Representatives of Egyptian churches in the constituent assembly refused threats by Salafists to withdraw from the panel if it insisted on “the civil aspect of the state and the implementation of only the principles of the Islamic sharī’ah”.

Counselor Edward Ghālib, the secretary of the Coptic Orthodox Church’s General Millī (Laymen) Council, said the churches insist on the phrase “the principles of Islamic sharī’ah,” with the addition of the phrase “and non-Muslims may refer to their laws”. [‘Imād Khalīl, al-Misrī al-Yawm, July 3, p 6] Read original text in Arabic