The Islamic Party (formerly known as the Peace and Development Party ^[6] or Safety and Development Party) is an Islamist political party in Egypt. ^[4] The name of the party was changed in approximately December 2012. ^[7] The main leaders of the group are Mohamed Abu Samra ^[6] and Kamal Habib. ^[8] The party is backed by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group. ^[9] Most of the founders of the party are former members of the organization. ^[10] Many members of the party have court rulings that bar them from running for elected office. ^[11]

The party and Egyptian Islamic Jihad withdrew from the Anti-Coup Alliance in January 2014. ^[12] One of the reasons for the withdrawal was the rejection by the pro-Morsi coalition of the initiative ^[13] put forth by the Islamic Party that sought to end the crisis by appointing a presidential council composed of a civilian, an Islamist and a member of the army. ^[14] The party called for a "negotiated" solution on 8 February 2014. ^[15] The party rejoined the alliance around March 2014, ^[16] though there are indications that it has withdrawn again. ^[17]

The party is in favour of putting the Camp David Accords to a public referendum, expanding Islamic banking, abolishing mixed-sex education in secondary schools, forming a cultural media council to monitor the Egyptian media, respecting private property, progressive taxation, and is in favour of setting a minimum and maximum wage in line with inflation. ^[4]

The secretary general of the party, Mohamed Abu Samra, stated that it would vigorously oppose returning Egyptian Jews of Israeli descent to Egypt in response to a comment made by Essam el-Erian, a member of the Freedom and Justice Party and an adviser to President Morsi; he also stated that according to Sharia law, Jews deserve to be killed. ^[18]

• List of Islamic political parties
• Building and Development Party