Islamic Cairo, Egypt

Cairo is Islamic, though some areas are more so than others. Actually, this area is no more Islamic than Central Cairo, but as though walking through a time machine we are transported back to Cairo's past Islamic heritage, to a world of ancient mosques and 1,500 hundred year old markets; to medieval forts and the city that was Salah ad-Din's.

One should dress appropriately if sightseeing is in order, though it is not necessary when simply shopping in the Khan. Appropriate clothing involves clothing which will be acceptable in the mosques, with little skin showing, and particularly not legs and shoulders. Wear comfortable shoes that can be easily removed.

Almost all of the old Mosques and Islamic Monuments will have Markers

To start this journey, we return to Midan Ataba. However, before proceeding into the Islamic district, lets head southwest along Mohammed Ali street to the intersection of Port Said (Bur Said) street and visit the Islamic Museum, which will provide us with some additional knowledge and resources prior to entering Islamic Cairo. We can then proceed northeast on Port Said street until it intersects with Sharia al-Azhar, which we will take to the east (right). We will first pass the carpet market (H) and then the Mosque-Madrassa of al-Ghouri (66) and then his Mausoleum (67) (the black and white buildings, circa 1505 AD), which are both worth a visit. This complex is a beautiful reminder of the Mamluk era of Egypt, when slaves were kings, but it was al-Ghouri who turned the rule over to the Ottomans with his defeat in Syria. Of note is that there are Sufi performances held in the mausoleum. This whirling dance is a must see in the authors opinion. The Wikala of al-Ghouri (68) (the best preserved wikala in Cairo) is just east of the complex, which serves as a theater and concert hall, along with artist's galleries. Skirting the Khan and continuing on al-Azhar street, past the Mosque of Abu Dahab (69) (circa 1774 AD), which currently houses students of the al-Azhar Mosque University, we arrive at the al-Azhar Mosque (70), which was founded in 970 AD. It is one of Cairo's oldest mosques, but perhaps more importantly, it is the world's oldest university and certainly worth a look. The street which runs along the side of the al-Azhar Mosque is Shari Atfa el-Azhari and at the end of this street is Beit Zeinab Khatun (not indicated on map), built in 1468 and refurbished in 1713. The first floor reflects the style of the Mamluks era while the second is Ottoman. Opposite the house is the El-Ayni Mosque, and beyond that are two old houses at the end of Shari Atfa el-Ayni. They are the Beit al-Harrawi, built in the 1700's and close by is Beit Sitt Wassila (circa 1637 AD).

See also:

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• Our Feature Article on the Khan el-Khalili

Turning back and heading back up to the front of the Al-Azhar Mosque, we can head north a short distance and we will arrive at Midan Hussein (pictured left). This was the center of medieval Cairo and today remains an important area for some Islamic religious festivals, including Ramadan. To the north of this is a relatively new (1870) Mosque of Sayyidna al-Hussein (71). Though new in terms of Egypt, it is a very sacred site to Muslims and those not of that faith should not enter. Across the street is the Ahmed Pasha Sabil (73), while to the south of the Al-Hussein mosque is the new al-Azhar Park, a mega project that has transformed the surrounding neighborhoods as well as adding needed greenery to the City. The al-Azhar Park offers an excellent view of the surrounding area and is a nice place to take a rest at the Hilltop or Lakeside Cafes.

The 'knowing' traveler sometimes dismisses the Khan el-Khalili as a tourist trap, and indeed, all manner of souvenirs may be purchased there, from statues to 'personalized' cartouches to papyrus art. But the Khan (meaning market) predates tourism to the area and was established in the 14th century. Further, most tourists tend to buy souvenirs, and for many items, this is the best and least expensive place to buy them with the most variety. But many things are sold here, and one discovers that the Egyptians are here as well, buying their fabrics and clothes, pots, and other ordinary household needs. Step into this world by heading west Muski street from Midan Hussein. Many of the shops for specific goods are clustered along specific streets, or in specific areas. For example, there is the Coppersmith's street. However, this is less true then most guide books would have one believe. Many shops, particularly those catering specifically to tourists have a variety of different products.

Where Muski street crosses al-Muizz li-Din Allah street, two mosques sit opposite each other on either side of Muski. The southern one is the Mosque of al-Ashraf Barsbey (circa 1425 AD) (also known as the Ashrafiya Medersa) (72), which is a complex consisting of a mosque-medersa, a mausoleum and sabil-kuttab, while the northern one is the Mosque of al-Mutahhar (73) (circa 1744 AD) built by Abd el-Rahman Katkhuda. The Mosque of al-Mutahhar has a wonderful marble covered floor. Al-Muizz li-Din Allah street was named for the Fatimid caliph who conquered Cairo in 969 AD and was the main street of medieval Cairo.  

North of the Khan el-Khalili

Up Al-Muizz li-Din Allah past the gold and copper merchants at the northern end of the Khan is the area known as Bein al-Qasreen (between the Palaces) and at one time there were two great palaces here. Today, its minarets, domes and towering buildings leave visitors impressed with the Islamic tradition of the area. We first encounter the Madrassa and Mosoleum of Qala'un (1) to the left (east) side of the street. The Madrassa and Mausoleum of Qala'un is the earliest building in the area (circa 1279 AD) and probably the most interesting to visit. A madrassa was a hospital, and there is still a clinic here, which, remarkably means that this madrassa has been providing medical care for some 700 years. Just behind this building is the Taghri Bardi Mosque. Just north of the Madrassa and Mausoleum of Qala'un is first the Madrassa and Mausoleum of an-Nasir Mohammed (2) (circa 1304 AD, with an ornate arched door seized from a church in Acre), and then the Madrassa and Mausoleum of Barquq (3) (circa 1386 AD) , both on the east (left) side of the street and both of which make for interesting visits. To the north of these, but in the same complex is the Kamiliya Madrassa (4) (Circa 1180-1238 AD) built by Sultan el-Kamil, but little remains of this.

The Madrassa and Mausoleum of as-Salih Ayyub (5) (circa 1242-1250 AD) is the first building on the west side of the street across from the Madrassa and Mosoleum of Qala'un. This is one of the first Ayyubid Madrassas and one of the few that survive, though all that remains is a wall surmounted by a minaret. Next is Baybar's Madrassa (6), followed by the Ismail Pasha Sabil-Kuttab (7) (circa 1535), behind which is the Uthman Katkhuda Palace (8) (circa 1350) which was once a Mumluk residence. Continuing North up Al-Muizz li-Din Allah after the Ismail Pasha Sabil-Kuttab is the Beshtak Palace (9) built in 1334 AD by Emir Beshtak. A small, outer door leads to the 13th century Beshtak or El-Fijl Mosque on the first floor of the palace.

Further up the street one the right (east), we find the Sabil-Kuttab of Abdel Katkhuda (circa 1744 AD) A sabil is a fountain, while a kuttab is a Quranic (religous) school, and there are several of these remaining in Cairo (the school its atop the fountain). While this may sound like a strange combination, they satisfy tow basic recommendations of the Prophet, which are water for the thirsty and spiritual enlightenment for the ignorant. After the Sabil-Kuttab of Abdel Katkhuda, still on the east side of the street is the Mosque of al-Aqmar (11) (meaning Moonlit, and built in 1125 AD. Sometimes called the Gray Mosque). Up the street just a bit further is Darb al-Asfar street. Making a right here and heading east a few steps we come to Beit as-Suhaymi (12) (house of as-Suhaymi and probably the finest example of an Ottoman house in Cairo).

Beit as-Suhaymi

To the east in the area between the Sabil-Kuttab of Abdel Katkhuda and the Beit as-Suhaymi (17th Century) are winding streets with a myriad of Islamic buildings one may wish to wonder through. One finds in the streets just behind the Sabil-Kuttab of Abdel Katkhuda the Sheikh Sinan Mausoleum (13), then the Mithqal Mosque (14), followed by the El-Higaziya Mosque (15) and across Al-Gamaliyya the El-Ahmedi Mosque (16) (17th century) is located on the corner of Darb el-Tabalawi to the south, with the Muharram Mosque (17) (circa 1539 located on the corner of Atfa el-Qaffasin and Shari al Gamaliyya) just north of it, the Oda Bashi Wakala (18) behind that which is in front (west) of the Musafirkhana Palace (19) (circa 1779), which is now destroyed by fire. To the north of Muharram Mosque back on Al-Gamaliyya is the Oda Bashi Sabil-Kuttab (20) (circa 1673), whose front has decroative green and blue tiles and surmounted by a wood canopy, and up Al-Gamaliyya on the left (west) is El-Ustadar Mosque (21) and between that and the El-Aqmar are the Bazaraa Wakala (22) (17th century) to the south and the Said el-Saada Mosque (23) to the north. Behind the Beit as-Suhaymi (on Al-Muizz li-Din Allah) to the east is the Qitasbay Sabil-Kuttab (24) and behind that across Al-Gamaliyya is the Qara Sunqur Medersa (25) and behind that the Suleyman Aga Sabil.(26)

Back on Al-Muizz li-Din Allah, and heading north again, we next come to the Mosque of Suleyman Aga el-Silahdar (27) (circa 1839 AD) which is worth a visit, and finally to the southeast corner of the Mosque of al-Hakim (28) (completed in 1010 AD).

Continuing to the northeast corner of the mosque will bring one to Bab al-Futuh (29) (Gate of Conquest) and the Northern walls, which were built in about 1087 AD to defend the Fatimid city of Al-Qahira. Notably, along the way one may notice the garlic and onion market on the east side of the street. Until about 1850, this was the last slave market in Egypt. Exit the gate and turn right (west) to get a feel for this massive and grand military defense. Walking along the wall, one will next come to the Bab an-Nasr (30) (Gate of Victory) with its square towers. reenter the area through this gate and to ones right sitting along side the al-Hakim Mosque is the Wikala of Qaytbay (31) (a medieval merchants inn circa 1481). One will certainly wish to visit both the al-Hakim and Wikala of Qaytbay, as well as the El-Jashankir Mosque (32) which sits south of the Wikala, but also of interest is the entrance to the top of the Northern Wall from the roof of al-Hakim Mosque. From there, one may walk along the top of the wall and explore the inside of the gates. Just as a note, looking north one sees housing, but this is also what is left of the Bab an-Nasr cemetery.  

The Northern Cemetary


Just outside the North Wall is Al-Galal Street, which we now wish to take along the wall to the south and the Bab an-Nasr Cemetery to the North. Heading east (right, as one exits either of the Northern Gates away from al-Hakim) on this street will finally bring us to the Northern Cemetery.

The Northern Cemetery, also known as the City of the Dead, is a true curiosity. It is a cemetery, but also a city of the living. Originally, Cairo's rulers selected the area for their tombs outside the crowed medieval city in a location that was mostly desert. However, dating back to early pharaonic times, Egyptians have not so much thought of cemeteries as places of the dead, but rather places where life begins. Hence, tombs were often thought of as places to entertain, and guest facilities for visitors were often appended to the tombs. So it came to be that squatters as early as the 14th century took up residence in the tombs, living easily alongside the dead. Today, cenotaphs are used as tables, and clothing lines are strung between headstones and the area is fully recognized by the government as both a cemetery and a residential area. One more mystery in a city that once required kings to first be slaves.

Upon entering the Cemetery along Al-Galal street, past Salah Salem street, we will encounter the 1967 War Cemetery at the intersection of Ahmed Ibn Inal Street. We can take a short jaunt to the right (north) just past the War Cemetery where we will first find the Mosque of Amir Qurqumas (1507) and then the Religious and Funerary Complex of Sultan Inal (1456). These are, are have been restored by a Polish team. Now back down the street retracing our steps to the south and the intersection with Al-Galal where we entered, make a left heading east and we will pass the tomb of Asfur on the right (south) and come to the Khanqah and Mausoleum of Ibn Barquq which was completed in 1411 AD. Ibn means 'son' and this is the mausoleum of Farag, Ibn Barquq's son. From there, head due south on the road and very shortly we come to the Complex of Sultan Ashraf Barsbey (1432). The dome of the complex is carved with a wonderful star pattern. Inside, the floors are fine marble, and the pulpit is inlaid with ivory.

Continuing south, we will come to the Mosque of Qaytbay (circa 1474 AD), who was the last Mamluk ruler in Egypt with much power. The gateway is south of the Mosque. Now heading east again to leave the Northern Cemetery, on Salah Salem, we need to look for Al Azhar street which should be near, and head back to the area of the Khan.  

South of the Khan el-Khalili to the Citadel

We must first trace our way back east to Al-Muizz li-Din Allah past the Khan el-Khalili, and take a left heading south between the buildings of the al-Ghouri complex. Just before we pass the Mosque of al-Fakahani (48) (circa 1145 but rebuilt in the 17th century) there is a small street leading east where Beit Gamal ad-Din (47) (1637) is located at 6 Hara Hoch Qadam (circa 1637). The house is typical of Cairo's upper class of the 17th century. The front has two projecting mashrabiya panels overlooking the street, and is entered via an arched doorway. It has an inner courtyard and a second floor harem chamber.

To the east of Al-Muizz li-Din Allah is Hara el-Rum, the old Christian Quarters, which was built outside the city walls originally. In the 11th century, the walls were moved to encompass this area. It was the seat of the Coptic patriarchate until the 19th century. There are a few old Christian monuments here, including the Church and Monastery of St. Tadros and the 6th century Church of the Virgin (El-Adra), which was rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in the 11th and 14th centuries

Continuing south on Al-Muizz il-Din Allah we find the Tussan Pasha Sabil (49) (circa 1820) to the east (left), which was built by Mohammed Ali in memory of a son who died at the age of twenty. The kuttab are rooms scattered throughout the building. East of this at the end of Atfa el-Tateri is the Beit Shabshiri (50) built during the 17th century. The house is small, but there is an interior courtyard which is overlooked by projecting mashrabiya panels, lattice windows and galleries. The harem chamber encompasses the whole of the east wing and overlooks the street and courtyard through mashrabiyas.

Finally, back on Al-Muizz li-Din Allah we continue south and arrive at another complex of Islamic monuments. Here we find the Bab Zuweila (51), which was built at the same time as the Northern Gates, but which has a much more gruesome history. The Mosque of al-Mu'ayyad (52) is the building to the east (right), completed in 1422 by Al-Mu'ayyad (known as the Red Mosque). The view from the top of the mosques' minarets is said to be about the best in Cairo. Just east of the Bab Zuweila is the Wakala and Sabil-Kuttab of Nafisa al-Beida (53) which is an information center for Islamic Cairo. Built during the 18th century, the rabaa section is still inhabited. The sabil-kuttab is located in the southern section of the building. We can continue south on Al-Muizz li-Din Allah where we will pass the Frag Ibn Barquq Zawia (54) (circa 1408 AD, but all that remains are two reception rooms) Next is the Mahmud el-Kurdi Mosque (55) (circa 1395 AD) on the left (east) which has a mosque-medersa and mausoleum. About 20 more yards to the south is the Inal el-Yusufi Mosque (56) (circa 1392 AD) on the left. It was built in the same style as the Mahmud el-Kurdi Mosque, with the only real difference being the shape of the minarets and decorations. Qaytbay Palace (57) is behind that, but all the remain of this palace built in 1485 is the maqaad, which consist of two ancient columns surmounted by three Gothic arches. However, we want to trace our way back north up Al-Muizz li-Din Allah to Darb al-Ahmar to continue.

Just to the south of this intersection is the Mosque of as-Salih Tala'i (58) (founded in 1160 by the emir As-Salih Talai, vizier to the last of the Fatimid caliphs). We will make a right off Al-Muiz li-Din Allah and heading more or less east on Darb al-Ahmar (Red Road). By the way, behind (south) of as-Salih Tala'i is the tent maker's market, which is in fact Radwan Bey Kasbah (59), the only remaining covered market which was built in the 17th century by emir Radwan Bey. This area of Islamic Cairo is called Darb al-Ahmar after the street name, and the first building of interest we come to will be the Mosque of Qijmas al-Ishaqi (60) (circa 1481 AD). This area was built up in the late Mamluk era and this is one of the finest examples of the era's architecture. Though plain on the outside, inside are wonderful stained glass windows, inlaid marble floors and stucco walls. Next door to this is the el-Mihmandar Mosque (61) (circa 1324-5 AD), which has a central courtyard and four iwan. The mausoleum located in the northeast corner has a fluted stone exterior.

Mosque of al-Maridani

A little further down Darb al-Ahmar (now actually Sharia at-Tabana) we next come to the Mosque of al-Maridani (62) (circa 1339 AD), known for its confusion of styles and incorporation of pharaonic columns. The mosque is virtually a self contained history of Egypt, with arch designs from the Roman, Christian and Islamic eras. The fountain is Ottoman.

Further down Sharia at-Tabana, we pass the Madrassa of Umm Sultan Sha'ban (63) on the right (east). West and behind this mosque is the Beit er-Razzaz (64). The house was refurbished by Katkhuda er-Razzaz in 1778 from the palace originally built by Sultan Qaytbay in the 15th century. It has two courtyards and a beautiful harem chamber. Note the carved work on the vertical wood bays which extend from floor to ceilling. One of the entrances is reached from inside the shops on the Shari el-Tabbana.

Tarbay as-Sharifi Mosque

Next, we arrive at the Mosque of Aqsungur (65) (originally circa 1347 AD, but added to since then), popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue-gray marble on the outside of the building. It is considered a major, must see attraction. A little further we will pass (remainder of monuments are not shown on map), all on the left (east) first the Khayrbak Mosque (circa 1502 - 1520 AD), the Alin Aq Palace (circa 1293 AD), the Tarabay as-Sharifi Mosque (circa 1503 AD) and the Aytmishi Mosque (circa 1383 AD). Just a little further south we pass the el-Mu'ayyad Madrassa (circa 1418 AD), and from here, we soon arrive at the medieval fortress called the Citadel, one of Cairo's best known attractions.


 

Mosque of Khayrbay  

Leaving the Citadel

Umm Abbas Sabil-Kuttab

Just north of the Citadel is Midan Sala ad-Din. The square was built in the 12th century at the same time as the Citadel, and was once a parade ground. To the north is the El-Gawhara el-Lala Mosque (76) (circa 1430 AD) which is very small. East and southeast are the Qanibey Medersa (77) (circa 1503 AD) and the Mahmudiya Medersa (78) (circa 1567-8 AD). Northwest of this is a complex of two mosques, consisting of the Mosque and Madrassa of Sultan Hassan (33) (circa 1356-63 AD), and across from it, the Mosque of ar-Rifai (34) (circa 1869 AD) which is a much newer mosque begun in 1867 with additions as late as 1912. It was built on the site of the Sheikh ar-Rifa'i zawia built in 1122 AD. The Mosque and Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, however, dates from between 1356 and 1363, and is believed to be one of the finest examples of Mamluk architecture in Cairo. Just a little east of this complex on Suyufiya street is the Madrassa of Sungur Sa'adi (35) (circa 1315 AD) and the old Dervish Theater, where the original Dervish monks performed their magnificent whirling dances. However, back at Midan Salah ad-Din we want to head east back towards Central (Modern) Cairo on Saliba (Abdel Meguid) street. Very shortly, we first come to the Sabil-Kuttab of Qaytbay (36) (circa 1479 AD) on the left (south) with its beautiful marble inlays. Next we will pass the Qanibey el-Mohammedi Mosque (circa 1413 AD) on our left, which has a single iwan and a wood ceiling over the courtyard. We will pass between the Mosque of Shaykhu (37) (circa 1349-55 AD) on the right (north) and his Khanqah (38) to the left, then past the Umm Abbas Sabil-Kuttab on the right, which was built in the 19th century, and then the Medersa of Tagri Bardi (circa 1440 AD) (39) on the right and finally arrive at the Sarghatmish Medersa (circa 1356 AD) (40) on the left. North, several blocks from here, are the El-Yusufi Mosque (74) and the Ahmed Efendi Sabil (75).


 

Mosque of Ibn Tulun

However, our interest lies in the large Mosque of Ibn Tulun (41) (circa 876-9 AD) behind this, which is a very early Abbasid structure dating to 876 AD, only around 200 years after the Islamic conquest of Egypt. Behind the Mosque is the Gayer-Anderson Museum (42), where the houses which form the museum are at least as interesting as the exhibits within.

After visiting the Gayer-Anderson Museum, we need to head back to Abdel Meguid street and continue our journey east past the Sangar Salar Mosque and Mausoleum (cira 1304 AD) (43) on the left and the Sayyida Zeinab Cultural Park on the right and on to Midan Sayyida Zeinab where we will be entering Central Cairo once again. However, The Sabil-Kuttab of Sultan Mustafa (44) is on the north side of the Midan, while the Haram Zeinab Fatatri (45) is on the east side of the Midan. The building on the west side is the Mosque of Sayyida Zeinab (46) which is contemporary with the El-Hussein but rebuilt in 1549, 1761 and 1884.

We have not touched upon all the monuments in Islamic Cairo, Exploring can be a fun thing in Egypt, and we hope viewers who visit will take the time to look around, find new sites, and even report them back to us at Tour Egypt.

This concludes our tour of Islamic Cairo. Next, please take our tour of Old Cairo, with some of the oldest churches and mosques in the world.


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A walk down Mui'z Street

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Moderate" Islam in Egypt - But not for Converts to the Christian Faith

ROMA - Broken by the very well-informed agency "AsiaNews" of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, the news of the arrest in Egypt of citizens guilty only of being ex-Muslim Christians sheds new light on the dangers encountered by those who convert from Islam to another faith.

The dangers are there even in the West, for Muslims who convert. These protect their decision with a thousand precautions. And the Church does the same toward those who convert to the Christian faith. About their preparation for baptism, the Italian bishops¿ conference published in 2000 a booklet of instructions. The first: "From the initial greeting, it is important to guarantee discretion." Even the total number of baptisms is kept secret. It is known that, in Italy, approximately one half of the converts are Albanian: and these face the least danger, because in Albania Islam is almost exclusively a nominal religion, with very little social command. But for the Maghrebs, or the Syrians, or the Pakistanis, the risk is serious. Both the Muslim community at home and their own family ban them like apostates. It can happen that their very lives hang by a thread.

Muslim Kurds are another island of relative tolerance toward the converts. Daniel Ali embraced Christianity while he was still living in northern Iraq and fighting against Saddam Hussein. He emigrated to the United States in 1993, was baptized in 1995, and in 1998 entered the Catholic Church. Working together with the Jesuit expert in Arabic studies Mitch Pacwa, he has created a "Christian-Islamic Forum" and travels around the U.S. to preach Christianity to other Muslims.

But a clandestine life is the rule almost everywhere in the world. And on the part of the Catholic Church, there is a widespread tendency to respond to this situation simply by refusing to "create the problem"; that is, to proselytize among Muslims. An Italian director of the Fondazione Migrantes, who asked to remain anonymous, has worked for years with Tunisian Muslims and says: "We decided not to encourage conversion to Christianity in any way, no matter what cardinal Giacomo Biffi thinks about it." The bellicose cardinal has exactly the opposite conviction: "Preaching and baptizing are statutory duties of the Church. For all. Jesus did not command us to preach the gospel to all creatures except for the Muslims, the Jews, and the Dalai Lama."

The tendency to conduct dialogue without evangelizing has its own negative repercussions on those who become Christian nonetheless. The complaint of a Maghreb woman named Nura made its way last September all the way to the Vatican: "We feel abandoned. After our conversion, we have no one to support us. We ask the Church for help: protect us, defend us." Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, responded to her with a bunch of hot air - even worse, with mistrust. "One must always ask for the reasons for this change. It often presents itself as the desire to be a real Italian. But on can be Italian and Muslim at the same time. I would be concerned from the beginning, in the sense of the welcome within the Christian community."

A few days later, on September 28, John Paul II published the list of the new cardinals. Fitzgerald, who was thought would surely get the red hat, was not there. A few weeks later, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger added in an interview, "we must have the courage to help these people," and get rid of a certain "Christian conscience that is unsure of itself." The authoritative periodical "La Civiltà Cattolica," an unofficial organ of the Holy See, refreshed the public memory about the living conditions in Islamic countries, with an unprecedentedly tough article. So there¿s been a leap forward. Who knows if Nura will feel any less alone?

But here is a closer look at what has happened in Egypt in recent weeks, with an Islamic regime generally classified as "moderate." This inquiry was published in "L¿espresso" no. 50, for December 5-11, 2003.


Thou Shalt Have no Other Allah

by Dina Nascetti


CAIRO - At 13 years of age, Ibrahim knew the Koran by heart. The imam in his Cairo neighborhood used him as an example for many young people, and foresaw for him a future as a great preacher of the most radical sort of Islam. Ibrahim had become that young preacher: already at 16 years of age, on Fridays, with the exuberance and impetuosity of his youth, he harangued the faithful who came running to the mosque to hear him, the rising star of the jihad, the holy war. "I had imposed the veil on all the women of my family; my grandmother, my mother, my sisters," he recounts. "I could not endure the non-Islamic expressions of our society in daily life. I kept watch and denounced anyone who did not respect the rules and deviated from the right way."

Ibrahim was preaching in the mid-1990¿s, when, under the pressure of the Islamic movements, many of them connected with the university of Al Azhar, the hadit had been reintroduced to Egypt. The hadit are the sayings of Mohammed on the isba, the principle that allows anyone to begin an inquiry against someone who strays from the teaching of the sharia, the Islamic law, and on the ridda, the accusation of apostasy. One of the first hadit holds that the blood of a Muslim "may be spilled in three cases: homicide, adultery, and apostasy." Thus the pious citizen is authorized to kill the sinner. On the basis of this dogma, many intellectuals condemned for their unorthodox works were assassinated during those years, or seriously injured, like the Nobel-winning writer Naghib Mahfuz.

Two years ago Ibrahim, who was born into the faith in Allah and the Koran, converted to the Catholic faith. He took the name Mikeil, Michael, the archangel most venerated in Egypt. Convents, churches, and chapels are dedicated to Michael all over the country. The remnants of places of worship consecrated in pre-Islamic Egypt are still visible in the Babylon fortress in Old Cairo.

But Ibrahim-Mikeil lives his conversion in great secrecy. His family, his friends, and even his wife are unaware of it. He risks being run over by the accusation of apostasy, he says, "on the part of old friends, a relative, which could become a death sentence, or in the best of cases a sentence which would inflict years of imprisonment and certain torture."

Are Ibrahim¿s fears well-founded? In a formal sense, no. Article 3 of the Egyptian constitution of 1923 proclaims the equality of all Egyptians before the law, without distinction of race, language, or religion. But the reality is different. Since 1971, a constant tendency toward the islamicization of the Egyptian justice system has been in course. President Anwar Al-Sadat, later killed by Islamic fundamentalists, was the one who accepted certain requests from the Muslim Brotherhood aimed at combating the nationalist parties and the left, which opposed his economic policies: he introduced into the constitution an amendment according to which "sharia is one of the principal sources of legislation," which became, in 1980, the "principal source."

"A Muslim from birth can never change religions," affirms Youssef Sidhom, the director of the Christian weekly "Watani": "They will not only seek by every means to dissuade him, but his very life will be in danger. He will be excluded from his inheritance and from the community to which he belongs. But on the contrary, an Egyptian Christian who embraces the Muslim faith is welcomed with many parties, his identity card is quickly changed, he is helped in his job and with his house."

The secrecy in which he lives his new faith has permitted Ibrahim-Mikeil, for now, to escape the police roundups that have led to the arrest of 23 Egyptian converts to Christianity, while hundred of others are being sought. This news, completely ignored by the Egyptian media, was broken from Rome by the agency "AsiaNews", which provides information on the critical situation of Christians in the Islamic world. The only Arabic newspaper to have recounted the arrests has been "Al Quds," which is produced in London and banned in Egypt. It denounces: "The work of the Egyptian police to criminalize ex-Muslim converts to Christianity continues in silence. We are amazed that a matter of such delicacy should be left in the hands of police forces. It is true that sharia does not allow apostasy, but in a state ruled by law this question should certainly not be confronted in conformity with fundamentalist tendencies."

According to a priest who asked to remain anonymous, "the arrests by the police, which have been infiltrated by now, like the magistratures and professional corporations, are due to the rooting of fundamentalism in the Egyptian educational system. As a matter of fact, there are many cases in which students belonging to minority religions have been heavily discriminated against and maltreated. It happens, for example, that Christian girls in elementary schools are forced to wear the veil. The public schools have suffered strong interference from the imams of Al Azhar and the governing authorities, which have long been inclined to satisfy the requests of the fundamentalists in order to maintain their own power. For months one hears nothing of the arrested converts. And in the meantime, they suffer beastly mistreatment. Then their fate will be asked of a judge, who is not always impartial. Assuming they are not condemned, the only thing they can do is to go into exile in the United States, Canada, or Australia, in order to avoid disdain both within their families and in the communities around them."

These aspects are completely overlooked by the Egyptian media, but not by "Watani." "Ours is an independent newspaper," says the director, Sidhom, "without particular relations with the Church, from which it receives no subsidies." In the face of this return to the crude repression of Christians, Coptic Patriarch Shenuda III, accustomed in the past to remarking on the harmony between Christians and Muslims, has changed his stance, bewailing the numerous attacks against his community. The life of the Christians, among whom the Copts, at 6-7 million, are the great majority, has not been easy in recent years. The persecution of this community hearkens back to the forms of martyrdom used against the first Christians. One¿s memory turns back to the terrible events in October of 1998, when Egyptian security forces carried out rapes and crucifixions during incursions into the Coptic village of El-Kosheh, near Luxor. The crucifixions were carried out in groups of 50 persons, who were literally nailed or chained to doors, with each person¿s legs joined to the next¿s. There were victims beaten and tortured through the application of electric current to their genitals by the police, who accused them of being infidels. Romani Boctor, 11, was strung up with an electric cable in an attic.

But it is the discrimination perpetrated in all aspects of society that makes life difficult for Christians. By constitutional law, the president must be a Muslim. Christians cannot be prime minister, though they have been in the past. Of the 32 ministers, only two of them are Christian: the finance minister and the minister of the environment. The mayor of a city or village cannot be a Christian. The highest posts in the army, the police, and the president¿s guard are granted only to Muslims. A Christian cannot assume an important role in a tribunal. Even worse, according to the law, two witnesses must be obtained before a sentence can be passed, but if one of the two is a Christian, the judge may disallow his testimony.

A Christian cannot be the rector of a university or dean of a faculty. The government pays the salaries of the imams, but not of the Christian priests. The university of Al Azhar does not accept Christian students, even though it is maintained by taxes taken from both Muslims and Christians. Added to all of this are the insurmountable obstacles to be faced in building a church. These difficulties can be traced back to a 1934 law that dictates ten conditions for the granting of a permit. For example, a church can not be built on farm land; it must not be close to a mosque or a public monument; police authorization must be obtained if it will be constructed near bridges on the Nile, canals, or railway lines. And the president of the republic must give his signature. "In spite of the protests, the state wants to maintain these conditions, and that provokes in all Egyptians a spirit of fanaticism and of division among Christians and Muslims," says Sameh Fawzi, a Christian journalist.

"The culture and life of the Copts have completely disappeared from the Egyptian press. For this reason, we have intensified our interest in the Christian minorities. We want to foster union among Egyptians, both Christians and Muslims, because all are children of the same nation," says Sidhom, warning: "The state¿s indifference is bringing Christians to the bitter conviction that Egypt considers them second-class citizens. That a Christian is a kafir, an infidel, neither knowing the true religion nor possessing the true faith, and thus does not deserve to be heard. And that, in this country, an humiliating discrimination on religious grounds has been created."

Ibrahim-Mikeil understands all of the dangers of his conversion, but lives his Catholic conversion with great serenity. "When I opened my eyes to the violence, I began to consider my religion," he recounts. "I wanted God to be very close to me, but in Islam he seemed very far away. There he is the master of all things, but he is not a God who lives among us. This is what tormented me. Then one day I visited the monastery of St. Catherine of Sinai, and there I received the true inspiration." St. Catherine was the young Egyptian princess who converted to Christianity and was ordered to be beheaded by the Roman emperor Maxentius. Ibrahim-Mikeil¿s dream? "To go to Rome to be able to pray freely at St. Peter¿s, ideally with my wife."

Eid El Fitr

Eid el Fitr is an Islamic feast celebrated after the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. It is considered a reward for Muslims who struggled through Ramadan and achieved a whole month fasting. Eid El Fitr is a 3 day feast in which people have an official holiday in Egypt. Muslims start the celebrations by going to the mosques to perform a special prayer call the Feast holiday after sunrise where men women and children listen to a religious speech in which Imam usually reminds Muslims of the virtues and good deeds they should do to friends, relatives, neighbors and even strangers during Eid el Fetr and throughout the year. After the prayers Egyptians usually visit families and offer sweets made specially for this occasion called the feast sweets or Kahk. Bisuits are also made in multiple flavors either at home or at candy shops which consider this occasion a profitable one because although most people used to bake Kahk themselves, nowadays many Egyptians buy the sweets from shops. Family visits are considered a must on the first day of the Eid so they have the rest of days to enjoy by going to parks, cinemas, theatres or the beaches. Some like to go on tours or Nile cruise. Sharm El Sheikh is considered a favorite spot for spending holidays is Egypt. Eid El Fitr is indeed a time for celebration but it is also a time for sharing as there is a special charity in the Eid called the "Sadaka" or the Eid el Fitr Charity which is paid by every Muslim before the end of Ramadan and given to the poor to be able to buy new clothes and kahk during the feast. In Egypt People like to celebrate with others so apart from the crowded streets you are likely to have fun if you spend your holiday during Eid el Fitrs in Egypt. If you would like to comment on this article or you like to

Historical Mosques in Egypt

There are currently thousands of mosques in all Egyptian cities. but it started with just one large mosque built by Amr Ib El Aas, the Arab leader who conquered the Romans occupying Egypt in the the seventh century. There was a saying that Cairo is the city of one thousand minarets which reflects the fact of the large number of mosques in Cairo but this saying is too old to be correct now with several thousands mosques built over the past thousand years.
We have collected some information about Mosques in Egypt that might interest you if you are studying the Islamic history of Egypt.

• Amr Ibn Al Aas mosque
  The very first mosque (masjid) in Egypt built in 642.
  
  

• Al Azhar
  Built by the Fatimids in 970 to be the largest mosque in Egypt and then developed into a worldwide Islamic university where millions of Muslim students were attracted to study and then return to their countries to teach Islam and spread the word of God.
  
  

• Al Hussein
  The famous mosque in Cairo was built in 1154 near the well known Khan El Khalily bazaar area.
  
  

• Al Mursy Abul Abbass
  One of the most famous mosques in Alexandria built in 1775.
  
  

• Sultan Hassa mosque
  Construction of this great mosque took 7 years as it started in 1356 and finished in 1363.
  
  

Back to History page

Islamic Egypt

Since the Islamic conquer of Egypt in 642 A.D, Islam has been the dominant religion of   Egyptians. So dominant that you can see it clearly in all aspects of life. Muslims constitute about 90% of Egyptians with the other 10% are Christians.
When Islam entered Egypt after the defeat of the Romans on the hands of the Arabs, most Egyptians converted to the new  religion while some Egyptians remained Christians. The conversion came as a normal result of the Arabs' virtues seen by Egyptians as the touch of  Islam on them, in fact conversion happened gradually throughout years of Islamic rule.
When Amr Ibn El Aas, the Arabian army leader, conquered the Romans he assured people that  their lives and belongings will not be touched, they will be safe in their homes. The Egyptian patriarch was hiding in fear of the Roman suppression because of his beliefs, since the Islamic conquer, he got out of his hiding to practice his authority fearlessly.
Actually, Egypt welcomed Arabs as religion callers, peace and good patrons. Amr Ibn El-A'as and his soldiers entered Egypt and struggled with the Romans, who occupied Egypt and Syria and caused their people all sorts of misfortune. That is why, so many of the Egyptians back then, joined the Islamic troops against the Romans, since they found in Islam, the freedom and dignity that they have missed during the Bezantian ages that someone of them said: "The history did not realize more merciful invaders than the Arabs".
The commitment of the Egyptians in early ages with Islam, and the engagement of their history with the Islamic ideology, have strengthen the most powerful tie, and strongest relations between them and their faith. The thing that helped them a lot in their struggle against all the hard challenges, and the invaders campaign from tatar and crusades and the escape of the invaders throughout the history. Also, this helped them to maintain their Islamic ideology and the great Islamic culture, heritage and tradition. 

The Egyptian Army In The Mid-History Of Egypt

Napoleon and Europe

The Egyptian Prince

Ottoman Empire

The Mamluks

Saladin and the Crusades

The crusades began in 1096 and lasted for about 200 years. The Holy City - Jerusalem - was captured during the first crusade in 1099. In 1168, the crusaders attacked Egypt. The Sultan of Syria sent his Kurdish Commander, Shirkuh, to Egypt to help fight off the Crusaders. He was made chief minister to the Fatimid ruler, but died soon after and was succeeded by his nephew, Saladin.
Aaladin, a Kurdish warrior, became the Sultan of Egypt and champion of Islam. He set up his own dynasty in Egypt, the Ayyubids, and built up the Citadel which dominated the city of Cairo since the 1100s. Saladin was supported by his Kurdish soldiers and Mamluk-slave guards. He led his men to the Holy Land, where they retook Jerusalem.
Saladin died in 1193. For the next 20 years, there were more battles against the crusaders. After the failure of the seventh crusade, Egypt was left alone, its part in the crusades finished
The Ayyubids brought orthodox Sunni Islam back to the country instead of Shii Islam which was brought by the Fatimids, and made Egypt a center for Islamic learning and culture once again. They also brought the Mamluks to the country in large numbers.

Islam in Egypt

islam

In 610 Muhammad (later known as the Prophet), a merchant member of the Hashimite branch of the Quraysh clan that ruled the Arabian town of Mecca, began to preach the first of a series of revelations that Muslims believe were given him by God through the angel Gabriel. A fervent monotheist, Muhammad denounced the polytheism of his fellow Meccans. His vigorous and continuing censure earned him the bitter enmity of Mecca's leaders, who feared the impact of Muhammad's ideas on Mecca's thriving business based on pilgrimages to numerous pagan religious sites.
In 622 Muhammad and a group of followers left for the town of Yathrib, which became known as Medina (the city). Their move, or hijra (Hegira), marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar, which is based on the lunar year and is several days shorter than the solar year. Muhammad continued to preach in Medina, defeated his detractors in Mecca in battle, and consolidated both temporal and spiritual leadership of all Arabia by 632, the year of his death.
Muhammad's followers compiled the Quran (also seen as Koran), a book containing the words that had come directly to the prophet from God. The Quran serves as the holy scriptures of Islam. Muhammad's sayings and teachings were compiled separately and referred to as the hadith. The Quran and the hadith form the sunna, a comprehensive guide to the spiritual, ethical, and social life of the orthodox Sunni Muslim.
The shahada (profession of faith) succinctly states the central belief of Islam: "There is no god but God (Allah), and Muhammad is His Prophet." Muslims repeat this profession of faith during many rituals. Reciting the phrase with unquestioning sincerity designates one a Muslim. The God about whom Muhammad preached was known to Christians and Jews living in Arabia at the time. Most Arabs, however, worshipped many gods and spirits whose existence was denied by Muhammad. Muhammad urged the people to worship the monotheistic God as the omnipotent and unique creator. Muhammad explained that his God was omnipresent and invisible. Therefore, representing God through symbols would have been a sin. Muhammad said God determined world events, and resisting God would have been futile and sinful.
Islam means submission (to God). One who submits is a Muslim. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the "seal of the prophets" and that his revelations complete the series of biblical revelations received by Jews and Christians. They also believe that God is one and the same throughout time, but his true teachings had been forgotten until Muhammad arrived. Muslims recognized biblical prophets and sages such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (known in Arabic as Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa, respectively) as inspired vehicles of God's will. Islam, however, reveres only their messages as sacred. Islam rejects the Christian belief that Jesus is the son of God. Islam accepts the concepts of guardian angels, the Day of Judgment (or the last day), general resurrection, heaven and hell, and eternal life of the soul.
The duties of the Muslim form the five pillars of the faith. These are the recitation of the shahada; daily prayer (salat); almsgiving (zakat); fasting (sawm); and hajj, or pilgrimage. The believer prays in a prescribed manner after purification through ritual ablutions each day at dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall. Prescribed genuflections and prostrations accompany the prayers, which the worshipper recites facing Mecca. Whenever possible men pray in congregation at the mosque with an imam, or prayer leader. On Fridays corporate prayer is obligatory. The Friday noon prayers provide the occasion for weekly sermons by religious leaders. Women may also attend public worship at the mosque, but they are segregated from the men. Most women who pray, however, do it at home. A special functionary, the muezzin, intones a call to prayer to the entire community at the appropriate hour; people in outlying areas determine the proper time from the sun. Public prayer is a conspicuous and widely practiced aspect of Islam in Egypt.
Early Islamic authorities imposed a tax on personal property proportionate to one's wealth and distributed the revenues to the mosques and to the needy. In addition, many believers made voluntary donations. Although almsgiving is still a duty of the believer, it is no longer enforced by the state and has become a more private matter. Many properties contributed by pious individuals to support religious and charitable activities or institutions were traditionally administered as inalienable waqfs.
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is a period of obligatory fasting in commemoration of Muhammad's receipt of God's revelation, the Quran. Throughout the month, everyone except the sick, the weak, pregnant or nursing women, soldiers on duty, travelers on necessary journeys, and young children are enjoined from eating and drinking during daylight hours. Adults excused from the fasting are obliged to observe an equivalent fast at their earliest opportunity. A meal breaks each daily fast and inaugurates a night of feasting and celebration. Wealthy individuals usually do little work for all or part of the day.
Because the months of the lunar calendar are shorter than the months of the solar year, Ramadan falls at different times each year. For example, when Ramadan occurs in summer, it imposes special hardship on farmers who do heavy physical labor in the fields in the daytime.
At least once in their lifetimes, all Muslims who are financially and physically capable are expected to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca to participate in special rites held there during the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. Muhammad instituted this requirement, modifying pre-Islamic custom, to emphasize sites associated with Allah and Abraham, whom Arabs believe founded monotheism and is the ancestor of Arabs through his son Ishmael (Ismail). More than 20,000 Egyptians made pilgrimages to Mecca each year in the late 1980s. Traditionally the departure of Egypt's pilgrims climaxed in the ceremony of mahmal, during which the national gift of carpets and shrouds for the Kaaba shrine and the tomb of Muhammad at Medina were presented. The pilgrims would later deliver the gifts.
Once in Mecca, pilgrims, dressed in the white, seamless ihram, refrain from activities considered unclean. Highlights of the pilgrimage include kissing the sacred black stone; circumambulating the Kaaba, the sacred structure reputedly built by Abraham that houses the stone; running seven times between the hills of As Safa and Al Marwa in reenactment of Hagar's desperate search for water after Abraham had cast her and her son Ismail out into the desert; and standing in prayer on Mount Arafat. Id al Adha, a major Islamic festival celebrated worldwide, marks the end of the hajj. Each family, if it has the financial means, slaughters a lamb on Id al Adha to commemorate an ancient Arab sacrificial custom. The returning pilgrim is accorded the honorific hajj or hajji before his or her name.

Early Developments

During his lifetime, Muhammad was the spiritual and temporal leader of the Muslim community. He established the concept of Islam as a complete, all-encompassing way of life for individuals and society. Islam teaches that Allah revealed to Muhammad the immutable principles of correct behavior. Islam therefore obliged Muslims to live according to these principles. It also obliged the community to perfect human society on earth according to holy injunctions. Islam generally made no distinction between religion and state; it merged religious and secular life, as well as religious and secular law. Muslims have traditionally been subject to the sharia (Islamic jurisprudence, but in a larger sense meaning the Islamic way). A comprehensive legal system, the sharia developed gradually during the first four centuries of Islam, primarily through the accretion of precedent and interpretation by various judges and scholars. During the tenth century, legal opinion hardened into authoritative doctrine, and the figurative bab al ijtihad (gate of interpretation) gradually closed. Thereafter, Islamic law has tended to follow precedent rather than to interpret law according to circumstances.
In 632, after Muhammad's death the leaders of the Muslim community consensually chose Abu Bakr, the Prophet's father-in- law and one of his earliest followers, to succeed him. At that time, some people favored Ali, the Prophet's cousin and husband of his favorite daughter Fatima, but Ali and his supporters (the Shiat Ali, or party of Ali, commonly known as Shia) eventually accepted the community's choice. The next two caliphs (from khalifa, literally successor)--Umar, who succeeded in 634, and Uthman, who took power in 644--enjoyed the recognition of the entire community. When Ali finally succeeded to the caliphate in 656, Muawiyah, governor of Syria, rebelled in the name of his murdered kinsman, Uthman. After the ensuing civil war, Ali moved his capital to Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), where in a short time he, too, was murdered.
Ali was the last of the so-called four orthodox caliphs. His death marked the end of the period in which all Muslims recognized a single caliph. Muawiyah then proclaimed himself caliph from Damascus. The Shia, however, refusing to recognize Muawiyah or his line of Umayyad caliphs, withdrew, causing Islam's first great schism. The Shia supported the claims of Ali's sons and grandsons to a presumptive right to the caliphate based on descent from the Prophet through Fatima and Ali. The larger faction of Islam, the Sunni, claimed to follow the orthodox teaching and example of the Prophet as embodied in the sunna.
Early Islam was intensely expansionist. Fervor for the new religion, as well as economic and social factors, fueled this expansionism. Conquering armies and migrating tribes swept out of Arabia and spread Islam. By the end of Islam's first century, Islamic armies had reached far into North Africa and eastward and northward into Asia. Among the first countries to come under their control was Egypt, which Arab forces invaded in 640. The following year, Amr ibn al As conquered Cairo (then known as Babylon) and renamed the city Al Fustat. By 647, after the surrender of Alexandria, the whole country was under Muslim rule. Amr, Egypt's first Muslim ruler, was influenced by the Prophet's advice that Muslims should be kind to the Egyptians because of their kinship ties to Arabs. According to Islamic tradition, Ismail's mother, Hagar, was of Egyptian origin.
Amr allowed the Copts to choose between converting to Islam or retaining their beliefs as a protected people. Amr gave them this choice because the Prophet had recognized the special status of the "People of the Book" (Jews and Christians), whose scriptures he considered perversions of God's true word but nevertheless contributory to Islam. Amr believed that Jews and Christians were people who had approached but not yet achieved the perfection of Islam, so he did not treat them like pagans who would be forced into choosing between Islam and death. Jews and Christians in Muslim territories could live according to their own religious laws and in their own communities if they accepted the position of dhimmis, or tolerated subject peoples. Dhimmis were required to recognize Muslim authority, pay additional taxes, avoid proselytism among Muslims, and give up certain political rights. By the ninth century A.D., most Egyptians had converted to Islam.
Amr had chosen Al Fustat as the capital of Islamic Egypt because a canal connected the city to the Red Sea, which provided easy access to the Muslim heartland in the Arabian Peninsula. He initiated construction of Cairo's oldest extant mosque, the Amr ibn al As Mosque, which was completed in 711, several years after his death. Successive rulers also built mosques and other religious buildings as monuments to their faith and accomplishments. Egypt's first Turkish ruler, Ahmad ibn Tulun, built one of Cairo's most renowned mosques, the Ibn Tulun Mosque, in 876.
A Shia dynasty, the Fatimids, conquered Egypt in 969 and ruled the country for 200 years. Although the Fatimids endowed numerous mosques, shrines, and theological schools, they did not firmly establish their faith (known today as Ismaili Shia Islam) in Egypt. Numerous sectarian conflicts among Fatimid Ismailis after 1050 may have been a factor in Egyptian Muslim acceptance of Saladin's (Salah ad Din ibn Ayyub) reestablishment of Sunni Islam as the state religion in 1171. Al Azhar theological school, endowed by the Fatimids, changed quickly from a center of Shia learning to a bastion of Sunni orthodoxy. There were virtually no Ismailis in Egypt in 1990, although large numbers lived in India and Pakistan and smaller communities were in Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, and several countries in East Africa.

Islam in Egypt

Al-Azhar Islamic university in Cairo Egypt, connected to a mosque built around 971, is considered by many Sunni Muslims as the world's highest Sunni Muslim authority.

The republic of Egypt has recognized Islam as the state religion since 1980.^{[citation needed]} Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with Muslims comprising about 90% of a population of around 80 million Egyptians^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Almost the entirety of Egypt's Muslims are Sunnis.^[1] Most of the non-Muslims in Egypt are Christians,^{[1][2][3][4][5]} though estimates vary (see Religion in Egypt).
Prior to Napoleon's invasion, almost all of Egypt's educational, legal, public health, and social welfare issues were in the hands of religious functionaries. Ottoman rule reinforced the public and political roles of the ulama (religious scholars) because Islam was the state religion and because political divisions in the country were based on religious divisions. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, successive governments made extensive efforts to limit the role of the ulama in public life and to bring religious institutions under closer state control. The secular transformation of public life in Egypt depended on the development of a civil bureaucracy that would absorb many of the ulama's responsibilities in the country.
After the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the government assumed responsibility for appointing officials to mosques and religious schools. The government mandated reform of Al-Azhar University beginning in 1961. These reforms permitted department heads to be drawn from outside the ranks of the traditionally trained orthodox ulama.

Contents [hide] 1 Islam in Egyptian society 2 Islamic political movements 3 Status of religious freedom 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Islam in Egyptian society

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As of 1990^[update], Egyptian Islam was a complex and diverse religion. Although Muslims agreed on the faith's basic tenets, the country's various social groups and classes applied Islam differently in their daily lives. The literate theologians of Al-Azhar University generally rejected the version of Islam practiced by illiterate religious preachers and peasants in the countryside. Most upper- and middle-class Muslims believed either that religious expression was a private matter for each individual or that Islam should play a more dominant role in public life. Islamic religious revival movements, whose appeal cut across class lines, were present in most cities and in many villages.
Today devout Muslims believe that Islam defines one's relationship to God, to other Muslims, and to non-Muslims. They also believe that there can be no dichotomy between the sacred and the secular. Many Muslims say that Egypt's governments have been secularist and even anti-religious since the early 1920s. Politically organized Muslims who seek to purge the country of its secular policies are referred to as "Islamists."
Orthodox ulama found themselves in a difficult position during the wave of Islamic activism that swept through Egypt in the 1970s and 1980s. Radical Islamists viewed the ulama as puppets of the status quo. To maintain their influence in the country, the ulama espoused more conservative stances. After 1974, for example, many al-Azhar ulama, who had acquiesced to family planning initiatives in the 1960s, openly criticized government efforts at population control. The ulama also supported moves to reform the country's legal code to conform to Islamic teaching. They remained, nonetheless, comparatively moderate; they were largely loyal to the government and condemned the violence of radical Islamist groups.
Egypt's largely uneducated urban and rural lower classes were intensely devoted to Islam, but they lacked a thorough knowledge of the religion. Even village religious leaders had only a rudimentary knowledge of Islam. The typical village imam or prayer leader had at most a few years of schooling; his scholarly work was limited to reading prayers and sermons prepared by others and to learning passages from the Qur'an. Popular religion included a variety of unorthodox practices, such as veneration of saints, recourse to charms and amulets, and belief in the influence of evil spirits.

Masjid 'Hamza in Suez, Egypt

Popular Islam is based mostly on oral tradition. Imams with virtually no formal education commonly memorize the entire Qur'an and recite appropriate verses on religious occasions. They also tell religious stories at village festivals and commemorations marking an individual's rites of passage. Predestination plays an important role in popular Islam. This concept includes the belief that everything that happens in life is the will of God and the belief that trying to avoid misfortune is useless and invites worse affliction. Monotheism merges with a belief in angels, spirits(called Jinns), and Revelations from God in the form of Books.
Popular Islam ranges from informal prayer sessions or Qur'an study to organized cults or orders. Because of the pervasive sexual segregation of Egypt's Islamic society, men and women often practice their religion in different ways. A specifically female religious custom is the zar, a ceremony for helping women placate spirits who are believed to have possessed them. Women specially trained by their mothers or other women in zar lore organize the ceremonies. A zar organizer holds weekly meetings and employs music and dance to induce ecstatic trances in possessed women. Wealthy women sometimes pay to have private zars conducted in their homes; these zars are more elaborate than public ones, last for several days, and sometimes involve efforts to exorcise spirits.
A primarily male spiritual manifestation is Sufism, an Islamic mystical tradition. Sufism has existed since the early days of Islam, some odd years after the prophet Muhammad died. and is found in many Islamic countries. The name derives from the Arabic word suf (wool), referring to the rough garb of the early mystics. Sufism exists in a number of forms, most of which represent an original tarika developed by an inspired founder, or shaykh. These shaykhs gradually gathered about themselves murids, or disciples, whom they initiated into the tarika. Gradually the murids formed orders, also known as turuq, which were loyal to the shaykh or his successors. The devotions of many Sufi orders center on various forms of the dhikr, a ceremony at which music, body movements, and chants induce a state of ecstatic trance in the disciples. Since the early 1970s, there has been a revival of interest in Sufism. Egypt's contemporary Sufis tend to be young, college-educated men in professional careers.

[edit] Islamic political movements

Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt.

Islamic political activism has a lengthy history in Egypt. Several Islamic political groups started soon after World War I ended. The most well-known Islamic political organization is the Muslim Brotherhood (Al Ikhwan al Muslimun, also known as the Brotherhood), founded in 1928 by Hassan al Banna. After World War II, the Muslim Brotherhood acquired a reputation as a radical group prepared to use violence to achieve its religious goals. The group was implicated in several assassinations, including the murder of one prime minister. The Brotherhood had contacts with the Free Officers before the 1952 Revolution and supported most of their initial policies. The Brotherhood, however, soon came into conflict with Gamal Abdel Nasser. The government accused the Brotherhood of complicity in an alleged 1954 plot to assassinate the president and imprisoned many of the group's leaders. In the 1970s, Anwar Sadat amnestied the leaders and permitted them to resume some of their activities. But by that time, the Brotherhood was divided into at least three factions. The more militant faction was committed to a policy of political opposition to the government. A second faction advocated peaceful withdrawal from society and the creation, to the extent possible, of a separate, parallel society based upon Islamic values and law. The dominant moderate group advocated cooperation with the regime.
The Muslim Brotherhood's reemergence as a political force coincided with the proliferation of Islamic groups. Some of these groups espoused the violent overthrow of the government while others espoused living a devout life of rigorous observance of religious practices. It is impossible to list all the Islamic groups that emerged in the late 1970s because many of them had diffuse structures and some of the more militant groups were underground. Egypt's defeat and loss of territory in the June 1967 Six-Day War was the main cause for the growth of religiously inspired political activism. Muslims tended to view the humiliating experience as the culmination of 150 years of foreign intrusion and an affront to their vision of a true Islamic community. Islamic tradition rejected the idea of non-Muslims dominating Muslim society. Such a state of affairs discredited Muslim rulers who permitted it to persist. It was, therefore, incumbent on believers to end the domination and restore the true supremacy of Islam. As part of their Sunni creed, the most radical activists adopted jihad and committed themselves to battling unbelievers and impious Muslims. During the 1970s and 1980s, Islamists perpetrated a number of violent acts, including the assassination of Anwar Sadat in October 1981.
Disruptive social changes and Sadat's relative tolerance toward political parties contributed to the rapid growth of Islamic groups in the 1970s. On university campuses, for example, Sadat initially viewed the rise of Islamic associations (Gama'at Islamiya) as a counterbalance to leftist influence among students. The Gama'at Islamiya spread quite rapidly on campuses and won up to one-third of all student union elections. These victories provided a platform from which the associations campaigned for Islamic dress, the veiling of women, and the segregation of classes by gender. Secular university administrators opposed these goals. In 1979 Sadat sought to diminish the influence of the associations through a law that transferred most of the authority of the student unions to professors and administrators. During the 1980s, however, Islamists gradually penetrated college faculties. At Asyut University, which was the scene of some of the most intense clashes between Islamists and their opponents (including security forces, secularists, and Copts), the president and other top administrators--who were Islamists--supported Gama'at Islamiya demands to end mixed-sex classes and to reduce total female enrollment.
As of 1989^[update], the Islamists sought to make Egypt a community of the faithful based on their vision of an Islamic social order. They rejected conventional, secularist social analyses of Egypt's socioeconomic problems. They maintained, for example, that the causes of poverty were not overpopulation or high defense expenditures but the populace's spiritual failures--laxness, secularism, and corruption. The solution was a return to the simplicity, hard work, and self-reliance of earlier Muslim life. The Islamists created their own alternative network of social and economic institutions through which members could work, study, and receive medical treatment in an Islamic environment.
Islamists rejected Marxism and Western capitalism. Indeed, they viewed atheistic communism, Jewish Zionism, and Western "Crusader-minded" Christianity as their main enemies, which were responsible for the decadence that led to foreign domination and defeat by Zionists. They were intolerant of people who did not share their worldview. Islamists tended to be hostile toward the orthodox ulama, especially the scholars at Al Azhar who frequently criticized the Islamists' extreme religious interpretations. Islamists believed that the established social and political order had tainted the ulama, who had come to represent stumbling blocks to the new Islamic order. In addition, Islamists condemned the orthodox as "pulpit parrots" committed to a formalist practice of Islam but not to its spirit.
The social origins of Islamists changed after the 1952 Revolution. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the Muslim Brotherhood had appealed primarily to urban civil servants and white and blue-collar workers. After the early 1970s, the Islamic revival attracted followers from a broad spectrum of social classes. Most activists were university students or recent graduates; they included rural-urban migrants and urban middle-class youth whose fathers were middle-level government employees or professionals. Their fields of study--medicine, engineering, military science, and pharmacy--were among the most highly competitive and prestigious disciplines in the university system. The rank-and- file members of Islamist groups have come from the middle class, the lower-middle class, and the urban working class.
Various Islamist groups espoused different means for achieving their political agenda. All Islamists, however, were concerned with Islam's role in the complex and changing society of Egypt in the late twentieth century. A common focus of their political efforts has been to incorporate the Shari'a into the country's legal code. In deference to their increasing influence, the Ministry of Justice in 1977 published a draft law making apostasy by a Muslim a capital offense and proposing traditional Islamic punishments for crimes, such as stoning for adultery and amputation of a hand for theft. In 1980 Egypt supported a referendum that proposed a constitutional amendment to make the Shari'a "the sole source of law." The influence of the Islamists temporarily waned in the aftermath of Sadat's assassination in 1981, but the election of nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood to the People's Assembly in 1984 revived Islamists' prospects. In 1985 the People's Assembly voted to initiate a procedure for the gradual application of the Shari'a, beginning with an indefinite education period to prepare the population for the legal changes; the next step would be to amend all existing laws to exclude any provisions that conflict with the Shari'a. Moves to reform the legal code received support from many Muslims who wanted to purify society and reject Western legal codes forced on Egypt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As of 2009, the Grand Mufti also has another title, Dar al-Iftaa, a part of the Ministry of Justice. While his rulings are nonbinding, they are "influential." His office issues 5,000 fatwas a week.^[6]
By the beginning of the 21st century,only the Gama'at Islamiya leaders who were in prison after the assassination of Sadat were released after several books they wrote and interviews showed that they revised their points of view and changed the radical tone of their speeches.

[edit] Status of religious freedom

Main article: Religion in Egypt

Historical and ancient mosques in Cairo.

The Constitution provides for freedom of belief and the practice of religion; however, the Government places restrictions on this right. According to the Constitution, Islam is the official state religion, and Shari'a is the primary source of legislation; religious practices that conflict with the official interpretation of Shari'a are prohibited. However, since the Government does not consider the practice of Christianity or Judaism to conflict with Shari'a, for the most part members of the non-Muslim minority worship without legal harassment and may maintain links with coreligionists in other countries. Members of other religions that are not recognized by the Government, such as the Bahá'í Faith, may experience personal and collective hardship.
An 1856 Ottoman decree still in force requires non-Muslims to obtain a presidential decree to build a place of worship. In addition Interior Ministry regulations issued in 1934 specify a set of 10 conditions that the Government must consider prior to issuance of a presidential decree permitting construction of a church. These conditions include the location of the proposed site, the religious composition of the surrounding community, and the proximity of other churches. The Ottoman decree also requires the President to approve permits for the repair of church facilities.
In December 1999, in response to strong criticism of the Ottoman decree, President Mubarak issued a decree making the repair of all places of worship subject to a 1976 civil construction code. The decree is significant symbolically because it places churches closer to an equal footing with mosques before the law. The practical impact of the decree has been to facilitate significantly church repairs; however, Christians report that local permits still are subject to security authorities' approval. The approval process for church construction continued to be time consuming and insufficiently responsive to the wishes of the Christian community. As a result of these restrictions, some communities use private buildings and apartments for religious services.
According to a 1995 law, the application of family law, including marriage, divorce, alimony, child custody, inheritance, and burial, is based on an individual's religion. In the practice of family law, the State recognizes only the three "heavenly religions:" Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Muslim families are subject to the Personal Status Law, which draws on Shari'a (Islamic law). Christian families are subject to canon law, and Jewish families are subject to Jewish law. In cases of family law disputes involving a marriage between a Christian woman and a Muslim man, the courts apply the Personal Status Law.
Under Islamic law, non-Muslim males must convert to Islam to marry Muslim women. Christian and Jewish women need not convert to marry Muslim men . Muslim women are prohibited from marrying Christian men. Muslim female heirs receive half the amount of a male heir's inheritance, while Christian widows of Muslims have no inheritance rights. A sole female heir receives half her parents' estate; the balance goes to designated male relatives. A sole male heir inherits all his parents' property. Male Muslim heirs face strong social pressure to provide for all family members who require assistance; however, this assistance is not always provided. In January 2000, the Parliament passed a new Personal Status Law that made it easier for a Muslim woman to obtain a divorce without her husband's consent, provided that she is willing to forgo alimony and the return of her dowry. However, an earlier provision of the draft law that would have made it easier for a woman to travel without her husband's consent, was rejected.