- EGYPT
- November 18, 2012
- 2 minutes read
Ghozlan Surprised at Church Withdrawal; Asserts Special Article for Copts in New Charter
Dr. Mahmoud Ghozlan, member of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drawing up Egypt’s new Constitution, affirmed that Islamists were keen to meet demands advocated by all factions and components of society, especially Egypt’s Copts.
"For the first time in the Constitution, Article 3 has been added to safeguard Christians’ full rights in referring to their own religious strictures.
"All articles in the constitution have been discussed and agreed upon within special and general committees, especially Article 2 on the principles of Sharia (Islamic Law) and Article 220, which is contested at this time. This article was already in the Constitution of 71 – an explanation was only added to it.
Article 220??, now rejected by the church, is about the interpretation of Article 2, which states that "the ‘principles of Islamic Sharia’ include general evidence and fundamentalist bases, rules and jurisprudence sources accepted by Sunni scholars".