Muslim Brotherhood Electoral Rally Marked By Call To Restore Caliphate in Jerusalem

During a large electoral rally in support of Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi on May 1, Dr. Safawat Hijazi, a prominent Islamist figure in Egypt, predicted that under Musri’s leadership a new Islamic Caliphate will emerge with Jerusalem as its capital.

“We realized our dream of the Caliphate is being fulfilled by Dr. Mursi, his group and his party,” Hijazi told the crowd at the football stadium in El-Mahalla El-Kubra. “With his efforts, the united Arabs states will come true and its capital will be holy Jerusalem.”

These remarks were followed by a chant: “I am Egyptian with pride… tomorrow Mursi will liberate Gaza.” Hijazi responded by inciting the crowd with his own chant: “Come on, lovers of martyrdom…all of you are Hamas…Come on lovers of martyrs, all of you are Hamas.”

Hijazi, a member in the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), also told the crowd, “We will not accept from Dr. Mursi and the group anything less than the application of God’s Sharia’ in the land of Egypt.” He concluded by issuing a fatwa on election participation. “The one who does not go to vote in the elections is a sinner.”

Other prominent members of the Brotherhood attended the rally and gave speeches focusing on Mursi’s Islamic agenda.