Who are the Egyptian Islamists?

Muslim Brotherhood:

1928 - founded by Hassan al-Banna with a vision of an Islamic model of a legitimate state

2005 - 2010 - 20% of the lower parliament seats, 88

2007 circulated a draft (unfinished) of a political programme, it had negative reports, yet Mohamed Mursi denied it wanted to establish an Islamist state


Islamic state in questions

Muslim thinker's still don't have the formula for an Islamic state - the debate flourishes 





Some argue for a separation of state and religion, notably the Sudanese Abdullahi Ahmad an-Naim:

An-Na'im views the separation of Islam from state together with the regulation of the political role of Islam through constitutionalism and the protection of human rights as necessary safeguards to ensure freedom and security for Muslims and to provide them with the opportunity to participate in evolving new techniques and debating fresh interpretations of Sharia.

Despite this separation, An-Na'im argues that Muslims are still entitled to propose policy or legislation stemming from their religion, provided they support such proposals with what he calls civic reason - "reasons that can be publicly debated and contested by any citizen, individually or in community with others, in accordance with norms of civility and mutual respect"

As far as the relationship between Islam and human rights is concerned, An-Na'im observes that Sharia principles are, in general, consistent with most human rights norms, with the exception of some specific aspects related to the rights of women and non-Muslims and the freedom of religion and belief. He calls Muslims to consider transforming their understandings of Sharia in the present context of Islamic societies.

This approach, according to An-Na'im, appears to be "more realistic and constructive than simplistic assertions of compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and human rights that take both sides of this relationship in static, absolute terms".

Yet, in an attempt to reconcile the relationship of Islam, the state and society, the author examines the reality of Islamic society since its early beginning in three different states - namely, India (marked by state secularism and communal violence), Turkey (with its contradictions of authoritarian secularism) and Indonesia (realities of diversity and prospects of pluralism