Dissenters from the Muslim Brotherhood are planning to establish a preaching association tentatively called Revival and Renewal, said a former Brotherhood member.

The new association would be dedicated to preaching and religious education, in order to make up for the Brotherhood’s neglect of these areas now that it is preoccupied with politics, the source said.

Former Brotherhood leaders are said to be behind the group, including former deputy of the supreme guide Mohamed Habib, lawyer Mokhtar Nouh and former Brotherhood spokesperson Kamal al-Helbawy, as well as a number of former youth members.

Helbawy told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the group would not be like the Brotherhood, which has paid less and less attention to preaching, even though that was one of its original mandates.

Members plan to use a variety of educational approaches and draw from several Islamic sources, he added.

The association would not interfere in politics, Helbawy stressed, and its members would be free to join any political party they choose, including secular and liberal parties.

Most of the association’s founders have a political allegiance to former presidential candidate — and former Brotherhood member — Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh and his Strong Egypt party.

Helbawy added that Mohamed Habib would likely chair the new group.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm