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First Imam MP Shows Dawning of New Era in Egypt
First Imam MP Shows Dawning of New Era in Egypt
Shabun, with diploma in agriculture, became imam 20 years ago.
Ahmed Shabun thanks God that he has won a seat in Egypt’s parliament where this candidate from the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood is soon to sit as the country’s first imam MP.
"I couldn’t turn down this task, and God helped me," said Shabun, 46, at his
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Sunday, November 27,2005 00:00 | |||||||
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First Imam MP Shows Dawning of New Era in Egypt Shabun, with diploma in agriculture, became imam 20 years ago. Ahmed Shabun thanks God that he has won a seat in Egypt’s parliament where this candidate from the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood is soon to sit as the country’s first imam MP. "I couldn’t turn down this task, and God helped me," said Shabun, 46, at his rural constituency in the Giza governorate, 70 kilometres (45 miles) southwest of Cairo. Shabun, his black beard neatly trimmed, says that the security services barred him from preaching three years ago. Rather than having a degree in Islamic culture, Shabun has a diploma in agriculture. Before becoming an imam 20 years ago, Shabun laboured the family’s hectare of farmland before going to work in a chemical factory. "It’s true, I didn’t go through Al-Azhar, but what did imams do before it was founded?," he asks. The premier seat of learning in Sunni Islam, Cairo’s Al-Azhar was founded in 998 A.D., almost 400 years after the birth of Islam. Shabun joined the Brotherhood in 1993, although it had been banned for 40 years, and swiftly found himself in prison. "The regime imprisons us because the name of our brotherhood drives them crazy, but if they listened to what we have to say, they would encourage us," he says, optimistically. Several hundred Muslim Brothers were rounded up on Sunday during the second round of voting in Egypt’s month-long elections that was marked by violence, especially in Egypt’s northern port of Alexandria. Having already won 47 seats, more than tripling its previous tally of 15, the Brotherhood has made an historic showing, although still short of threatening the domination of President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. Brotherhood MPs must however sit in parliament as independents because Egyptian election law bars religious parties. The Islamist MP-to-be lives in a modest two-storey house with his wife, who is covered head-to-toe in a niqab, and their eight children
By Karim Fawal - GIZA, Egypt, Middle East Online |
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