Q&A: Salafist politician Emad Abdel Ghafour

The head of Egypt's Al Nour party talks about religion in politics, relations with Israel and democracy.

Alaa Bayoumi
Al-Jazeera

One important question which was, of course, not asked:

How much foreign funding does your party get and what are the sources? Saudi Arabia? The CIA? Qatar? And is this legal in the "new" Egypt? Are you required by law to disclose this?

"Emad Abdel Ghafour is head of Al Nour [Light!] party, the main Salafist party in Egypt. Al Nour came in second after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Freedom Party with 25-30 per cent of the vote in the first two rounds of the Egyptian People’s Assembly elections.

The rise of Salafis and Al Nour came as a surprise to many especially outside Egypt. A year ago, Salafis had no political parties and hardly any political organisations. They also refrained from participating in politics and only focused on religious teachings from a conservative Islamic point of view.

Salafism as an ideology focuses on educating today’s Muslims about the teachings of the first Muslim generations, who are considered to be aware of the true instructions of the Quran and of the Prophet Mohamed.

Salafism, as a social and political movement, is considered a new phenomenon. After the 1967 war against Israel and the defeat of President Nasser’s version of socialism, Egyptian society turned into religion. Soon after, Salafism rose as a social movement. Today’s Salafis in Egypt are made of several groups focusing on teaching Islamic faith from a strict perspective that tries to follow the teaching of the first Muslim generation in literally everything, even when it comes to personal dress and appearance.

After the January 25 revolution, Salafis made a large, unexpected shift by deciding to participate in politics, in order to safe-guard the Islamic identity of the nation. They formed several political parties, with the most prominent being is Al Nour. After recent elections, where they won about one quarter of the votes, the group is considered Egypt’s second most popular political party.

Salafis and Al Nour were basically seen as an ultraconservative political group that threatened the tolerant nature of Islamic teachings in Egypt and that will isolate women, Copts, and secular groups.....

Al Jazeera's Alaa Bayoumi interviewed Abdel Ghafour in Cairo on the future of Egypt's foreign policy, its current crisis, religion, and more.

How do see the future of the Egyptian foreign policy?

Egypt is a pioneering and influential country. It has a cultural and religious leading role. It also has a central role when it comes to reaching a solution to the Middle East conflict.

Egypt, if strong, politically stable, and economically advanced, will be able to make the Israeli government reconsider its position before taking on another political adventure in the region.

A country with the cultural weight of Egypt, if it has freedom, will make Israel rush to reach a final solution [such as throwing out all Palestinians??] for the Palestinian problem and to give the Palestinian people self-rule and their own state.

Do you support the two-state solution?

We accept what Palestinians accepted and we will accept what they will accept.

Will Al Nour seek to cancel or amend the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty?

When it comes to all the agreements that Egypt has signed, we have to respect them and demand their activation. There are many articles in the peace treaty that have not been activated, such as solving the Palestinian issue, giving Palestinians the right to self-determination, self-rule, and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the Palestinian land. These are many articles which, if activated, will make the Palestinian people feel they benefitted from the peaceful process......"