Egyptian Sufis demand political reform and back El-Baradei

Sheikhs of some major Sufi orders in Egypt abandon their decades-old passive position towards politics and reform and expressed opinions contradicting their public support of the extension of the term of President Hosni Mubarak upon its end in 2011 under the pretext of the absence of a competent alternative.

A number Sufi Sheikhs, including Sidi Ala'a Abu Al-Aza'ayem (head of the Azimiya order and one of the contenders for the chairmanship of the General Shikhdom of the Sufi Orders in the Arab Republic of Egypt) demanded that the presidency in Egypt not be renewed for more than two terms, with each composed of four years and expressed support for former IAEA Director Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei's reformist agenda and his desire to run for Egypt's presidency in 2011.

Traditionally, Egypt's popular and influential Sufi orders have been known to politically "passify" the populace by providing social and religious guidance and filling the gap left by the state in both Egypt's urban and rural spheres. Sufi orders, however, engaged in a tacit agreement with Egypt's consecutive regimes according to which they remained apolitical and yet declared allegiance and loyalty to "أولي الأمر".

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