Eight Quran reciters banned in Egypt

Cairo: Eight Egyptian reciters of the Quran have been banned by a governmental agency for visiting Iraq and Iran without permission and making the Shiite call to prayer, an official said on Sunday.

The Quran Reciters’ Association, an affiliate of the Ministry of Waqfs (Religious Endowments), said it revoked the membership of the clerics in the union and would stop sending them abroad on official missions.

Egypt is a mainly Sunni Muslim country whose key seat of religious learning, Al Azhar, has repeatedly warned against alleged Iranian efforts to promote Shiism.

“The decision was taken after it was proven that they had travelled to Iraq and Iran without permission from the association or the ministry,” head of the association Mahmoud Al Tablui said, referring to the two mostly Shiite countries. “The decision aims at safeguarding the prestige of the state authorities and the Sunni creed.”

Al Tablui added that the official institutions would be notified of the ban to stop recruiting the service of the eight clerics at home or abroad.

Earlier this year, Sunni Quran reciter Farajallah Al Shazli drew heavy criticism in Egypt for appearing in a video making the Shiite version of the call to prayer during a visit to Iraq.

Al Shazli is one of the eight banned clerics. Another is Ahmad Naena, a famed Quran reciter-cum-physician, usually performing on presidential occasions. Last week, he was shown on local TV stations reading the Quran at the beginning of the swearing-in ceremony of President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi.

“I travelled to Iran as a jury member of a Quranic competition, not to make the Shiite call to prayer,” Naena told the independent newspaper Al Tahrir. “The Quran Reciters’ Association has no legal basis to take such steps against me. Its an honorary association and its powers are nominal.”

Last year, Egypt halted trips for Iranian holidaymakers following protests from ultra-conservative Salafists, who claimed the visits could be used to spread Shiism.