The Egyptian government and state-controlled media have launched a campaign to rein in the influence of hardline Salafist preachers in Egypt.
Salafism is a religious and political movement within Sunni Islam that seeks to “return” the Muslim world to its original “pure” form. It is also associated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and various Jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
On 28 June the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments banned Alaa Muhammad Hussein Yaqoub from preaching in Egyptian mosques following a high-profile media campaign by state media attacking his father who is a well-known Salafi preacher.
This follows on from testimony by several members of a jihadist group who had attacked Egyptian troops that they were inspired to carry out their attack by Muhammad and his father.
Since the 1980s, Salafi preachers have exercised great influence in Egypt with their sermons having thousands of attendees. Their influence peaked after the Arab spring in 2011 when the military dictatorship was replaced by an elected Salafist-supporting president who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
This was reversed in 2013 when the Egyptian military overthrew the Muslim brotherhood-aligned government and has continued to battle a Salafist- backed insurgency since.
Maher Fargali, an author and expert on Islamist group affairs, told the Middle Eastern News site Al-Monitor “The Salafi sheikhs played a role in influencing and shaping the mind of a large segment of extremists and terrorists.” and “The campaigns against Salafi preachers, especially influential ones, will weaken their movement and limit the spread of Salafi ideas in the Egyptian street.”
[Photo: Rachid Oucharia for unsplash]