#Alexandria court cancels controversial jewish Abu Hasira moulid - محكمة الإسكندرية تلغي الإحتفال بمولد أبو حصيرة

Court says the shrine in the northern Delta is no longer a monument while antiquities officials say it was never a monument in the first place

The shrine

 في حكم جديد لمحكمة القضاء الادارى بالإسكندرية الدائرة الأولى بالبحيرة برئاسة المستشار الدكتور محمد عبد الوهاب خفاجى نائب رئيس مجلس الدولة حسمت فيه قضية الحاخام اليهودى يعقوب أبو حصيرة ، قررت المحكمة إلغاء قرار وزير الثقافة الأسبق الصادر فى يناير 2001 باعتبار ضريح الحاخام اليهودى أبو حصيرة والمقابر اليهودية حوله من الآثار الاسلامية والقبطية معدوما وينطوى على خطأ تاريخى جسيم يمس تراث الشعب المصرى

An Alexandria administrative court on Monday banned the controversial annual religious festival moulid of Jewish saint "Abu Hasira" in the Beheira governorate. The court also ordered the removal of the shrine for the revered Jewish rabbi from the Egyptian antiquities and monuments list.

The administrative court also ordered the government to publish this in the state’s official journal and to inform UNESCO of the decision. 

The shrine of Abu Hasira and the Jewish cemetery next to it were registered as a monument according to the culture minister decision in January 2001.

The court also rejected a request by Tel Aviv to transfer the remains of the Jewish rabbi to Israel as it violates Islamic teachings prohibiting the exhumation of graves.

The court revealed in its debriefing that Israel requested from UNESCO to transfer the body of the revered Rabbi to east Jerusalem was another attempt to “Hebrewise” the city. 

An unnamed official in Egypt's antiquities ministry told Reuters' Aswat Masriya that the ministry has not yet informed of the ruling by the court.

The only authority in Egypt officially authorised to strip a cite of its classification as a monument is the technical permanent committee within the antiquities ministry, the official added.

The official added that if the ruling violated Egypt’s antiquities protection law, the ministry would appeal it.

Dr. Mohamed Fawzy, the head of Islamic and Coptic antiquities sector in the antiquities ministry told Ahram Online that unlike what the Shrine of Abu Hasira was not officially registered as an official Jewish monument in Egypt in the first place.

This is not the first time the administrative court has banned the annual festival of Abu Hasira. In 2001 the Alexandria administrative court also cancelled the celebrations. The celebrations were again cancelled in 2012 by Egyptian authorities who cited political instability.

The pilgrimmage of Jews to the annual celebration of the birth of the Moroccan rabbi who is believed to have died in the Egyptian village of Damatiuh during the 1880s has often caused civil unrest in the village spurred by locals who refuse to normalise relations with Israel.

The local community in Damatiuh also maintains that the Jewish rabbi is not buried in Egypt and was actually buried in Morocco.

The administrative court added thet the 2001 ministry of culture decision was invalid, historically inaccurate and negatively affects the Egyptian heritage.

#Egypt's Al-#Azhar head blames "enemies' plot" for rising militancy

Ahmed El-Tayyeb's remarks came on opening session of Al-Azhar-sponsored international conference to fight terrorism

Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, Egyptian Imam of al-Azhar Mosque

Head of Egypt's top Sunni Islamic institute, Al-Azhar said on Wednesday he wished the West would experiment their weapons in the desert instead of the bodies and property of the Arabs, as he gave the opening remarks for an international terrorism-fighting conference.

Egypt is part of the international coalition to fight terrorism, with high expectations from the international community about the significance of its role in fighting radical religious thought and spreading moderate Islamic teachings through its Al-Azhar organisation.

Ahmed El-Tayyeb said a variety of political, societal and religious reasons stand behind the rising wave of militancy across the Middle East, but the "enemies' plot" could be a main cause.

"The plot plays on the sectarian and racial tension along with providing these parties with weapons," he said.

"I just wish the arms factories in the west would experiment with their weapons and their efficiency in the desert instead of the bodies and the installations of Arabs."

The two-day conference, sponsored by Al-Azhar, was attended by Egypt's Coptic Pope, 600 Muslim clerics and heads of Christian churches from 120 countries.

The conference comes at a time when militant groups are gaining cross-border alliances.

Earlier in November, Egypt's leading Sinai-based group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis swore allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, which has claimed control over large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Other militant groups across the region, including in Libya, also pledged loyalty to IS, allegedly led by Iraqi militant Abu-Bakr Al-Boghdadi.

El-Tayyeb on Wednesday said the plots aim at "keeping Israel the strongest and richest country in the region."

He spoke of the US invasion of Iraq being predicated on "fabricated reasons" as part of a plot to break up the Iraqi army, one of the strongest in the region at the time. He added that fighting and divisions have spread to Syria, Libya and Yemen.

"God only knows when the war machine will be silenced in these stricken countries and when they will take their own decisions without regional and international pressure or interferences," he said.

The conference comes as part of the campaign by Egypt clerics and moderates to brush off the extremist image of Islam, increasingly exported by militant activity.

"ISIS attempt to export their vision of their new beguiled religion that came to people with slaughter, beheading and forced exile for those who disagree with it," El-Tayeb said. He condemned their brutality as "barbaric crimes" with the cover of Islam.

"This confrontation requires exporting moderate religious speech, which will set aside religion from the circle of manipulation...that threatens the society's safety and the nation's unity," top Lebanese Shia cleric Aly Al-Amin said.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II, also giving opening remarks, stressed that Christianity calls for love, acceptance and peacefulness among one another.

Egypt's Christians, who make up nearly 10 percent of the population, have long complained of the discrimination and the waves of sectarian strife that occasionally soar for different, especially in the south of the country.

"We pray every day for the city we're living in, for our neighbors, our borders, the president, the army and the government," Tawadros said. "The Egyptian church has always lived patriotically, and never claimed a timely authority."

المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة المصرية يبث مقطع فيديو بعنوان "الإرهاب لا يعرف الدين أو الوطن" - The Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces broadcast a video clip entitled "Terrorism knows no religion or homeland"

بثت صفحة أدمن المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة مقطع فيديو بعنوان "الإرهاب لا يعرف الدين أو الوطن"، يشمل أعمال القتل والتخريب والعنف والتفجيرات التى حدثت فى العالم كله ومصر، موثقة من مختلف وسائل الإعلام المصرية والعالمية

القرضاوي:الأزهر بحاجة للتطهير..والطيب متواطئ متآمر يستغل العمامة لتحقيق مصالحه

عاود الدكتور يوسف القرضاوي،رئيس الاتحاد العالمي لعلماء المسلمين الجمعة التهجم بصورة شديدة وغير مقبولة بالتطاول على الأزهر وشيخ الأزهر مرة أخرى، إن الفساد تفشى في مختلف المؤسسات المصرية، وفي مقدمتها "الأزهر الشريف"، مشيرا الي أن شيخ الأزهر، أحمد الطيب، يتخذ من عمامة المؤسسة الدينية "غطاءً لمآربه."

وقال القرضاوي ، بحسب ما جاء على موقعه الرسمي، مخاطباً شيخ الأزهر: "لقد كنتُ أظنهم قد غرروا بك، فعلمتُ بقولك أنك ممن أوحى لهم وكنت أحسبك متورطا، فعلمت أنك متآمر وكنت أخالُك خائفا، فعلمت أنك مشارك.. تكيد لهذه الأمة وتمكر بها، وتتخذ من عمامة الأزهر غطاء لمآربك، وتمويها على المصريين".

وأضاف الداعية المصري، الذي يُعد الزعيم الروحي لجماعة "الإخوان المسلمين"، قائلاً: "الحق يا شيخ الأزهر إنك ما أن تخطو في اتجاه الحق خطوة، حتى تتراجع إلى الباطل خطوات، وما أن تتقدم في طريق العدل حبواً، حتى تتقهقر عنه عدْواً."

وتابع القرضاوي بقوله: "تأكدنا الآن أن الأزهر المجيد من المؤسسات التي ينبغي تطهيرها.. عرفنا أن الفساد قد نخر في كل شئ في مصر، حتى في مشيخة الأزهر، التي لم تعد يا شيخ الأزهر تمثلها، بانتفاض علماء الأزهر ودعاته ضد ممارساتك، ولم يبق معك إلا نفر قليل، ممن عينتهم بنفسك، فهم صنيعتك، وعلى شاكلتك".

وقال: "أنسيت أن الشرعية مع أنصار المعزول مرسي، الذين يدافعون عنها، ويذودون عن حياضها، ويتمسكون بها، إنهم لا يغتصبون شرعية، وإنما اغتصبتموها أنتم منهم، بتهديد السلاح، وفوّهات المدافع، بآلة البطش، وسلاح القمع، الذي تدافع عنه، فإذا بك تصورهم بأنهم يريدون اغتصاب السلطة منكم، مع أنكم المغتصبون لها، المعتدون على أصحابها".