Religion
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... »
Quran verses ringtones in Egypt
Image via Wikipedia While more and more people in Egypt use verses from the Quran as cell phone ringtones, the country’s highest religious legal authority says the practice is inappropriate. Web sites and television channels in Egypt advertise the verses for download, according to wire reports. But Mufti Ali Gomaa said using the verses as ringtones... »
Seven Coptic churchgoers slain at midnight mass in Egypt
Image via Wikipedia Drive-by shooters sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd of churchgoers in southern Egypt, killing at least seven people as they streamed out of church after midnight Mass, officials said Thursday. Three other people were seriously wounded. The attack took place overnight in Nag Hamadi, about 40 miles from popular tourist sites at the... »
Female polygamy article generates controversy
A member of the Egyptian parliament has filed a lawsuit over an article questioning why polygamy is allowed for men in Islam but not for women. Published in the independent newspaper Al Masry Al Youm, the article “My four husbands and I” by Nadine al-Bedair suggests that polygamy should either be allowed for both men... »
Swiss voters approve ban on minarets in referendum
Image via Wikipedia Switzerland voted to ban the construction of new minarets on Sunday, a surprise result certain to embarrass the neutral government and which the justice minister said could affect Swiss exports and tourism. The Swiss news agency ATS and other media said about 57.5 percent of voters and all but four of the 26... »
Egypt cleric: ‘Niqab merely a tradition’
Image via Wikipedia Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, said full-face veiling (niqab) is merely a tradition that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith. Although most Muslim women in Egypt wear the Islamic headscarf, increasing numbers are adopting the niqab as well. The niqab question reportedly arose when Sheikh Tantawi was visiting a girls’... »
Virginity faking in Egypt
A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty. The device is said to release liquid imitating blood, allowing a female to feign virginity on her wedding night. The contraption is seen as a cheap and simple alternative to hymen repair surgery,... »
Put on your pants, ladies
Image via Wikipedia Egypt’s top Islamic authority defended women’s rights to wear trousers in public. In response to a question deemed by the cleric as “strange and weird”, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said that trousers covering women’s bodies are permitted, though they should be loose and not see through. He specified that “stretch” pants were in... »
Islamic monuments to reopen in Cairo
Image by future15pic via Flickr The Supreme Council of Antiquities announced the reopening of five Islamic monuments in the Al-Darb Al-Ahmar area of Cairo. The Al-Imam mosque, the Al-Layth mosque, the Al-Set Meska mosque, the Ali Labib house and the well zone of Youssef at the Salah El-Din Citadel have all been undergoing restoration work, which cost... »
Police in Egypt arrest 155 for failing to keep Ramadan fast
Egyptian newspapers and human rights activists announced that 155 people were detained by police forces in Aswan, southern Egypt, for publicly eating, drinking or smoking during daylight hours in the holy month of Ramadan. However, many of those arrested said that the arrests were random. Some claimed they were actually fasting when they were rounded... »
