News of a religious police force to uphold Muslim morals in a nation now controlled by Islam's Muslim Brotherhood is the latest harbinger of Egypt's transformation into an intolerant Islamic state.
Known as the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, its officers will share the same name as the notorious religious police now operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the dreaded "mutawaah".
"We have absolutely no relationship with the ‘morality’ committees in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia or Nigeria," said Committee founder Hisham el-Ashri. "We will only offer advice to those who want to listen; we shall have no business with people who refuse to listen to us."
Known as the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, its officers will share the same name as the notorious religious police now operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the dreaded "mutawaah".
"We have absolutely no relationship with the ‘morality’ committees in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia or Nigeria," said Committee founder Hisham el-Ashri. "We will only offer advice to those who want to listen; we shall have no business with people who refuse to listen to us."
However, people who have no business with el-Ashri's mutawaah and who don't practice Islam may be forced to listen to their "advice". Egypt's Christians are greatly concerned that they could soon be subjected to Islamic law after el-Ashri stated on TV that "There is no such thing as a Christian religion," according to Barnabas Aid.
In the mean time, the announcement of a religious police in Egypt is a wake up call for President Morsi's political opposition who fear that his new mutawaah, like their counterparts in Saudi, may abuse their powers and force the population to, as one activist said, "act in stupid, conservative ways".
In the mean time, the announcement of a religious police in Egypt is a wake up call for President Morsi's political opposition who fear that his new mutawaah, like their counterparts in Saudi, may abuse their powers and force the population to, as one activist said, "act in stupid, conservative ways".
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