Religion in Egypt
Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. The state religion of
Egypt hosts two major religious institutions.
In Egypt,
In 2002, under the
Demographics
In 2010, based on the contested 2006 Census data, estimated that 94.9% of Egyptians are Muslims, 5.1% are Christians, and less than 1% are Jewish, Buddhists, or other religions. The share of Christians in the Egyptian population has according to official statistics been declining with the highest share reported in the past century being in 1927, when the official census put the percentage of Egyptian Christians at 8.3%. In each of the seven subsequent censuses, the percentage shrank, ending at 5.7% in 1996.[8]
However, most Christians refuted these figures, claiming they have been under-counted. Christians maintain that they represent up to 15% or even 25% of the Egyptian population.
Recent self-identification surveys put the Christian percentage at around 10%, as found by Afrobarometer in 2016 (which estimated the country to be 10.3% Christian and 89.4% Muslim)[17] and by Arab Barometer in 2019 (which estimated it to be 9.6% Christian and 90.3% Muslim).[7]
According to 2015 figures from the
Most Egyptian Christians belong to the native
There is a small but historically significant population of the
A varying number of Egyptians will openly identify as
Freedom of religion and human rights
A 2020 report stated that Egypt is one of the top five countries with the highest levels of social hostilities involving religion.[37]
A 2021 report notes a government crack-down on religious violence, including the execution of the murderer of Father Samaan Shehata.[38]
In 2022 Freedom House rated Egypt's religious freedom 2 out of 4 and total score of 21 out of 100 in regards of all rights such as political rights and civil liberties.[39]
In 2006 Egypt's
Restrictions on conversion
While freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, according to Human Rights Watch, "Egyptians are able to convert to Islam generally without difficulty, but Muslims who convert to Christianity face difficulties in getting new identity papers and some have been arrested for allegedly forging such documents.[43] The Coptic community, however, takes pains to prevent conversions from Christianity to Islam due to the ease with which Christians can often become Muslim.[44] Public officials, being conservative themselves, intensify the complexity of the legal procedures required to recognize the religion change as required by law. Security agencies will sometimes claim that such conversions from Islam to Christianity (or occasionally vice versa) may stir social unrest, and thereby justify themselves in wrongfully detaining the subjects, insisting that they are simply taking steps to prevent likely social troubles from happening.[45] In 2007, a Cairo administrative court denied 45 citizens the right to obtain identity papers documenting their reversion to Christianity after converting to Islam.[46] However, in February 2008 the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the decision, allowing 12 citizens who had reverted to Christianity to re-list their religion on identity cards,[47][48] but they will specify that they had adopted Islam for a brief period of time.[49]
Marriage
Egyptian state laws allow Muslim men to marry Christian or Jewish women but do not allow Christian or Jewish men to marry Muslim women.[50][51]
Relations with the Coptic minority
Coptic Christians, being the largest religious minority in Egypt, are the most negatively affected by possibly discriminatory legislation. Copts in Egypt have faced increasing marginalization since the 1952 coup d'état led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.[52][53] Until recently, the Christians in Egypt were required to obtain presidential approval for even minor repairs in churches. Although the law was eased in 2005 by handing down the authority of approval to the governors, Copts continue to face many obstacles in building new churches. These obstacles are not as much in building mosques.[54][55]
In January 2013 when the Muslim Brotherhood was in power, Christian nonprofit organization Open Doors ranked Egypt as the 25th most difficult place to be a Christian, on their annual World Watch List.[64]
Religions in Egypt
Recognized religions
Islam
Islam has been the
The Shia Ismaili caliphate of the
According to the
Scholars estimate that Shia Muslims comprise 1 percent of the population. There are very small numbers of Dawoodi Bohra Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims, and expatriate members of various groups in Egypt[66]
Christianity
The Coptic Christian population in Egypt is the largest Christian community in the
Other native Egyptian Christians are adherents of the
Significant minorities within Egypt's Christian community include the following denominations:[23]
- Apostolic Catholic and Orthodox Churches:
- The Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria, currently Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak.
- The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria is Pope Theodoros II.[72]
- The Melkite Greek Catholic Church (an Eastern Catholic Church) has about 7,000[23] members in Egypt. The eparchy of Egypt is looked after by a Protosyncellus, and has between 35,000 and 50,000 ex-patriates in Europe, North and South America, and Australia.
- The .
- The Latin Catholic Church has around 7,000[23] adherents in Egypt. Most are citizens born in Egypt but of foreign descent, like Italians, Maltese and French, or members of the foreign diplomatic corps in Egypt. There are very few native Christian Egyptians who adhere to the Latin Church, and those who do (several hundreds) do so mainly through marriage.
- The Maronite Church (an Eastern Catholic Church) has around 5,000[23] adherents in Egypt.
- The Armenian Catholic Church (an Eastern Catholic Church) has around 1,200[23] adherents in Egypt.
- The Chaldean Catholic Church (an Eastern Catholic Church) has about 500[23] members in Egypt.
- The Syriac Catholic Church (an Eastern Catholic Church) has around 2,000[23] adherents in Egypt.
- The Egyptian universities.
- The
- Protestant churches also exist in Egypt. The total number of Protestants in Egypt is around 200,000.[23] The denominations are:
- The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria (a province of the Anglican Communion) which has between 10,000 and 15,000 members in Egypt.
- The Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) which has around 140,000 members in Egypt.
- The Assemblies of God Church, which has around 40,000 adherents in Egypt.
- The Free MethodistChurch, which has 120 churches and has around 10,000 adherents in Egypt.
- The Christian BrethrenChurch, which has around 5,000 adherents in Egypt.
- The Pentecostal Church of God, which has Church around 3,500 adherents in Egypt.
- The Pentecostal Holiness Church, which has 1,400 adherents in Egypt.
- The Church of God of Prophecy, which has 1,100 adherents in Egypt.
- The Seventh-day Adventist Church has 852 adherents in Egypt.
Judaism
Before 1956 and according to the 1948 census there were 65,639 Egyptian Jews, including Karaites. Jews participated in all aspects of Egypt's social, economic and political life; one of the most ardent Egyptian nationalists, Yaqub Sanu' (Abu Naddara), was Jewish, as were the musician Dawoud Husni, popular singer Leila Mourad and filmmaker Togo Mizrahi. For a while, Jews from across the Ottoman Empire and Europe were attracted to Egypt due to the relative harmony that characterized the local religious landscape in the 19th and early 20th centuries. After the 1956 Suez Crisis, a great number of Jews were expelled by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Their Egyptian citizenship was revoked and their properties were confiscated. A steady stream of emigration of Egyptian Jews followed, reaching a peak after the Six-Day War with Israel in 1967. As of mid-2016, there were a total of 6 Jews remaining in Cairo, including their spiritual leader, Magda Tania Haroun, all women over the age of 65.[36] There are a further 12 Jews in the city of Alexandria, whose spiritual leader is Ben Youssef Gaon.[73]
Unrecognized and persecuted beliefs
Ahmadiyya Islam
The Ahmadiyya movement in Egypt, which numbers up to 7,000 to 50,000 adherents in the country,[74][75] was established in 1922[76] but has seen an increase in hostility and government repression as of the 21st century. The Al-Azhar University has denounced the Ahmadis[77] and Ahmadis have been hounded by police along with other Muslim groups deemed to be deviant under Egypt's defamation laws.[78][79] On 15 March 2010, nine Ahmadis were detained due to their adherence to the movement.[80][81]
Bahá'í Faith
In 1925, the
Informal estimates about the Baháʼí population in Egypt suggest that, in 2006, there were approximately 2,000 Baháʼís resident in Egypt,[83][84] though other estimates go as high as 6,900 adherents in 2010.[85]
Since their faith is not officially recognized by the state, they were not allowed to use it on their national identity cards. Without valid identity cards Baháʼís encounter difficulty registering their children in school, opening bank accounts, and establishing businesses.[82] On 16 December 2006, after only one hearing, the High Court of Egypt ruled against the Baháʼís, stating that the government would not recognize their religion in official identification cards.[41] The ruling left Baháʼís unable to obtain ID cards, birth certificates, or death certificates.[41] However, on January 29, 2008 Cairo's court of Administrative Justice, ruling on two related court cases, ruled in favour of the Baháʼís, allowing them to obtain birth certificates and identification documents, so long as they omit their religion on court documents.[42] The ruling accepted the compromise solution offered by the Baháʼís, allowing for them to obtain identification papers without the Baháʼí Faith being officially recognized.[86][87]
During and since the
Hinduism
There were about 2,700 Hindus in Egypt in 2010.[91] That number decreased to about 1124 in 2020.[92]
Atheism, agnosticism, and irreligion
It is difficult to quantify the number of atheist or agnostic Egyptians due to the persecution by the religious establishments,[93][94] and its resulting social stigma against publicly identifying as non-religious, along with a lack of official statistics.[95][96][97] Public statements deemed critical of Islam or Christianity can be tried under the country's blasphemy law.[98] Outspoken atheists, like Alber Saber, Kareem Amer, and others, have been convicted under this law.[93][99][100] Blasphemy cases are not initiated by the general prosecutor, and only occur if a citizen, usually an official from the religious establishments, takes the step of filing against the person engaging in blasphemy, a procedure similar to Antragsdelikt in civil law legal systems; also, officials from the religious establishment, specifically al-Azhar institution, issue fatwa to permit the killing of those who blaspheme if the Egyptian government doesn't do it, such as, notably, in the case of Hamed Abdelsamad,[101] and in the case of Farag Fouda who was shot dead in 1992 by Islamists as a consequence, among others.[102][103] In 2000, an openly atheist Egyptian writer, who called for the establishment of a local association for atheists, was tried on charges of insulting Islam in four of his books.[104]
According to the 2020 US report on international religious freedom there are no reliable estimates of the number of atheists in Egypt.[66] A study at the University of Kent, citing a 2018 survey by Arab Barometer, stated that around 11% of Egyptians identified themselves as not religious.[105][106][107] In the same Arab Barometer 2018 Wave V survey, 90.4% were Muslim, 9.6% were Christian, and 0.1% had no religion.[108] In the same Arab Barometer survey, about 20% of young Egyptians described themselves as not religious.[107] Absent official figures, sources consistently report that the number is increasing steadily.[109] Egyptian media has since 2011 reported increases in the number of nonbelievers and atheists publicly coming out;[105] however, atheism or skepticism is not a recent phenomenon in Egypt.[105] Despite the lack of clarity with regard to absolute numbers, there is a noticeable increase in young Egyptians coming out for nonbelieving and publicly testifying they have left the faith, especially on the internet.[105] Many Egyptian irreligious/atheist intellectuals encourage irreligious Egyptians and Egyptian atheists to speak up and come out of the closet, a trend which is visible across both Islam and Christianity, and involves both Egyptian men and Egyptian women.[105]
Discrimination against atheists in Egypt is mainly the result of the religious establishments in the country,[93][94] as the laws and policies in Egypt protect religious freedom but punish those who ridicule or insult the Abrahamic religions by words or writing, whereas insulting other faiths like Buddhism or Hinduism is not punishable by Egyptian law but insulting Islam, Christianity, or Judaism is.[110] Atheists or irreligious people cannot change their official religious status, thus statistically they are counted as followers of their parent's religion, whether it is Islam or Christianity.[104]
In a 2011
See also
- Christianity in Egypt
- Coptic Orthodox Church
- Protestantism in Egypt
- Catholic Church in Egypt
- Hinduism in Egypt
- List of Coptic Churches in Egypt
- List of Coptic Orthodox Churches in Canada
- List of Coptic Orthodox Churches in the United States
- Ancient Egyptian religion
Notes
- ^ Numbers vary widely. The 1996 census, the last for which public info on religion exists has 5.6% of the population as Christian (down from 8.3% in 1927).[116]
- In 1997, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs stated, "Estimates of the size of Egypt's Christian population vary from the low government figures of 6 to 7 million to the 12 million reported by some Christian leaders. The actual numbers may be in the 9 to 9.5 million range, out of an Egyptian population of more than 60 million" which yields an estimate of about 10-20% then.[117]
- In 2004, the Christian Post quoted the U.S. Copt Association as reporting 15% of the population as native Christian.[118]
- QScience Connect in 2013 using 2008 data estimated that 5.1% of Egyptians between the ages of 15 and 59 were Copts.[119]
- The Pew Foundation estimated 5.1% for Christians in 2010.[120]
- The CIA Fact Book estimated 10% (2012).[121].
- According to Al-Ahram newspaper, one of the main government owned national newspapers in Egypt, estimated the percentage between 10% - 15% (2017).[122]
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