Religion in Egypt

Religion in Egypt (2020)[1]

  Islam (official) (90.64%)
  Christianity (9.26%)
  Other (0.1%)

Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. The state religion of Egypt is Islam, although estimates vary greatly in the absence of official statistics. Since the 2006 census, religion has been excluded, and thus available statistics are estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies. The country is majority Sunni Muslim (estimated to be 85-95% of the population), with the next largest religious group being Coptic Orthodox Christians (with estimates ranging from 5-15%[note 1]). The exact numbers are subject to controversy, with Christians alleging that they have been systemically under-counted in existing censuses.[2]

A common religious scene in Egypt: a mosque next to a church.

Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in 970 CE by the Fatimids as the first Islamic university in Egypt and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria established in the middle of the 1st century by Saint Mark.[3]

In Egypt, Muslims and Christians share a common national identity, ethnicity, race, culture, and language.[4]

In 2002, under the Mubarak government, Coptic Christmas (January 7) was recognized as an official holiday,[5] though otherwise, Christians are minimally represented in law enforcement, state security and public office, and of being discriminated against in the workforce on the basis of their religion.[6][7]

  1. ^ World Religion Database 2020 at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-03
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ How many Christians are there in Egypt?. Pew Research Center. 16 February 2011. ISBN 978-2024194347.
  4. ^ "Egypt, US State Dept 2008 International Religious Freedom Report". Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 19 September 2008.
  5. ^ "Copts welcome Presidential announcement on Eastern Christmas Holiday", Arabic News, 20 December 2002, archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  6. ^ "Egypt: Events of 2005", Egypt: Overview of human rights issues in Egypt. 2005, Human Rights Watch, 2006-01-18.
  7. ^ Arab Barometer Wave V (2018 - 2019) "Data Download". Data can be also accessed using the "Online Data Analysis Tool". Retrieved 10 October 2019.


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