In power, Egypt's Brotherhood seeks balance on Islamic law

 (Learn the operations of this violent, anti-Christ spirit, so you can recognize it when it attempts to come to a neighborhood near you. AW)

Egypt's underground Muslim Brotherhood spoke ardently of a country governed by Islamic law. Now that their debates take place in parliament and the presidential palace, they must decide how far to go in bringing it about.

Elections held since the fall of Hosni Mubarak have turned the once-banned Brotherhood and its allies into the dominant political force in the Arab world's most populous country.
That success has left the Brotherhood facing competing pressures - on the one hand, to satisfy the conservative Islamists who supported them at the polling station, while on the other hand to avoid conflict with secular-minded Egyptians and a potent military establishment that opposes radical change.

For now, the outcome appears to be a compromise, satisfying neither side entirely but avoiding major confrontation, with the aim of giving the Brotherhood the leeway to meet the needs of running a modern state.

"Everything is a subject of compromise and negotiation for the Brotherhood," said Khalil al-Anani, an expert on Islamist movements based at Durham University in England.
"It realizes that limiting personal freedoms will endanger their political gains," he said. "At the same time, they will have to satisfy conservative sections of society."
The Brotherhood's move into public life frightens secular-minded Egyptians, who fear Islamist curbs could lead to dress codes, kill off music and cinema or force men and women to segregate in public. Christians, a tenth of Egyptians, are particularly worried, despite Mursi's attempts at outreach.

Businesses fear for the impact on a tourism industry that creates one in eight jobs.
A call put out on Facebook for a march in defense of beer - first produced in Egypt in pharaonic times - captured a mood of defiance among some after the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi won the presidency.



In power, Egypt's Brotherhood seeks balance on Islamic law | Reuters