[11] It was also not well received by the Egyptian government, which brought its founders before a military court on the charge of setting up a party as an Islamist front.

[12] The leader of the party, Abou Elela Mady, as well as deputy head Essam Sultan, have been detained following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état.

The court's ruling was handed down in the wake of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, and made al-Wasat the first new party to gain official status after the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

[14] Its newly acquired official status allowed al-Wasat to compete in the next parliamentary election, and made it the first legal party in Egypt with an Islamic background.

[17] According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, al-Wasat "seeks to interpret Islamic sharia principles in a manner consistent with the values of a liberal democratic system.