As I understand it this is in no way an attempt to reform Islam. There is no “reformation” here. Islam is based on the words in the Quran and indeed cannot be changed or reformed in any way. So what is happening in Egypt under el Sisi is something different.
What many overlook is the historical perspective in relation to Fascism. As I understand Leon Trotsky on Fascism, Fascism was not some accidental development, but arose when the ruling capitalist class in any particular country moved away from forms of parliamentary democracy towards rule without parliament.
the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt took power by means of parliamentary elections but the great majority of Egyptians knew that Morsi was moving away from parliamentary democracy in order to introduce Sharia Law, which is a form of Fascism in our era.
So the mass of the Egyptian people rebelled against Morsi and that is the reason for the great popularity of el Sisi, not because el Sisi is a great democrat.
In any case this article by Israel National News is a good one on this subject
(start extract here)
Egypt Tries to Curb Brotherhood’s Influence Over Mosques
By Elad Benari, Canada
The Egyptian government has stepped up a campaign to curb Muslim Brotherhood influence over mosques, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The government said it has licensed more than 17,000 state-approved clerics to give Friday sermons to stop places of worship from falling “into the hands of extremists,” according to the report.
The military-backed authorities have been trying to bring mosques under tighter control since the army toppled Mohammed Morsi of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood last July.
All of the newly-approved clerics have been trained at Al-Azhar University, which is a respected center of Sunni Islamic learning, and institutions run by the ministry of religious endowments, according to a statement issued by the prime minister’s office on Thursday.
“That is to strengthen the ministry’s supervision over all Egypt’s mosques so that they do not fall into the hands of extremists and the unqualified” and to prevent mosques being used for “party or sectarian” purposes, it said, according to Reuters.
Last September, the religious endowments minister said unlicensed clerics would be barred from delivering sermons at mosques – long a recruiting ground for Islamist parties.
The government statement said the ministry of religious endowments had taken “a big step” towards addressing a shortfall in “qualified preachers.”
Since Morsi’s ouster, more than 1,400 people have died in street clashes and thousands have been imprisoned.
Hundreds of Islamists have been placed on trial and some already given death sentences, a move which was criticized by the international community.
4international 