New decree prevents Sheikh from voting

Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, was barred from voting on the Egyptian referendum in his birthplace in Luxor. His brother Mohammed Al-Tayyeb, Sheikh of the Sufi Al-Khuluwateia Al-Hasaneia Order, told Arabstoday his brother was surprised to learn he would be unable to vote after arriving in his hometown of Al-Qurna in eastern Luxor because he was registered to vote in Cairo. Al-Tayyeb told Arabstoday that his brother had wished to take part in the referendum and had not known when he arrived in Luxor for a family visit that a new law had been decreed banning provisional voting. Sheikh Al-Tayyeb said he had advised his children, family members and close friends to vote “Yes” in the referendum to promote stability and allow rebuilding and development. He had urged voters to take part in the referendum and to consult their religious and patriotic conscience before attending the ballot box. He called the exercise “a national duty that should be performed in such a way as to place Egypt among modern, national constitutional democracies.” Al-Tayyeb also asserted that fabricating the will of the people was unlawful in Islam and that voters must be left to their free will and personal choice.