Researcher: Veil Issue Meant To Lead Us Off Egypt’s Political Ills

Researcher Dhia Rashwan of Al Ahram Centre For Political and Strategic Studies wrote to comment on the recent statements made by Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, saying that his statements drew widespread and heated hue and cry throughout the nation. Rashwan added that these statements prompted the Muslim Brotherhood to criticize the minister’s statements, and he in turn released a counter statement dragging the country into an untimely political battle feared to strengthen into a crisis overshadowing other issues. Rashwan criticized the minister for indulging himself in a religious issue in which only the religious scholars have the authority and the final say. The researcher questioned the wisdom of such a statement at this juncture when Egypt is swarmed with political issues. So as not to leave the readers puzzled, the researcher said that these statements have been unleashed only to achieve two main political goals, to drag the biggest political opposition bloc, i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood, into an issue with the aim to overshadow the other, pressing , issues such as the crucial constitutional amendments. Rashwan said that the second goal of this campaign is only to raise a controversial issue in the hope that it obstruct the steps taken by the Egyptian opposition on its way to a unified political and constitutional program which is totally colliding with that of the ruling party. Rashwan lashed out  at the minister for depicting the veil as a sign of backwardness, reminding him that in the National Party to which the minister belongs, over 90% of its female members are veiled, in addition to a veiled female minister in the cabinet. Rashwan asked the minister on the relationship between the veil and the four major disasters plaguing Egypt, mainly despotism, corruption, economic  and scientific backwardness, and inheritance of power. He sarcastically told the minister that if the veil turns out to be the cause of these disasters, we all will devote ourselves to fighting it. Concluding , the researcher said that the Muslim Brotherhood is the only targeted for this campaign, urging the group to stop at opposing the minister’s statements and not to be dragged to side battles exhausting its power away from the true battle, mainly the constitutional amendments .