The Muslim Brotherhood is not known for its liberal take on exposed thighs or high fashion styles, so it came as something of a surprise when news emerged that one of the top members of the party was hitched to a Syrian model.
According to documents obtained by social media sites, former presidential candidate and current bigwig of the Freedom and Justice Party, Khairat El-Shater, is legally married to a Syrian fashionista, Al-Bayan newspaper reported this week.
In March this year, the Freedom and Justice Islamist party announced their candidate for the Egyptian presidential elections. Khairat El-Shater had to formally resign from the Muslim Brotherhood in order to run but most commentators considered the two parties to be synonymous in any case.
Sadly for El-Shater, his recent stint in prison disqualified him from the race, leaving current president, Mohamed Morsi, to pick up the pieces. However, the original candidate seems to have found other ways to enjoy life's little pleasures, according to the marriage documents.
Political Islam certainly takes a dim view of women straying from the path of modesty but this was apparently no obstactle to El-Shater who, just four months after his disqualification from the race, married Maisa Imar Mohammed Khalil, a 21-year-old Syrian fashion model, living in Shekh Zayed City, just outside the capital.
While Syrian women are known in the region for their extraordinary beauty, a strongly religious man such as El-Shater would surely look for other qualities in his life-long partner.
Does the marriage make El-Shater a hypocrite? Or should personal and political lives stay entirely separate? Tell us what you think below.
