Al-Azhar University described the calls to carry the Quran during upcoming protests organised by Egypt’s Salafis as “seditious”.
The Salafi Front is calling for nationwide demonstrations on November 28, to demand the imposition of “Islamic identity”, to condemn the regime’s economic and political policies, and a call for “an end to military rule.”
The front has called on protesters to hold up the Quran during the demonstrations.
“These protests deceive Muslims in the name of religion; they are a call for chaos and for disrespecting the Quran,” Al-Azhar said in its statement.
The “Salafi Call”, another major Salafi group in Egypt, denounced on Tuesday the front’s protest calls.
“It has become clear that the purpose of the protests is to exhaust the state,” it said in a statement.
Since the ouster of the President Mohamed Morsi in July last year, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy – an umbrella for Morsi supporters led by the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood – has been the main group staging major anti-government protests.
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The Salafist Front and its political wing, the Nour Party, backed the ouster of Morsi and the interim authorities that replaced him.
The interior ministry has vowed to deal “firmly” with the anticipated protests and said it would use live ammunition against those who “threaten security.”
A law, passed in November last year, bans unauthorised protests and puts restrictions on public assembly.
Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood activists and members have been jailed under the law’s provisions.
