There are 2 religious parties vying for power in Egypt. The Nour Party won 19% of the vote in the first round of Egypt's polls late last month, while the the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) secured 37%.

The Salafist Nour Party is modelled on Saudi's Wahibi tradition and is promising to enforce a ban on serving alcohol to foreigner nationals and Egyptian citizens alike. Party spokesman Nader Bakar told tourism-sector workers at a public rally that the party would only allow tourists to drink liquor they brought with them from abroad, and only in their hotel rooms.

He added that the party did not plan to set any restrictions on tourism related to Egyptian antiquities, such as the Great ?Pyramids of Giza and ancient Egyptian temples. However the party would ban beach tourism, which, he said, induces vice. Bakar went on to say that the Nour Party would establish a chain of hotels that would function in compliance with Islamic Law.

Mohamed Morsi, president of FJP, said that his party did not plan on banning alcohol in hotels and at tourist resorts or, for that matter, prevent Egyptians from drinking liquor in their homes.

Egypt's self-appointed morality police have been chased off by a group of women. Modelled after Saudi-Arabia's morality police, and reportedly financed by the Nour Salafi Party, the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was established in Egypt in December 2011 with the intention of imposing Islamic law (sharia) on Egypt's women in particular.

According to Egyptian media, the vigilante group has been harassing shoppers and shop owners. Barbers were ordered not to cut men's beards and shop owners were ordered not to sell indecent clothing, and threatened with punishment. The vigilantes also said they would be making regular checks in the area.

According to the Al Masry Al Youm newspaper the religious thugs and bullies would monitor people's behavior in the street and assess whether they contradicted God's laws. Volunteers would wear white cloaks and hold bamboo canes to beat violators and later would be provided with electric tasers.

However things didn't go quite as planned last week, when they burst into a beauty parlor in the Nile delta town of Benha, and ordered the women inside to leave or face physical punishment. The women hit back, literally. The women in the parlor grabbed the vigilantes' canes and began thrashing them, and chased them off.

A religious police force was recently established in Egypt.

Dubbed The Authority for Commanding Good and Forbidding Evil, similarly to the Saudi religious police, it aims to enforce compliance with Islamic sharia.

However, unlike the Saudi religious police this force does not operate on behalf of the state. In fact, it is unclear precisely who is behind it. Its Facebook page states that its founders are members of the Salafi Al-Nour party, the closest party to Allah's sharia, but that they are not working on its behalf, or on behalf of any other political party.

The site claims that the religious police will not use violence or coercion, but rather dialogue and guidance, in performing its tasks. However the police will be armed with cattle prods.

The Facebook page featured an announcement about 1,000 available jobs in the religious police, intended for citizens aged 25-40, with preference for Al-Azhar graduates.

Another announcement details the functions of the religious police:

• supervising proper behavior by citizens;
• encouraging citizens to attend prayers, and merchants to close shop during prayer time;
• ensuring that tourists respect the customs of Egyptian society and the commandments of the Islamic faith;
• reporting sharia violators to the authorities; and
• establishing popular committees to protect against theft and regulate traffic.

It was announced that members of the police force would wear a white robe with a religious police emblem and would carry electric prods, and that the police are considering employing females in places frequented by women.

Egyptian Presidential hopeful Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail has angered women in Egypt by saying he would force women to wear the hijab if he is elected as President.

The ultra conservative Ismail, long affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood but no longer a member, advocates the Salafi brand of extreme Islam that seeks to impose Sharia law.

According to Alarabiya Ismail said he would enforce the veil on women opposed to wearing it, and if they do not want to wear, they have to change their 'creed.' He went on to state this is Islam. Does she want to be a Muslim and not obey Allah's rules?

Bikyamasr reported that Egyptian women are angered by the intention to force the niqab on them. A group of Cairo University students have taken a stand by forming a women's alliance organization to protect their freedoms. They say this forcing of women to do this or that is not Egyptian. One member of the alliance stressed the veil is never forced, or it shouldn't be, so these people who are trying to do so are going against Islam. There is no obligation in religion, Islam says.

Egypt's People's Assembly Proposals and Complaints Committee has discussed a bill proposed by MP Adel Azzazy from the Salafi-oriented Nour Party, that would apply Islamic law for certain crimes.

The proposed law calls for the application of Heraba, an Islamic penalty for criminal actions that include overt robbery, murder, forcible taking of property with a weapon and vandalizing public facilities.

The penalties according to Azzazy's bill are execution in the case of murder, or cutting one arm and one leg from opposite sides of the culprit's body in the cases of robbery and forcible taking of property. If the taking of possessions is accompanied by murder, the penalty would be death or crucifixion, to be determined by the judge.

The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for the Egyptian presidency, Khairat Al Shater, declared that introducing Sharia would be his first and final objective if he wins elections in May and June.

Making his first reported statements since the Brotherhood's surprise decision to field him in the elections, Al Shater also promised to reform the Interior Ministry which long played a leading role in suppressing dissent.

Sharia was and will always be my first and final project and objective, Shater was quoted as telling a meeting of the Religious Association for Rights and Reform, a group of which he is a member, along with figures who belong to the hardline Salafist movement.

Update: Banned from Standing

20th April 2012. See article from bbc.co.uk

Egyptian election officials have barred 10 candidates from standing in upcoming polls, including former spy chief Omar Suleiman and the Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater. Ultra-orthodox Salafi Hazem Salah Abu Ismail and long-standing opposition leader Ayman Nour were also banned.

Shater, the leader of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, was struck off the list because of a former criminal conviction.

Questions over Shater's eligibility caused the Muslim Brotherhood to enter a second, back-up candidate.

Egypt's Islamist-dominated Religious Affairs Committee is considering a new film censorship law. It will be aimed at repressing local producers, distributors of film content deemed harmful to society.

According to committee head Sayed Askar, the law, if passed, would not differentiate between old and new films, and would be applied to any sexually-explicit content deemed harmful to society. The proposed legislation, he clarified, would penalise the producers and distributors of such content, and not actors.

When asked whether the law would only prohibit nudity or would also extend to hugs and kisses on film, Askar declined to provide details but stressed that the law would have the last word regarding censorship issues.

Article 1 of the bill reportedly calls for the establishment of an independent, 15-member Supreme Council for Audio and Visual Broadcasts. Council members would be appointed by the prime minister and include both Muslim and Christian representatives.

The law's second article, meanwhile, lays down the council's responsibilities and authorities. It also lists proscribed content, including scenes of a sexual nature, both verbal and visual; scenes depicting the use of drugs, alcohol or gambling; and scenes deemed insulting to particular professions, races, genders or religions.