Egyptian Chronicles: Why does the Regime support the Sufism in Egypt ??

The head of the supreme council of Sufi movements “Ahmed Kamal Yassin” has passed away last month. The council is the official authority of the Sufi movements in Egypt. There was some kind of elections and Sheikh Alaa Abu El-Azayam was elected the head of the council. Sheikh Abu El-Azayam shocked everyone including the members of the council and movements across Egypt when he announced the following :

We will support President Mubarak as a president for Life even if he lives to 2100 !! And if President Mubarak recommends choosing his son Gamal as successor to him and he sees him fits to rule the country then as Sufi movements that represent 7 million Egypt we will be obliged to this recommendation “will” because the recommendation “will” is legal in Islam

In other brief words : He approves on the presidential inheritance of GM along with 7 Million Sufi movements followers in Egypt !!

You can’t imagine the anger and the shock of the people in Egypt that some sheikhs in the movements decided to discharge him from his position and appointed another sheikh instead of him. They did not say that they discharged him from his position because of politics.

But then he was appointed by a presidential decree again that recognized him and thus we got two heads and the movement is divided.

Now there is a legal struggle between his supporters and those who are against him , of course officially he is recognized as the head of the regime biggest religious supporting group , do not underestimate them. Anyhow many people are surprised that the Sufis who are Non politically active speak in politics in this way.
Well I am not surprised or shocked by that statement. Yes the Sufis do not get involved with Politics because it is from the Life issues but the Sufis as far as I know and read obey the ruler whoever he is whether he is good or bad , they leave it to God. It is a passive I know but this is their belief

Still I was surprised with what Sheikh Abu El-Azayam said regarding elections activity that is not from Islam !! Well my dear sir and cleric may be it was not known in the past by its form now but can you tell me how the Muslims chose their ruler after the death of Prophet Mohamed “PBUH”and the clear order in the Holy Quran that the Muslims discuss their matters between each other !! Already how he got to his position in the first !!?? Through elections !!

Abu El-Azayam does not surprise me but I was surprised by the reactions of his opponents, for what I know and mentioned above. It is clever from them to denounce because they know very well it will hurt their image badly.

This is not the first religious movement the Government or the NDP uses to its sake ,of course the Sufi movements can be from the largest Islamic movements in Egypt . If they support GM then it will bad for us not to mention if they are registered as voters. It won’t be good if you consider that the Church also will support him for fear the MB ,that’s about 10-12 Million Christian Vote. This is so scary for sure ,he can get it through the vote !!

Sufi movement Non-trivia:

The Sufism is from the powerful and oldest Sunni movements in Egypt .
There are more than 73 Sufi Movement in Egypt.
The followers of the Sufism in Egypt according to the official numbers : 7 Millions.
The Sufism usually is under fire for wrong practices and beliefs in their religious celebrations.
For decades it used to support the regime despite they do not usually involve politics yet some of their members are famous politicians
The high council for the Sufi movements in Egypt was formed in 1978 according to article No.3 from Law No. 118 for year 1976.
The supreme council of the Sufi movement consists of 10 elected members from the heads “Sheikhs” of the movements beside official representatives from Al Azhar, Al Awakaf ministry,Interior ministry,Culture ministry and Municipal rule ministry.
The General Council of the Sufi movement consists of 73 member which represent the official recognized movements in Egypt
The late Ahmed Kamal Yassin was the father in law of NDP tycoon Ahmed Ezz and like a God father to the famous MB journalist Ahmed Abd El-kuddous , both attended the funeral and the memorial service in a very strange and rare union.
Ahmed Kamal Yassin was an Army general close to the regime.He is the head of the “Al Ashraf” syndicate {The descents of Prophet Mohamed “PUBH”}. He was criticised of giving the membership of the syndication to people who were not descents of Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” like Saddam and Gaddafi !!
Late Yassin’s rival was Abu El-Azayam.