Sep 25, 2012

Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, met on the evening of Sept. 24 with a delegation of leaders and representatives of Egyptian churches headed by acting patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church Bishop Anba Pachomius. The two parties agreed on the need to keep Article II of the constitution as is, without any amendments, so that "the principles of Islamic law are the main source of legislation.”

Participants in the meeting stressed the need to maintain a unified social fabric. The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar stressed the need for consensus in the founding committee, and said that is must be representative of all the Egyptian people. Moreover, participants agreed to continue to work to complete the constitution.

On the other hand, ​​Manal al-Tiby, a member of the Constituent Assembly, which is tasked with drafting a new constitution, submitted her resignation from the assembly yesterday [Sept. 24]. She warned that the new draft constitution will be “the worst constitution among all previous Egyptian constitutions.”

Tiby told Al-Masry Al-Youm that she had reached "a final decision that there is no point in continuing to be a member of the Constituent Assembly because the final product of the new constitution will not meet the expectations of the majority of Egyptians.” She also pointed out that "it has become clear that the constitution is being drafted to enable a specific current to establish a religious state so that it can seize power.”

On the other hand, on Sept. 24 an administrative court rejected a request to disband the assembly submitted by Abdulsalam al-Naggar, an adviser who is responsible for examining all requests to disband and dissolve the Constituent Assembly. The court also decided to impose a fine of 288,000 Egyptian pounds [$47,000] on a number of Muslim Brotherhood lawyers for nine requests they have made to disband the assembly .