The former Egyptian regime was often – and sometimes rightfully – accused of exploiting the sectarian clashes between the Muslims and the Copts, in order to tighten its security and political grip. Indeed, in addition to it being an expression of the predicament affecting the relations between the components of a society in crisis, sectarian strife had a political function exploited by the regime to cover up other crises, to distract Egyptian society from other main issues, or provoke Muslim sentiments at times and Coptic ones at others. In any case, the security apparatuses and the police were tasked to deal with these outbursts and supervise the arrangement of the settlements, whether judicial or customary, thus keeping the handling of strife an approach and a political option adopted by the regime. Following the departure of the former regime and the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood to the presidency, the way strife used to be handled drastically changed. In light of the constituent stage and the controversy it witnessed over the constitution, the MB, through its representative in the presidency Muhammad Morsi and with the support of the various Islamic movements, pushed the Sharia'a issue and its implementation to the forefront, turning any discussion of the articles related to it into some sort of apostasy. In addition, the MB and the leaders of the Islamic movements launched an unprecedented instigation campaign against whoever criticized or expressed reservations over their position towards the constitution, under the pretext that they alone defended the Sharia'a. By doing so, they set the foundations for a major social rift which is currently being conveyed by the targeting of the press and the judicial institutions, but also the targeting of social factions such as the liberals and the Copts. In other words, the MB took the handling of the elements of sectarian strife from the security level - to which the former regime resorted - to the social level, thus provoking a wide rupture within the country after it worked on the enhancement of segregation in the constitution. The Islamists in Egypt are trying to establish a fait accompli through the constitution, which they wish to ratify in a devious manner through the Shura Council. They also want to spread a culture to target those who are different politically and religiously, while the dozens of incidents in which the supporters of the Islamists have been implicated on the street against the Egyptians is a mere expression of this new reality. And in light of the approach adopted by President Morsi, this crisis, in addition to the other economic and political ones, is expected to escalate. Indeed, while the problem resides in constitutional articles that are deepening the segregation among citizens based on gender and religion, the president is resorting to superficial and useless solutions. And while the Egyptians' blood is being shed on the streets, their properties are being burned and the tensions and threats to carry out acts of violence are increasing, the president handled the situation – as stated on his Facebook page – by “issuing orders to reestablish and reactivate the Justice and Equality National Council, which aims to enhance these values and spread and raise awareness about the culture of citizenship, while contributing to finding legal and realistic guarantees ensuring justice and equality between the Egyptians, regardless of their origin, gender, religion or belief." But neither the president, nor any among his advisors, was asked about the meaning of such a council, at a time when segregation is being carried out at the level of the constitution. Indeed, the insistence on the preservation of equality between the Egyptians is not serious, in the absence of any attempts to institutionalize this quality. But on the ground, the situation is completely different, considering that the Islamists' approach is pushing towards further division and segregation between the citizens. And while the former regime used to exploit the crisis, the MB regime in Egypt is deepening and pushing it towards limits threatening the country's unity. Wasn't the MB regime in Sudan – before the MB regime in Egypt – the first one to have called for and tolerated division based on the principle that whoever did not want an Islamic authority could secede?
