin Laden and political Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood.’

… Al Qaeda’s members follow a form of Salafism, but Egyptian Salafi clerics say that unlike the global terrorist group they have renounced violence. Yet Salafi clerics on television have railed hatefully against Christianity, and in March a Christian man in Qena said Salafists cut off his ear after accusing him of renting an apartment to a prostitute.”  Read more.

Military-Salafi relations in Egypt raise questions – “As sectarian violence blamed on hard-line Salafi Muslims continues to rise, many are voicing sharp criticism of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and its transitional cabinet, accusing them of failing to apply the law so far as radicals are concerned.” Read more.