The foundation of Israel in 1948 was considered as a threat to the Arab
world’s existence. When in later years the lost wars against Israel and quarrels
among the Arab states led to disillusionment concerning the Arab issue among
most Egyptians, an identity vacuum was created, and the soil was prepared for
a resurgence of Islam, which had already begun in Egypt in the 1920s. This
Islamic renaissance laid the foundations for a new global identity for most
Egyptians. It is political in character and today embraces not only the Arab
world but also Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Turkey, several African states and of late also Bosnia and the southern states
of the former Soviet Union. And while the moral values of the Islamic reli-
gion were being rediscovered, a decisive change took place in the Egyptian
people’s attitudes towards Western culture, leading to a rejection of its sys-
tem of values, or rather to criticism of what is understood as a total lack of
moral values. Religious leaders call on the masses for a return to the basics
of Islam as the intended foundation of a common culture. This movement is
usually called Islamic fundamentalism today. Under the influence of the Islam-
ists, the People’s Assembly – the Egyptian parliament – introduced Article 2
into the currently valid constitution, declaring Islam to be the state religion
and stipulating Islamic law, the shari’a, as the first source of all legislation