Egypt is now publishing Friday sermons in English, but is anyone reading them?
The Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf has recently launched an English version of its official Friday sermon, although accessing it might be impossible for those who don’t read Arabic.
CAIRO — The Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments) announced Nov. 2 its intention to publish the unified Friday sermon it prepares each week on the ministry’s website, in a bid to “convey moderate Islamic discourse to the whole world in various languages.” While the ministry has hinted at future plans to translate into languages other than English, the exact details have yet to be announced.
The Ministry of Awqaf decided in January 2014 to unify the Friday sermon in all Egyptian mosques, vowing to take over the administration of any mosque that violated the decision and strayed from the set sermon.
The ministry published its first English sermon on Nov. 6, followed by subsequent translations for Nov. 13 and Nov. 20. However, the declared goal behind the publication of the sermon in English — making it accessible to “the whole world” — isn't being accomplished due to some flaws in how the English version is published.
The Ministry of Awqaf itself is responsible for some those flaws, as its website is designed in Arabic and has no English version. This makes it nearly impossible for those who do not read Arabic to find the published sermon, since all instructions leading to the English version are in Arabic.
