Religion
Egypt to woo Arab tourists for Ramadan
Image via Wikipedia During Ramadan, Muslims who are fit and able are required to abstain from food, drink and smoking during daylight hours. They then traditionally gather to break the fast at sunset with their families for the iftar meal. For many Muslims, Ramadan is therefore not a time to book holidays abroad, but a time... »
Unified call to prayer will be first activated in Greater Cairo
Image via Wikipedia For more than 13 decades, the call to prayer has begun five times a day via microphones attached to Egypt’s mosques. Many of muezzins (the person who recites the azan or calls to prayer) have imperfect voices thus creating a citywide cacophony while reciting the azan. Although each of the five prayers... »
Egypt top court overturns Coptic remarriage ruling
Egypt’s highest judiciary body on Wednesday overturned a ruling ordering the Coptic church to allow its faithful to remarry, the official MENA news agency said, in a move welcomed by the church. The Supreme Constitutional Court overturned a May decision by the High Administrative Court that obliged the head of the church, Pope Shenuda III,... »
Egypt court: Coptic church must allow remarriage
Image by Bakar_88 via Flickr A court in Egypt has ordered the Coptic church to allow its faithful to remarry, quashing an appeal by the head of the church. “By law, a Christian can remarry and the constitution guarantees his rights to have a (new) family. The appeal by Pope Shenuda III to prevent Copts from... »
Arabian Nights too hot for some lawyers in Egypt
Image by jennaddenda via Flickr Arabian Nights, the classic collection of folk tales of magic lanterns and flying carpets also known as One Thousand And One Nights, has been deemed obscene by a group of Islamist lawyers. The literary classic features characters such as Scheherazade, Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,... »
Elton John concert banned in Egypt
Egypt’s musician’s union Sunday rejected plans for British singer Elton John to perform a private concert scheduled for May 18, because of his “controversial remarks attacking religions”. The pop superstar, 63, stirred controversy after his remarks to US celebrity news magazine Parade in February, where he said “Try being a gay woman in the Middle... »
Biblical Plagues really happened, but not by God, say scientists
The ten plagues that the Bible mentions affected ancient Egypt may have occurred after all, but due to natural causes and not by the direct intervention of a god helping the flight of an enslaved people, according to researchers. A shift in climate patterns may have caused a dry period that would have turned the... »
New top Cleric appointed in Egypt
Image via Wikipedia Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has named Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed al-Tayeb as head of Al-Azhar, the country’s most prestigious seat of Islamic learning. Mubarak, who is recovering from gall bladder surgery in Germany, appointed Tayeb on Friday, nine days after the death of Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the previous head of the institution. Al-Azhar... »
Mount Sinai Ka’bah shrine suggested by Egyptian writer
Image via Wikipedia Progressive thinker, controversial figure and award-winning Egyptian writer Sayyed al-Qimni suggested in an interview with an Egyptian television listings magazine that a religious shrine on Mount Sinai would provide an affordable alternative destination for poor pilgrims as well as generating an income of more than £3bn for his country. He also said it... »
Egypt restores world’s oldest Christian Monastery
Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawass on Thursday unveiled the completion of an 8-year, $14.5 million restoration of St. Anthony’s Monastery, situated in the rugged desert mountains near Egypt’s Red Sea coast. In the government-sponsored project, workers renovated the fortress-like ancient wall surrounding the monastery, several outbuildings, and its two main churches — the 15th century... »
