Tag: Al-Azhar

Egypt legalises 156 churches with many more still waiting

March 6, 2019 Egypt Al-Azhar, Churches, Copts, Egypt

Entrance to a Coptic Church in Egypt. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Egypt legalised 156 more churches and service buildings on Tuesday, 5 March, bringing the total of approved religious venues to 783, reports Egypt Independent. Since 2016, more than 3,700 churches have applied for legal status under a new law that was designed to make it easier to establish and build churches . . . Read More

Egypt: Protestant leader rejects community reconciliation system

April 20, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Andrea Zaki, Arab Spring, Cairo, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Protestants, Samaan Shehata

Thousands attend Kasr El Dobara Evanglical Church in Cairo each week. There are thought to be as many as 2m Evangelicals in Egypt

The head of Egypt’s Protestant Church has said he urges clergy not to take part in “reconciliation sessions” that aim to resolve community conflicts without the involvement of the police and legal system. Rev. Dr. Andrea Zaki said he “strongly” opposed the scheme because it renders the law “absent”. The reconciliation . . . Read More

5 years on, what has Pope Francis done for religious freedom?

March 19, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Azhar, Asia Bibi, Boko Haram, Egypt, Havana, Human rights, Iraq, Latin America, Minorities, Myanmar, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey

Pope Francis greets people during his inauguration on 19 March 2013. (Photo: Getty Images)

Pope Francis, the son of Italian migrants, appeared on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica five years ago to be introduced as the first Latin American pontiff. Below, World Watch Monitor looks at a few of the highlights of his tenure so far, and his impact on freedom of religion . . . Read More

Pence’s plans to help Middle East Christians overshadowed by political storm

January 19, 2018 Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Arabs, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bethlehem, Churches, Copts, Donald Trump, Egypt, Israel, Jerusalem, Jews, Jordan, King Abdullah II, Middle East, Mike Pence, Palestinian Territories, USA, West Bank

US Vice President Mike Pence’s postponed trip to the Middle East goes ahead this weekend amid myriad tensions and a fast-shifting diplomatic landscape. Pence’s trip is a shortened version of the one planned for last month, which was abruptly cancelled when protests erupted at President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem . . . Read More

Egypt: 21 churches receive long-delayed government approval to build

November 29, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Anba Macarius, Cairo, Churches, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Minya, Pentecostals, Port Said, Protestants, Religious freedom, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Upper Egypt, USA

Twenty-one churches in Egypt’s southern rural Minya governorate can restore, expand and rebuild their churches after receiving approval from the Minya Governor. Governor Essam al-Bedeiwi approved the 21 applications over the last six months. Some of the churches had been waiting for more than 20 years for a permit to come . . . Read More

IS renews threat to Copts as Al-Azhar head says Islam ‘at war with itself’

November 14, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Egypt, Islamic State, Pope Francis, Terrorism

Pope Francis welcomes Sheik Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, during a private audience in Vatican, 7 November 2017. (Photo: AFP PHOTO / OSSERVATORE ROMANO / Handout)

A pro-Islamic State (IS) group media outlet has issued a new threat against Egypt’s Coptic Christians, saying they must be attacked as “infidel fighters” and their churches must be blown up. The message, issued by the Wafa Media Foundation, said Copts did not accept dhimmitude – the condition of submission imposed . . . Read More

Egypt: the public spectacle of a slain Coptic priest

October 13, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Beni Suef, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Samaan Shehata

The images were horrific. Father Samaan Shehata, a 45-year-old Coptic Orthodox priest, lay dead on the ground, stabbed and beaten by a young man wielding a meat cleaver. Blood dripped down his face into his long, black beard. Dirt discoloured his flowing black robe. His cross pendant rested peacefully on . . . Read More

Al-Azhar says Islam ‘totally incompatible’ with violence, as IS shifts focus to Upper Egypt

June 29, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Alexandria, Anba Macarius, Copts, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai, Upper Egypt

Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”. As World Watch Monitor reported on 21 June, Al-Azhar has distanced itself from . . . Read More

Egypt: small signs challenging religious intolerance

May 17, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Copts, Pope Francis, Port Said, Sinai

Pope Francis visits with Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Photo: Getty Images

Recent developments in Egypt show that Pope Francis’ visit to its capital Cairo last month might have inspired a more vigilant approach to religious hate speech against Christians by religious leaders and the media alike. John L. Allen writes in the Catholic publication Crux that two recent signs suggest the . . . Read More

Pope Francis in Egypt: ‘Violence is the denial of every true religion’

May 2, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Cairo, Copts, Islamic extremism, Pope Francis, Tanta

visited the Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, who narrowly escaped injury on Palm Sunday. Photo: World Watch Monitor

Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, went to Cairo with a message of unity and peace. On his first day, speaking at an International Peace Conference held at the al-Azhar conference centre, he said that “violence is the denial of every true religion” and called on religious leaders to . . . Read More

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