It is not surprising that the Muslim Brotherhood won around 45 percent of vote in the Egyptian parliamentary elections. In fact, we expected them to achieve a landslide victory, based on their reported popularity. The performance of the Salafis was the real surprise. With no experience, no popularity and no political charisma; they won more than quarter of the votes. They won despite being subjected to criticism and ridicule from all sides, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Today, the Salafis have around 25 percent of the seats in Egypt’s first free parliament, where no party has won a decisive majority.

Despite competing with them, it seems that the Muslim Brotherhood will in fact benefit most from the emergence of Salafis. The Egyptians, as well as the West, are now obliged to choose one of two religious parties: the elegant Muslim Brotherhood or the “backward”, bearded Salafis.

What is really concerning about the Salafis is not their strict social program, but the possibility of their political change. This reminds us of the Jihadist movements in Afghanistan, where the Salafis merged with the Brotherhood in Afghan camps during the 1980s and 1990s and created a new creature; namely “al-Qaeda”. In the future, the Salafis will become more radical and demanding in the political sphere. They will make demands that the ruler cannot implement, and then call for his exit as a religious duty.

I fear that the less politically aware Salafis might push their movement towards increasingly hard-line positions, in competition with the Muslim Brotherhood. In turn, this will make Salafi politics more radical, which we will see in the Egyptian scene over the next four years.    »»» Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)

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