Egypt
- Egypt's Islamists Try To Calm Fears Over Tourism
The Telegraph, UK The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) – the political arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood – announced a conference in Cairo entitled "Let's encourage tourism" that brought together industry leaders and party members. Meanwhile,...
- More Re Ramesses Iii Inscription In Saudi
LA Times Saudi archaeologists recently discovered the first royal pharaonic inscription on a mountain face near the ancient oasis city of Tayma, evidence, experts say, of the major trade networks that criss-crossed the region thousands of years ago. The...
- Public Outcry After Salafi Preacher’s Fatwa On Antiquities
Al Masry Al Youm A group of Egyptian citizens have filed a complaint to the office of the attorney-general demanding the cancelation of a Salafi preacher’s television program after he issued a fatwa (a religious edict) on the sale of antiquities. A...
- Statue Attack Fuels Fears
http://tinyurl.com/rdpbl (telegraph.co.uk)A disturbing account describing a recent attack on three statues in Cairo: "A religiously motivated attack on statues at a museum in Cairo has sparked outcry in Egypt and fuelled fears that the country is veering...
- Water Damage To Nile Monuments
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6795An article looking at dangers to Egyptian monuments - from the recent Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa fatwa to the damage caused to Luxor sites by irrigation: "The tourist industry is Egypt’s largest source...
Egypt
More on the anti-sculpture Fatwa
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0418/p01s02-wome.html
" More than 1,300 years after the Muslim conquest swept through Egypt, one of the country's highest religious authorities has declared that its ancient sculptures are forbidden by Islam.
In his fatwa - or religious ruling - issued earlier this month, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa quoted a saying of the prophet Muhammad that sculptors will be among those receiving the harshest punishment on Judgment Day. Artists and intellectuals here say the edict, whose ban on producing and displaying sculptures overturns a century-old fatwa, runs counter to Islam. They also worry that extremists may use the ruling as a pretense for destroying Egypt's ancient relics, which form a pillar of the country's multibillion-dollar tourist industry."
In his fatwa - or religious ruling - issued earlier this month, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa quoted a saying of the prophet Muhammad that sculptors will be among those receiving the harshest punishment on Judgment Day. Artists and intellectuals here say the edict, whose ban on producing and displaying sculptures overturns a century-old fatwa, runs counter to Islam. They also worry that extremists may use the ruling as a pretense for destroying Egypt's ancient relics, which form a pillar of the country's multibillion-dollar tourist industry."
See the above page for the full story.
- Egypt's Islamists Try To Calm Fears Over Tourism
The Telegraph, UK The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) – the political arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood – announced a conference in Cairo entitled "Let's encourage tourism" that brought together industry leaders and party members. Meanwhile,...
- More Re Ramesses Iii Inscription In Saudi
LA Times Saudi archaeologists recently discovered the first royal pharaonic inscription on a mountain face near the ancient oasis city of Tayma, evidence, experts say, of the major trade networks that criss-crossed the region thousands of years ago. The...
- Public Outcry After Salafi Preacher’s Fatwa On Antiquities
Al Masry Al Youm A group of Egyptian citizens have filed a complaint to the office of the attorney-general demanding the cancelation of a Salafi preacher’s television program after he issued a fatwa (a religious edict) on the sale of antiquities. A...
- Statue Attack Fuels Fears
http://tinyurl.com/rdpbl (telegraph.co.uk)A disturbing account describing a recent attack on three statues in Cairo: "A religiously motivated attack on statues at a museum in Cairo has sparked outcry in Egypt and fuelled fears that the country is veering...
- Water Damage To Nile Monuments
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6795An article looking at dangers to Egyptian monuments - from the recent Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa fatwa to the damage caused to Luxor sites by irrigation: "The tourist industry is Egypt’s largest source...