Imam Hussein Mosque closed to bar Shiites from observing Ashura holiday
The Endowments Ministry is closing the shrine in Islamic Cairo’s historic Hussein Mosque to bar followers of the Shia faith from worshipping there during the day of Ashura.
The Endowments Ministry is closing the shrine in Islamic Cairo’s historic Hussein Mosque to bar followers of the Shia faith from worshipping there during the day of Ashura.
Egypt’s Shia minority has long been subject to ongoing oppression both from religious and state figures, who have encouraged distrust of the community.
Sectarian incitement reached a crescendo in June 2013, when a group of Salafi sheikhs led the brutal mob lynching of four Shia men in a village outside Cairo.
The ministry will not allow Shia rituals to be performed in its mosques, ministry undersecretary Mohamed Abdel Razek told the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm.
