A top Sunni Muslim scholar in Egypt has issued a decree legitimizing the killing of demonstrators who plan to protest the new Muslim Brotherhood government in nationwide rallies Friday.
Egyptians who protest the regime of President Mohamed Morsi are “infidels” who should be resisted, declared Sheik Hashem Islam of the Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, according to AllAfrica.com.
An Egyptian human rights activist for Christians and Jews, who declined to be named for security reasons, told WND the nation is bracing itself for further violence.
“I am told things are going to explode this coming Friday, with a massive anti-government, anti-brotherhood, pro-democracy rally,” the Cairo resident said.
The source noted the decree, or fatwa, came at the close of Ramadan from the highest Sunni Islamic authority, Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
The fatwa said the protesters are un-Islamic traitors of Allah, the source pointed out, implying democracy itself is un-Islamic.
The Muslim Brotherhood, according to the source, says it’s “a religious duty and obligation of every faithful Muslim to oppose the ‘secularists who are influenced by the West and the Zionist enemies of Islam.'”
“It is very important to note this is all part of preparing the stage and ensuring that there is no opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood writing the new constitution, which will ensure Shariah law is enacted and that Egypt will become an Islamic state before the end of this year,” the source said.
Once the constitution is established, the source said, “it will be the final nail in the coffin of the secular pro-democracy movement.”
“There will be no turning back, and it will guarantee the Brotherhood years of unthreatened rule and control of Egypt,” he said. “It’s all funded and supported by Saudi Arabia and the Salafists. Salafists are the Wahabbi Muslims, exactly like in Saudi Arabia.”
Since Morsi became the country’s first freely elected president June 30, “there has been a very strong anti-Brotherhood wave in the country,” the Egyptian activist said.
“Many Muslims and Christians feel betrayed, used, abused and deceived,” he said.
“The media was at the forefront of exposing the hypocrisy, and it was causing the Brotherhood great concern. The Brotherhood have their own agenda of creating an ‘Islamic Egypt’ and certainly not a democratic Egypt,” he said.
The Egyptian citizen has some sharp questions for the government about its recent violent resistance of protesters.
“Who told the authorities not to intervene? Why have there been no arrests or charges? Why is the Egyptian media prevented from reporting the incident or showing any photos? Where did all this censorship come from? … Only a fool would believe Morsi was not aware of what was going to happen!”
Fatwa against Christians
The reports of the fatwa against demonstrators comes as a series of articles report the issuance of another fatwa against Christians.
Egypt’s El Fegr said jihadi groups in Egypt are openly being encouraged to kill Christians.
The story also said calls for violence came after a fatwa was issued by an Egyptian cleric urging people to act after Friday prayers. A photo of the letter also appeared on El Fegr’s website.
Center for Security Policy Senior Fellow Clare Lopez said the situation in Egypt is developing precisely as anticipated.
“A number of us long have been expecting that as soon as the Muslim Brotherhood consolidated its hold on power in Egypt, the killing of Copts by Muslims would accelerate. And, tragically, that is exactly what we’re beginning to see happen,” she said.
Lopez added the historical context for the present situation.
“Let’s remember that the very word ‘Copt’ means ‘Egyptian’ – and before the Islamic invasion of the 7th century, they were the majority in Egypt. There used to be many Jews there, too.”
She said the reason both communities “have been systematically decimated over the centuries is precisely because of continuous Muslim assaults, attacks, exile, genocide, pogroms, slaughter and forced conversions to Islam.”
“So, there is much historical precedence for these reports that tends to make them at least very plausible.”
Lopez said the Obama administration has been silent on the issue of Christian persecution.
“I expect we’re going to see a lot more of this in days to come. And yet there is no response whatsoever from the Obama administration,” she said.
“Not one single word of reproach or warning that the U.S. is watching and that bilateral relations depend on adherence by the Morsi regime at least to minimal standards of universal human rights, not the Shariah-style ‘human rights’ of the 1990 OIC Cairo Declaration’s Islamic ‘human rights.'”
