Khairat el-Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for Egypt's presidency, is lobbying hard for support of ultraconservative Muslim clerics, promising them a say over legislation in the future to ensure it is in line with Islamic law, as he tries to rally the divided Islamist vote behind him.
El-Shater
met for four hours Tuesday night with a panel of Salafi scholars and clerics,
called the Jurisprudence Commission for Rights and Reform, trying to win their
support. The discussion focused on "the shape of the state and the
implementation of Shariah," the commission said on its Facebook page
Wednesday.
"El-Shater
stressed that Shariah is his top and final goal and that he would work on
forming a group of religious scholars to help parliament achieve this goal,"
the statement read. The commission is an umbrella group of Islamist factions,
mostly Salafis, set up after last year's anti-Mubarak uprising.
Source: MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press
