The salafists seek the application of the Islamic caliphate model, said Dr. Yusrī Hamād, the official spokesman for the al-Nūr (Light) Party, adding Egypt is an Islamic, not civil, nation.

He said that 95% of the Egyptian people are Muslims, noting the sharī'ah guarantees the rights of minorities. "The happiest days for minorities were when the sharī'ah of Allah was being applied."

Hamād pointed out that Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III had said in 1985 that Copts had no objections to the sharī'ah.