Egypt says Shiite mosques not allowed, as government cracks down on rise of sect

A leading Egyptian official has said that the government will reject any Shiite presence within the country’s mosques, the independent daily El-Masry El-Youm reported Monday.

Minister of Religious Endowments Mahmoud Hamid Zaqzouq told a press conference that Egypt “won’t allow the existence of a Shiite tide in Egyptian mosques,” adding “Nobody applied for a mosque for Shiites and we won’t approve that.”

Zaqzoug’s declaration comes in the wake of an El-Masry El-Youm report alleging that the government has begun to use religious officials to train state security officers on how to combat the rise of Shiite beliefs. According to the Los Angeles Times, “The report quoted a prominent scholar as saying that the state security apparatus is concerned about the creeping influence of Shiite Islam since the influx of thousands of Shiite Iraqis to Egypt.”

For the full El-Masry El-Youm article, from Monday, click here.
For the full Los Angeles Times article, click here.