Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh: Egypt's future
One
of the leading candidates in Egypt's presidential elections shares his views on
religion and foreign policy.
In less than a month Egyptians will head to
the polls to elect a new president - another monumental step in the Egyptian
revolution.
After months of uncertainty the final list of candidates has now been
announced, but who will win?Not only the Egyptian people, but the entire Middle East and the world beyond is taking stock and closely evaluating the candidates in the race.
What are their priorities domestically? How
do they view the role of religion? And what will happen to Egypt’s relationship
with the US and Israel?
Today on Talk to Al Jazeera we put those questions to one of the leading candidates. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh is a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but he is now running as an independent candidate for president.
Today on Talk to Al Jazeera we put those questions to one of the leading candidates. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh is a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but he is now running as an independent candidate for president.
The 61-year-old doctor has attracted the
support of many Muslim Brotherhood youth who have grown weary of the group's
structure and hostility to liberalisation and change.
Aboul Fotouh says he disagrees with the
leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood because he is "against the Muslim
Brotherhood’s participation in party politics. The Brotherhood should not
become a political party nor should it have a political party. Because its founder, Hassan al-Banna,
founded the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamic social welfare movement which
raises awareness of Islam without competing for government.... It is wrong to mix this missionary and awareness-raising
work with party politics...."
Aboul Fotouh talks to Al Jazeera about his
expectations for the upcoming elections, the country's revolution, and Egypt's
relationship with Israel and the US. Who are Egypt's natural allies? And how
will a new government impact relations with Israel? Aboul
Fotouh says that the peace treaty with Israel would continue, "but it will
be revised. The articles in it which are in Egypt’s interests will be kept,
those which are detrimental to Egypt’s interests will be taken out."
He says his vision for Egypt is a civic state on an Islamic basis, but what does this mean and how will it impact minorities in Egypt, for example the Christians or atheists?
He says his vision for Egypt is a civic state on an Islamic basis, but what does this mean and how will it impact minorities in Egypt, for example the Christians or atheists?
"A
civilian state according to Islamic thought must have a constitution written by
the people which defines the roles and responsibilites of all authoritative
bodies. You
can call this a modern state, a civilian state, a democratic state.... Islam
does not discriminate based on gender, religion, colour and the new constition
must not either. The
appointment of people to office or other government jobs must be based on merit
and capability and not gender or religion or even political inclination."
心得整理與評論
半島電台已經摘要總統獨立候選人Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh主要訪談內容，如他為何要脫離穆斯林兄弟會獨立參選、對埃及政治的看法、非穆斯林的政策以及對外關係等。Fotouh在訪談中不斷強調，他參選不是為特定族群，而是為了所有埃及人民，為埃及人民與社會謀取福利。雖然Foutouh已經脫離穆斯林兄弟會，但他的思維仍是在伊斯蘭架構下。過去伊斯蘭份子(Islamists)長期處於反對角色，受到政府的迫害與監禁，難以在公開場合中聽到他們真正想法。而在媒體長期關注伊斯蘭份子的極端活動下，這些溫和的聲音幾乎遭到漠視。
阿拉伯之春後，至少在北非的阿拉伯國家，言論表達的自由已經開放，這些過去被壓制的伊斯蘭份子有許多場合論述自己的理念，突然讓人感到驚訝，怎麼他們所說的理念與西方的民主、自由與人權等概念不謀而合，唯一不同點是，他們以伊斯蘭概念論述。Fotouh的理念並非特例，已經看到許多其他相同背景的領導人持有相同立場，強調未來的國家是屬於市民社會，並非神權國家，在伊斯蘭歷史上，至少在遜尼的ㄧ方，是沒有所謂神權統治的國家記錄。
另外Fotouhㄧ再強調埃及利益，將局限縮限於民族國家範圍內，伊斯蘭政治領導人已經不再追求所謂泛伊斯蘭政治的烏托邦理念，將服務對象縮限於西方設計的民族國家框架，這是伊斯蘭政治新的趨勢。
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