E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Charlene Gubash / NBC News
Supporters of Egyptian presidential candidate Hazem Abu Ismail pray in Cairo's Tahrir Square during a demonstration in support of his embattled election bid on Friday.
CAIRO – In an ironic twist of fate, the most conservative and anti-American of Egypt’s Islamist presidential candidates may be barred from running because his mother was a U.S. citizen.
Hazem Abu Ismail is an extremely popular Salafist presidential candidate who has steamrolled the competition in an aggressive campaign that has blanketed Cairo with posters of his beaming and bearded round face.
But his campaign is now fighting for survival against the latest accusations that his deceased mother held U.S. citizenship. Egyptian law prohibits citizens whose parents hold (or held) dual citizenship from running for president.
Abu Ismail maintains his mother only had a green card. Egypt’s election commission announced Thursday that his mother was a U.S. citizen, however they have not officially disqualified him from the race yet. The New York Times also reported earlier this week that California public records and voting records prove she became a U.S. citizen.
Anti-American Egyptian candidate may be tripped up by mother’s US ties
If Abu Ismail’s candidacy is disqualified, it could seriously shake-up the race that includes former regime officials and Islamists competing in the first presidential election since former President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. The election is set for the end of May.
A show of support
On Friday thousands of die-hard Abu Ismail supporters marched to Cairo’s Tahrir Square to defend their candidate against what they called lies and forgery.
“U.S. intelligence said she was a U.S. citizen, but they are lying. So is the military. They are supporters of the old regime,” said Kamel Hussein, a 35-year-old Egyptian TV employee. Hussein, who is a supporter of Abu Ismail but not a Salafist, said his vote would go to liberal former Arab League chief Amr Moussa if Ismail is forced out.
Cairo math teacher, Mostafa Aly, 28, believes the military and security forces have forged documents so that Abu Ismail, if elected, will not try them for attacks against demonstrators during and after the revolution, as he had promised.
“The people who don’t want to be tried are behind this,” insisted Aly.
Charlene Gubash / NBC News
Pediatrician and father of four, Dr. Mohamed Farouk, attends the Salafist demonstration in Tahrir Square with his two sons on Friday.
Dr. Mohamed Farouk, a pediatrician and father of four, blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the U.S. and the old guard for spreading false rumors about Abu Ismail.
“The Muslim Brotherhood are afraid of him,” said Farouk. The Muslim Brotherhood, which recently put forward its own presidential candidate, stands to gain if he is disqualified because they could pick up some of his conservative Islamist votes. The Brotherhood already won nearly have of the seats in Parliament earlier this year.
Muslim Brotherhood shocks Egypt with presidential run
Farouk insisted others were plotting against Abu Ismail, too.
“I believe everything Ismail says. He is always speaking the truth. When they found 160,000 people supporting his candidacy, they became afraid. They are playing a game to prevent his presidency.”
Most supporters said they would stand by their candidate regardless.
Charlene Gubash / NBC News
Mohamed Kamil, a 23-year-old pharmacist protests in Tahrir is support of embattled Salafist presidential candidate, Hazem Abu Ismail.
“If his mother was an Eskimo, I would still support him,” one young man interjected.
A few threatened to come to Tahrir Square en masse if he is thrown out of the race.
“This demonstration is a warning to the military government. If there is forgery of her citizenship, we will have a second revolution,” said Mohammed Khalil, a 23-year-old pharmacist.
Others said their vote would go to the most liberal Islamist candidate, Abdel Munim Abdel Foutouh, a reform minded doctor who was expelled from the Brotherhood and who has been trying to appeal to both religious and secular Egyptians – rather than the official Brotherhood candidate.
Numbers matter
However, if Friday’s relatively small show of support is any indication, the Salafist’s foiled candidacy may pass quietly into the night.
While his stalwarts showed up, the number of people gathered was not overly impressive. The crowd appeared to be less than 5,000 people, which is small compared to the hundreds of thousands who have professed their support for him.
Many of the people gathered gave ‘the dog ate my homework’-type excuses for low attendance, such as the heat, fasting on a holy day and short notice.
But the absence of more supporters may prove significant.
Leave a Comment:
Now this is funny.
Although I have to wonder about the supporters of this conservative, anti-American candidate who said they'd vote for the most liberal Islamist candidate should he be disqualified.
They are talking about "liberal" in terms of advancing their own issues against the military government, not in "American liberal" terms. Basically, when terms like "liberal" and "conservative" are used in other countries, they are intended to have their classic meanings, not the bizarre labels that Americans have attached to the words.
LIBERAL = "Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values."
CONSERVATIVE = "Holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation."
In Egypt, virtually all reformists are considered liberals.
America truly has no allies in the middle east except for Israel. Do not let Egypt's democracy fool you. It's democracy for Muslims only. All others will be expelled. (I feel sorry for the Christians)
More of this Muslims hate the world bull. Isreal is nothing but a leech that feeds off of American tax payers.
and to those who call themselves Christian, the Koran is the Bible with the teachings of their prophet attached. Almost the same book
Koran very different from Bible. Much shorter, too.
And it's spelled "Israel."
Total uneducated ignorance afloat, navy.
Chris: That's what I meant. Someone who was for a conservative now says he'll vote for a liberal doesn't make much sense. Did he change his mind?
Uh oh.....Presidential election issues about "citizenship".
Yep, the Muslim Brotherhood folks are ALL SMILES as they wait for more $$$ from the U.S. I wonder how Mr. Obama, the SofS, the U.N., NATO, and the "others" who supported Egypt's "Arab Spring" feel now ? Nah, they knew this was coming.
Will Mr. Obama please include this issue in your NEXT campaign speech.
Ido...right...and of course our state dept will do just that, hand out more money while these America hating muslims lie, cheat, brutalize women, take away education for girls and ruin completly another country. So far there is not a single muslim country in the world that is anything but a illiterate, corrupt, hate filled failed state, not one. And one of these days those Egyptians will realize Mubarak wasn't so bad after all. Of course Obama and his state dept haven't a clue...none.
USA navy
You are wrong, the Qur'an is nothing like the Bible. Read it, one is about living by the law, the other is about Salvation through grace.
We could follow every law in the world and never have salvation, because salvation is a gift from God. "unmerited favor" on those who believe.
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever would believe in Him, shall not parish, but have everlasting life" John 3:16
This is a move by the Muslim brotherhood to get rid of this candidate so that their man can in the election. I do not know whether the information is correct or not regarding his mother having been an American citizen, but it really does not matter at this point. What matters is what the Egyptian election commission is going to do about this information. My guess is that this guy's campaign is over.
The one thing I laugh at in this article is when I read these Egyptians saying they are going to vote for the most liberal Islamists in the race. Those two terms are pretty much mutually exclusive. Islamist are stuck in the 7th century with their view of the world ruled by outdated Islamic tribal customs. To think that any hyper-religious person could ever be a liberal and open to change is a laugh. Religion in itself is all about traditions and ancient books that give us rule about how to live. This can hardly be called a basis on which to build change.
The article says that he is anti-American, but does not say why? He is against US foreign policy because our government has supported the hated Mubarek and Sadat dictators foe over 40 years or is it that the Israeli lobby in the US that writes our foreign policy supports the continued Israeli colonization of what is left of Palestine?
Eric...Israel came into existence when zionist invaders conquered Palestine and expelled Muslims AND Christians. Israel is a democracy for ONLY the Jews. Just ask the Palestinian Christian victims, not their Jewish Israeli oppressors.
Jack... Your description of Muslims is worse than Hitlers description of Jews. Do you feel the same about Jews or are you a Jewish Nazi?
So this guy is out and a radical extremist from the Muslim Brotherhood wins. America still loses when Egypt becomes more and more like Iran.
Navy
I like your name and salute your Patriotism, but I agree with Edward, the Koran is very different from the Bible (Old and New Testament). While the Bible promises heaven to good people, the Koran promises heaven for killing infidels. The Bible is over a long history of stories meant to set examples, good and bad. The Koran is instruction from Allah to be a terrorist, to deceive, and to rid the world of non believers. The life of Mohamed the prophet in the Haditha, follows a pedophile, murder, terrorist who followed the Koran. Conservative believers of the Koran are at best complicit to terrorism, and at worst are terrorists.
Back to the story, the Brotherhood is likely behind the publicity for this candidate to clear the way for their own candidate. The Brotherhood is VERY clever and political. They survived the militaristic secular regimes of Mubarak and Sadat. They saw their chance when the facebook generation opened the door, and along with the al Nour party will make Egypt an Islamist state.
JusticeNow60
Learn your history first
Around 660 AD Islamic invaders took Jerusalem and expelled all Jew and Christians. So who invaded whose land first and who expelled who first. Islam is not the religion of peace as muslims say it it.
You have it wrong. Israel did not expel the Muslims. They left in droves because they did not want to live with the Jew.
Muslims are just upset that the same people they expelled from Jerusalem 1400 years ago have returned to reclaim their land.
no comment
No remarks yet coming from the White House ?
Wow, Mr. Obama was quick on the draw on the Martin case, without ANY FACTS. In Egypt's case, he has ALL THE FACTS.
Did you ever notice that in these Muslim countries conspiracy theories seem to rule the roost. Look at Pakistan...America,Zionists and India conspire to ruin the country. No one seems to point out that the Pakistanis are in a self created mess!
i don't see any women in this photo,what happened to them?
His mother Nawal Abdul was a US Citizen (Passport)-visited Egypt 5 times before her death. Why no women- Salafists are ultra fundamentalists- women in their world do not have same rights as men. You can read all about Egyptian Presidential candidates et al in Egypt Independent. How come that Muslim Brotherhood members were in the White House?- before any elections?
An interesting article
What are the Muslim Brotherhood's ideals toward women?
1. Egyptian Muslim women can not have marriage contracts with men on
their own since they have to have male guardians (i.e. father/uncle/
brother) signing for them
2. Their testimony is not acknowledged in court if they contradict the testimonies of men
3. They are not allowed to have the custody of their children once they reach the age of 12
4. They are not allowed to have military jobs
5. They are not allowed to run for president
6. They are not allowed to marry men of other faiths
7. They are not allowed to remarry within 3 months of their divorce
8. They are not allowed to become police officers
9. They are not allowed to pray in the main halls of mosques- they do pray in the gardens of mosques though!
10. They can not leave the country without the permission of their husbands
11. They do not have the right to know if their husbands married other women
12.
If they decided not to have sex with their husbands, Allah will send
his angels to punish them, but if men decided not to have sex with their
women, they are encouraged to do that because this is a form of
discipline
13. They are forced to wear hegab (head cover) in many Egyptian ministries (e.g awkaf)
14.
They can only get a divorce if their husbands approve and their
husbands can place them in a house of obedience (beet el taaah) if they
feel that they are rebellious. If these women refuse to go to these
houses they are called “nashez,” or pariah. (there is a new law that
allow women to seek divorce but it is very difficult to implement it)
15. Egyptian Muslim women get half of the inheritance of their brothers
Tabari IX:113 “Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to
beat them, but not severely. If they abstain, they have the right to
food and clothing. Treat women well for they are like domestic animals
and they possess nothing themselves. Allah has made the enjoyment of
their bodies lawful in his Qur’an.”
Qur’an 4:15 “If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the
evidence of four witnesses from amongst you against them; if they
testify, confine them to houses until death [by starvation] claims
them.”
Edward...thanks...well stated! Wake up world! Why are there no pickets demanding equality for women at every mosque in the US? Islam, the scourge of the earth and we do nothing...why?
Edward your Qur'an 4:15 quote is a lie. It does not say anywhere in the Qur'an that you are suppose to starve anyone to death. Qur'an 4:15 does not mention starvation at all. You evangelical nutjobs are very good in ignoring one of your own Commandments: "Thous shall not bear false witness". Just because Jesus washed off your sins does not mean it is ok to lie in order to belittle someone else's faith.
Jack whether you like Islam or not it is there and will always be there. There are billions of people that follow Islam and you have no right to force them to change. We should be more concerned about our own country. And Evangelical nutjobs are the real threat here. I say ship them to Egypt or better yet Afghanistan. You know, send our religious fanatics to Muslim religious fanatics. They have a lot in common. The real threat to our country is the fact that these Christian lunatics are allowed to vote.
There is so much talk about how bad Muslims are because Qur'an to them is more important than human rights or democracy. Well we have millions of people here in United States to whom the Bible is more important than the Constitution. They have no place in a free democratic society. This is a secular nation, and anyone who tries to influence politics based on their beliefs in a bronze age book of fairy tales should not have a right to vote. You give the Evangelicals enough power and you will see a government that is worse than that of Muslim Brotherhood.
Musafir
a better interpretation might be: by Dr. Ghali
And (as for) the ones of your women who come up
with the obscenity, (i.e., illegal sexual intercourse; abomination) so, call
four of you to witness against them. Then in case they (bear) witness, then
retain them (The pronoun is the feminine plural) in the homes until death takes
them up, (i.e., they die) or Allah sets for them a way.
Basically imprison them in your home, until they die.
Musafir
The verse in question, Qur'an 4:15 has the women imprisoned in the home and dieing, one way or the other, for their infidelity, yet nothing is said about the men being punished, who had equally been wrong. Why is it that your men are not being punished equally under the muslims holy books ?
Edward
Only women are mentioned in this sura because this sura deals with women issues. If you had cared to read the name of the sura "The Women" it might have helped you.
So since it is politically correct over there to present and elect anti-american candidates, does that mean it is also politically correct to present and elect anti-middle-east candidates here? (just being sarcastic) ... but it is such a double standard
Yes - See Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, etc
lol you know you are being silly Mo, very funny. Have you heard the rethoric of anti-american and anti-Israel leaders in the middle-east? seriously. Like Ahmadinejad's statement that he wanted to "wipe Israel off the map". And no, he doesn't mean fight terrorists, or the Taliban, and try not to cause collateral damage, and then help the citizens rebuild their country, he actually means wiping Israel off the map, kill everyone ... (and Cyrus the Great would be ashamed of him, if you know his history with jewish people you will understand).
Moderate Muslims and Christians in Egypt are not going to stand for this radical Islamist-type of candidate. And already there are many who wish that Mubarak were back. "Rather have him steal the country blind, than have no law and order at all," say many of the people. At present it is a free-for-all in Egypt, with no one inforcing any traffic laws, no one picking up the garbage piling up on the street, and people rebelling at everything. It is not safe to be out at night, because there are those out who will kidnap people for ransom. The question all Egyptians should be asking themselves is, "Do we really want to go back to the dark ages?" The radical Islamists want to repeal the law about how young a girl can get married, (they'd like it to be 8) and once again make it legal to circumcize their daughters. In Mubarak's time, it was illegal, but they would love to allow this to be an unpunishable act. This is one way men who are unsure of themselves can keep their women down. Make them all cover their faces completely, and take away all their rights.
Ohio Lady
I think you're right, but I just don't know if they will be able to stop it :(
Excuse me...I meant to say "enforcing." The other issue is that voting in one of these "smiling" Salafist candidates will put an end to tourism as Egypt has known it. Who wants to really vacation in Iran? Is this the role model they want?
Anna, the issue isn't about anti-Americanism in the disqualification of this candidate with an American mother. They would have made this an issue about her being from any country other than Egypt. It's the same rule which we have in America about our candidates. This is why so many have tried to prove Barack Obama not really a true American, born on our soil, etc. It may be the one good rule or thing about this campaign, because it may allow a more moderate Muslim to get elected as President as opposed to someone who is really fanatic, and wanting to really crack down on Christians and moderate Muslims.
Actually its not exactly the same rules, in this case (the egyptian guy) it is his mother who was american (and I'm not sure but I think she wasn't even born in America), not him (he was born in Egypt). The "issue" with President Obama is that some people think he was either born in Africa or in Hawai before it became an american state, the fact that his father was born in Africa is not an issue and doesn't disqualify him for presidency.
But either way my post was not about that, it was about the kind of people they elect over there, some who want to do things like "wipe Israel off the map" and are being praised for being so anti-america and anti-Israel. Look up Samir Kuntar for example (a guy from Lebanon), he was praised for killing a 4 yr old jewish girl with the butt of his gun, was received with honor by the president (and other officials) when he went back to Lebanon, and even got some medals, real and official ones, in different countries (like Syria).
What I had feared would happen unless the US stayed away from meddling in
Egypt's affairs which were none of our business, had finally come to
pass.
Egypt is in turmoil; because we saw fit to tell other people that
their life was miserable, hopeless, useless, and their rights were trampled
on. We told them they should demand a better life or better rights which other
people are enjoying in America.
We told them Americans could go out and
protest against their government anywhere in America anytime they want.
And..we told them, that's freedom! That's what you should aim for. Emulate the
Americans who are very happy and fortunate. And if Mubarak stymied you all,
bundle him out. With Uncle Sam's blessings and help (if necessary); don't
worry nothing could go wrong.
Egypt will be great once more; peaceful,
properous and united.
You all had done the right thing - to listen to
Uncle Sam. For Uncle Sam has only your best interests at heart. See, how happy
and peaceful Egypt had become! Now even the Muslim Brotherhood could run for
the office of president. Everyone can now do as they please.
Earlier the
Muslim Brotherhood promised if they won more seats in parliament, they would
not be running for president. But now they declared they would contest in the
presidential election anyway. They had changed their mind.
Anybody can change
his or mind. In Egypt. Egypt had become a free and democratic country. Nobody can
suppress or oppress anybody anymore. Egyptian women will showcase themselves to the world
how free they had become after MUbarak was removed, thanks to Uncle Sam.The economy will improve; the
tourists will flock back to Egypt to view the remains of King Tut; the Sphinx
of Giza, the Pyramids...! Everyone will live happily ever after.
Uncle
Sam never lies; so if Uncle Sam chooses to urge you all (oh! great people of
Egypt) to protest, you should choose to listen.
In the voice of Nelson Muntz "ha ha "
I think he is really C Everet Coop. Very conservative guy. Against smoking while pregnant. What else are women in Egypt supposed to do? They can't leave the house without a relative or go to school or do anything. I would smoke too.
Our government supported the overthrow of Mubarak so Egypt could hold free elections that reflect the will of the people. It appears that the will of the people is anti-American, pro Muslim...not a surprise. For all you women who supported the uprising...you got it...now live with it.
Musafar,
I say this to you and all Muslim countries beware of thinking that Americans are soft and weak do not believe that we have sold our so called morals for any way of life . We believe in freedom of speech and the right to follow your own way in Religion as long as you do not interfere with others in the practice of such. This is where the NEW Muslims have gone with revolutionary ideas that we are satan and all that crap. Pick us as a target again and I believe all you muslims that are in such a hurry for a Fatwah will get there wish about two weeks of it and you will be back in the 7th century exactly as the prophet left it you will have NO running water, NO electricity , No way to supply oil to get food , No comforts at all you will live in tents and ride camels for our missles will rain down upon you with all the unforgiving nature a smart bomb does and the only people you will have to blame is each other then you actually can fight Sunni against Shiite that should be enough entertainment for the rest of the Arab world how is it that the friends of the US like the Kuwaitis's and Quatar have wonderful and peaceful lives think about what you wish for as you might get it after watching what happened to Iraq I would think that you would finally understand what the consequences are for pissing off this country and oh yeah we will not have to put one boys foot on the ground to flatten everything within 1000 miles of your country.
Since this guy is running for office disqualifies him as a salafi for two reasons. One he is allowing his picture to be taken which is against Islam and he is running for a leadership which is also against Islam.
One of the Salaf said, “ No one seeks after authority and then behaves justly in it.” Yazeed ibn `Abdillaah ibn Mawhib was a just judge and one of the righteous people and he used to say, “Whoever loves wealth and status and fears adversity will not behave with justice.”
Guess we are not the only ones with "birther" problems. Better send Trump, he is the self-appointed expert.