While Salafists insist on removing the word “principles” from Article II to read, “the Islamic sharī’ah is the source of legislation,” instead of the current text that reads “the principles of the Islamic sharī’ah are the main source of legislation,” the Muslim Brotherhood prefers to keep the text of the article unchanged.

President Mursī, in a speech he gave to the Egyptian masses in the iconic al-Tahrīr Square on Friday (June 29), had asserted that Egypt is a civil state, a word that infuriated members of the Salafī Da’wah (Call) who refused to include it into the constitution and even threatened to withdraw from the constitution-drafting panel if this happened.

Dr. Yāsir Burhāmī, the deputy leader of the Salafī Da’wah and member of the constituent assembly, had revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood agreed with them to re-formulate the text of Article II to read the Islamic sharī’ah without the word “principles”.

Burhāmī’s statements were confirmed by Yūnis Makhyūn, a member of the high bureau of the Salafī al-Nūr Party and the Salafī Da’wah, who said that Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Murshid (Guide) Khayrat al-Shātir pledged to Salafī Da’wah leaders ahead of the presidential election that the word “principles” would be removed from Article II.

‘Amr Darrāj, a member of the constituent assembly from the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said there is accordance over Article II as it is, adding Shaykh Yāsir Burhāmī could have agreed with some MB leaders on a personal basis on the amendment of the second article “but I have received none of these agreements”. [Mustafá Hāshim, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, July 3, p. 5] Read original text in Arabic