I usually go to Friday prayers at a mosque near my house that was built about two years ago. The Salafi tendency of the group in charge of the mosque was obvious the first time I went there; I liked that because they focused on virtuous conduct and deep spiritualism. But this has all changed over the past few weeks whereby political conversations have replaced discussions of moral behaviour and spiritualism. The Friday sermon by the Salafi cleric has transformed into a lecture about Salafi ideas regarding rule, borders, disparaging democracy, secularism, liberalism, socialism and even the Muslim Brotherhood.

The political knowledge of the Salafi cleric is not much more than an average person knows about nuclear power and genetic engineering, but nonetheless, he gave himself the right to tell us about things he knows nothing about. And since these are topics of dispute among those who know more about worldly matters, I noticed that worshippers looked bored and uncomfortable, but because of worship decorum they were unable to express themselves.

Several of my neighbours and myself have stopped going to the nearby Salafi mosque, but I noticed this did not stop the cleric now that this mosque —which was built with neighbourhood donations —has become a meeting point for many Salafis. They are keen on filling up the mosque that they liberated from the irreverent of our ilk after the revolution. Mosque doors are open all the time and the Salafi brothers are going in and out all day and all night, while we the residents who donated our money and effort to build this mosque can only watch with disappointment and seek out another mosque far from home and far from Salafis.

The outbreak of the Salafis on the Egyptian scene took many by surprise, but not myself. When the chains fell, the Salafis and others came out into the light. The problem with the Salafis, who are unlike any other political, religious or ideological trend, is that they give themselves rights that no one else has. At minimum, the majority of Salafis give themselves the right to physically change what they believe to be sinful.

We witnessed this and read about it in the assaults against Copts whom the Salafis believe had crossed the line, women who have a [bad] reputation but there is no proof against them, and the shrines of revered notables. It is as if the Salafis came out to terrorise those who oppose them in Egypt, and as if our fate is to continue living in fear in spite of the revolution.