Religion Today
Egypttraveltips.Com Is Giving You A Short Idea About Religion Today In Egypt; Islam, Christianity, & Judaism.
Islam
Some Of The First Things People Notice In Egypt Are Thousands Of Minarets, Some As High As 80 Meters. 5 Times A Day, The Mosque Officials Known As Muezzins Bellow Out The Call To Prayer Through Speakers On Top Of The Minarets. With These Prayers An Egyptian Muslim Reaffirms His Or Her Faith In Islam, The Predominant Religion Of Egyp ,Nothing Can Be More Misleading Than A Number Of General Statements Based On Imperfect & Incomplete Knowledge, & No Man Living Has A Through Acquaintance With The Millions Of Muslims In Asia & Africa, To Say Nothing Of Scattered Communities Elsewhere, So That He Can Make Authoritative Pronouncement On Islam As A Whole.All That Can Be Done Is To Take Into Account What Modern Muslims Have Written About Their Religion & To Supplement It By One Had Seen & Heard. The Result Will Be Illuminating, But It Will Leave Vast Areas Dark. Where Little Or Nothing Is Written Or Told, Nothing Of Real Value Can Be Said. Islam Shares Its Roots With Two Of The Other Major Religions; Judaism & Christianity.Muslim Teachings Correspond Closely To Torah, Old Testament & The Gospels, But The Essence Of Islam Is The Quran (Koran) & The Prophet Mohammed, Islam Means "Submission" I.E. Submission To Allah (God). Mohamed Was The Last Prophet, He Was Born In 570 Ad In Mecca (Now In Saudi Arabia) & Had His First Revelation From Allah In 610. He Began To Preach Against The Idolatry, Mecca Holiest City Of Islam Because It Was There That Abraham Built The First Shrine To Allah.
The Quran Is The Muslim Holy Book, No Changes To That Text Have Been Permitted Since 632 Ad (Time Of Prophet Mohamed's Death), According To The Quran, Faithful Muslims Must Carry Out 5 Acts, Known As The 5 Pillars Of Faith, They Must:
1- Declare That "There Is No God But Allah & Mohammed Is His Prophet"
2- Pray 5 Times A Day; At Sunshine, 12 Noon, Mid-Afternoon, Sunset, & Night.
3- Give Zakah, Or Alms, Mainly For Help To The Needy.
4- Fast During The Day For The Month Of Ramadan.
5- Make The Haj, Or Pilgrimage To Mecca.
Christianity Was The Predominant Religion In Egypt, Before The Arrival Of Islam. St. Mark, One Of 12 Apostles Of Jesus, Began Preaching Christianity About 35 Ad, Although It Did Not Become The Official Religion Of The Country Until The 4th Century.Egyptian Christians Split From The Orthodox Church Of The Eastern (Or Byzantine) Empire.Dioscurus, The Patriarchof Alexandria, Embraced The Theory That Christ Id Totally Divinity, & Refused To Consider Him As Both Human & Divine.Since That Time , Egyptian Christians Have Been Called "Coptic Christians", I.E. The Native Egyptian Christian Church. The Word "Copt" Is Derived From The Greek Word For Egyptian, The Coptic Church Has A Long History Of Monasticism & Can Claim That The 1st Christian Monks, St. Antony & St. Pachmius Were Copts.
The Coptic Language Is Still Used In Religious Ceremonies.
The Copts Comprise About 10 % Of The Population Of Egypt.
Judaism
More Than 80000 Lived In Egypt Until 1948. However With The Independence Of Israel & Wars Between The 2 Countries, Many Jews Had To Leave.
Today There Are Very Few Number Of Elder Jews Scattered Through The Egyptian Cities.
Sometimes, Some Synagogues Of Alexandria & Cairo Are Open To The Public.