Editor's Note: Ed Husain is a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. You can follow him on twitter @ed_husain.
By Ed Husain, CFR.org
The following is a political ad released in Egypt in support of the Salafist political party Hizb al-Noor.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sUP4N1SNcc&w=500&h=281]
To view this video on YouTube.com, click here.
Products of Saudi Arabian Islam, protected and nurtured by Egypt’s former president Mubarak, Salafists are a rising force in Egypt: a country that is increasingly torn between the false political choice of secularism and Islam.
Initially opposed to the Egyptian revolution, Salafists have now created several political parties in an attempt to out-Islam other Islamists, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood. Salafists matter because they practice, preach, and seek to popularize a puritanical form of Islam that is alien to Egypt. Their entry into politics is part of their strategy to attempt to introduce their reading of shariah as state law.
The video above is a slick production of the campaign anthem of the largest Salafist political party, Hizb al-Noor, meaning “Party of Light.” Despite the beauty of shots of the countryside and everyday life in the three-minute clip being distributed on DVD across Egypt, it is telling that no women appear and imagery of Egypt’s Copts is absent in this propaganda tool. The omission of Copts is important because Salafists have been accused repeatedly of whipping up anti-Christian sentiment in Egypt. Adhering to hard-line, literalist, and contested interpretations of Islam, no music is allowed, but acoustic humming is used to get around the self-imposed music ban. FULL POST