Cairo cracks down on Salafist preachers
The Egyptian state and its institutions have been waging a fierce campaign against the preachers of Egypt’s Salafi movement over ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Egyptian government and pro-state media have launched campaigns against well-known Salafi sheikhs. Meanwhile, a series of decisions banning them from preaching at mosques have been issued.
On June 28, the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments banned Alaa Muhammad Hussein Yaqoub, the son of prominent Salafi preacher Muhammad Hussein Yaqoub, from preaching at mosques. The decision came in the wake of a fierce campaign by pro-regime media against his father, Muhammad, after the father testified in a court case involving 12 people accused of being involved in attacks against security forces in Greater Cairo.
Some of the defendants in the case had said they were influenced by the ideas of Salafi sheikhs, including Muhammad Hussein Yaqoub. But he denied any links with the defendants and attacked them in his testimony in court June 15. He took back his fatwas and religious opinions and renounced Salafism.
His testimony ignited wide-scale controversy.
