Former presidential candidate Amr Moussa renewed his proposal to drop a provision in Article 2 of the new constitution, which states Al-Azhar should be the reference in explaining principles of Islamic Sharia.

Moussa, who is a member in the Constituent Assembly that drafts the constitution, said he officially renewed his proposal Monday, adding that he called for leaving the article in its original form, where the principles Sharia was the main source of legislation and Copts and Jews made legislation based on their own religious laws.

In a statement Monday, Moussa said he doesn’t oppose Al-Azhar being an independent authority, but warned that it should not practice guardianship or influence the legislative process that could affect the civil state. Moussa also criticized a Salafi proposal to amend Article 3 to state that sovereignty belongs to God, not people. 

“The line that says people are the main source of powers was included in all previous Egyptian constitutions and many other constitutions in democratic countries,” Moussa said, calling for the article to remain unchanged from the 1971 constitution.

Moussa further warned against mixing religion and politics, calling for the new constitution to make Egypt a civil country with a democratic system based on pluralism and citizenship.

Amr Ezzat, head of the freedom of religion and belief committee at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, also said in a statement Monday that making Al-Azhar the reference for Sharia would violate the powers of People’s Assembly to pass laws.