This weekend proponents and opponents of President Mohammed Morsy’s early shop closing law have spoken out. Their mediums of communication speak as loudly as their message. The trendy restaurants of Zamalek have rallied around a Twitter campaign and firebrand preacher, Ahmed El-Mahalawy, gave his statements during Friday prayers.
Morsy spoke about the closing law after Friday prayers, according to news agencies, saying that if people do not get to sleep before two in the morning, the new time of mandated closing, they would not be able to get up for fajr, the first prayer of the day for Muslims. The state news agency, Al-Ahram, reported the president went on to say that political groups needed to put aside their personal interests and focus on the common good of Egypt, instead of wasting time.
Meanwhile, a digital storm has been worked up on Twitter by the owner of Wel3a Cafe, an upscale sheesha spot in Zamalek. It has introduced a campaign called #Mish7n2fl, the transliteration of the Arabic word for “we will not close down.”
The campaign has allowed restaurants to voice their intention to defy the law in the public sphere. Buffalo Burger worried online about betraying its customers, while Roma Pizza used the campaign to recommend the government consider employees whose jobs may be at risk because of the law. Fig Lounge, in Heliopolis, asked if the government wanted to “make Egypt dull and ugly.”
Meanwhile, on the same day Morsy was talking about national unity, controversial preacher, Ahmed El-Mahalawy, was railing against the law’s critics in Alexandria.
The preacher is quoted in Al-Ahram as saying, “those who object to the decision are imbeciles. They are against the implementation of Islamic law that will help build the society in a truly Islamic way.”
