The representatives of Al-Azhar in the Constituent Assembly have supported banning religious-based parties. Muhammad Shahāt al-Gindī, the representative of the Azhar in the assembly, stated that such parties have been detrimental to Islam’s image recently, as they have abused it to get political gains under the pretext of defending Islam. However, he also rejected tampering with Al-Azhar as a reference to interpret sharī’ah-related issues (Wā’il Fāyiz, al-Watan, Sept. 28, p. 3). Read original text in Arabic.