Salafists’ anger intensified early in April following the government welcoming Iranian tourism to Egypt. Anti-Shia campaigns have been formed, with the attempt to ban Iranians from entering the country. Certain Sufi groups have come under attack and have been accused of Shiism as have Sunnis who have ties to Shiites.
Salafists’ anger intensified early in April following the government welcoming Iranian tourism to Egypt. Anti-Shia campaigns have been formed, with the attempt to ban Iranians from entering the country. Certain Sufi groups have come under attack and have been accused of Shiism as have Sunnis who have ties to Shiites.
The fear is further exacerbated by the number of Husseinis (Shia community centers mainly built for religious meetings) recently discovered in governorates, leading Salafists to assume an expansion of Shiism in Egypt. One of these centers is located in Nasiriyah Village in the Fateh district in Asyut (450 kilometers south of Cairo) where the presence of religious Shia centers triggered off a de facto war declared by the Salafists against Shiites and their supporters.
Wrong associations
Alaeddine Mohammed Sayed and his four brothers live in Nasiriyah village and became acquainted with Shiites who had stayed at his uncle’s guesthouse. “We learned afterwards that the two men had Shiite leanings and since then the village’s inhabitants have related us with Shiites. Consequently, the state security apparatus cracked down on us, especially my uncle who was arrested from 1996 until 2000.”
Following his release, Sayed’s uncle Haj Abdulfatah was conferred a certificate by a Sufi order assigning him the position of Assistant of all Beyoumi order in Asyut. He was authorized to hold or attend spiritual sessions after obtaining the permission of the state security. This situation continued, according to Alaeddine, until his uncle’s death in 2009, but things have changed since the revolution. “We can now organize and attend religious get-togethers and sessions without having to obtain permission from any one. We have also painted Hussienieh at the place in which we hold our sessions. But, early last April, Salifist groups have demonstrated in front of our Hussienieh and consequently the police requested us to remove the banner and we complied. Afterwards, we stopped our sessions for fear of being harmed, but we sometimes hold sessions clandestinely so that Salifists would not know anything about them and attack us,” he said.
Haitham Ali, a law student and a member of a family accused of spreading Shiism, said they never practice any odd rituals as Salafists allege. “We perform our prayers in the mosque like all ordinary people and we have never cursed the Prophet’s Companions or wife Aisha. Our rituals are not different from those performed by Sufis and we never perform any Shia rituals.”
“Beware of the Shia enemy”
A campaign called “Beware of the Shia Enemy” was organized as an expression of rejection of the perceived Shiite Expansion in Egypt and Iranian tourism. Sheikh Mustafa Ghallab, the campaign organizer in the Fateh district, said, “The campaign started following official statements about encouraging Iranian tourists to visit Egypt. We began to search for individuals who follow the Shiite sect and kept a close watch on them to prevent the spread of Shiism in Egypt. We observed that these followers were back to practicing their weird rituals after the revolution by organizing religious congregations inside the Husseini circles.”
The difference between Sufis and Shiites
Available statistics on the internet and press releases made by prominent Shia figures in Egypt indicate that the number of Shiites is about 1 % of Egypt’s approximate population of 92 million, based on a report issued by the U.S. State Department on freedoms in Egypt in 2007. The report puts the percentage of Shi’ites at 1% of the population of Egypt while the number of Sufis in Egypt ranges between 10 and 15 million. Sufi orders in Egypt total 72.
“There is a big difference between Shiites and Sufis although both sects share the love for the Prophet’s Household,” said Sheikh Ahmed Abdu Ahmed, who runs a Sufi order in Asyut. “But all adherents of Sufi orders are Sunnis while Shiites have different rituals of performing prayer and other religious obligations like Haj (Pilgrimage) to Karbala or Najaf which are, of course, illegitimate religious practices.”
Ahmed Taha Farghali, a researcher in Sufi affairs in Asyut said, “The fundamental difference between Shia and Sufism is the date set for commemorating the birth anniversary of Hussein where Shiites celebrate this event in Muharram while it is celebrated in Rabi al-Thani by Sufi adherents. In Asyut, we have about 20 sufi orders the most prominent of which are Rifaiya and Shanawiya. There are approximately 50,000 Sufis in Asyut.”
Number of Husseinis Still Unknown
It is difficult to determine the number of Hussieniehs in Egypt although they are available all over the country. Based on a report by ‘Almesryoon Newspaper’ published early last March, there are five Shiite Hussieniehs in Cairo and 10 shrines in Aswan. Besides, there is a plan to convert 6000 shrines to Hussieniehs in other governorates.
In this context, Alaeddine commented, “Our love for the Prophet’s Household explains the reason why we have given the name Hussienieh to the place in which we hold our religious congregations. My uncle did not have any Shiite tendencies. I never saw him read a Shia book and he never traveled to Iran or Iraq. On the contrary, in 1983 he was on loan to Saudi Arabia where he performed Haj. But, motivated by bigotry and unjustified extremism, Salafists demonstrated against usheedless of our identity. The only guilt we have committed is our love for the Prophet and all members of his holy family expressed in a simple manner.”
Sheikh Ali Abu Al-Hasan, former head of Fatwa Council in Asyut, said the cause of hostility between Salafists and Sufis lies in the fact that Salafists believe that Sufis have come significantly closer to the Shiites in terms of their practices. He added that it is commonly held that Sufism originated in ancient Iraq specifically in the third century AH and that the word Sufism also refers to a superior level of a Sunni practice in which man becomes pure and serene and earns the title of ‘Sufi’ . Shia, on the other hand, refers to those who identified with and supported Imam Ali against the Umayyads with regard to the known dispute between Imam Ali and Muawiyah Ibn Abu Sufyan.
A civil rights issue
Lt. Col. Mohsen Shrayt, Chief of Security Department at Fateh district, said, “It is not the role of the police to monitor and control Shiite’s focal points. Our key role is to protect citizens and prevent any infringements or assaults against them on account of practicing their religious rites.”
On the other hand, Abdul Rahman al-Shahat, a lawyer, said, “The enforced law or Constitution do not punish people who embrace the Shiite sect, on the contrary, the Constitution safeguards freedom of belief pursuant to Article (43) of the new Constitution: ‘Freedom of belief is preserved and the State guarantees the freedom of religious practice and establishment of places of worship for all divinities as regulated by the law’.”
