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 history, 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 Christians complain of being 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]
^World Religion Database 2020 at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-03
^Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^How many Christians are there in Egypt?. Pew Research Center. 16 February 2011. ISBN 978-2024194347.
^"Egypt, US State Dept 2008 International Religious Freedom Report". Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 19 September 2008.
^"Copts welcome Presidential announcement on Eastern Christmas Holiday", Arabic News, 20 December 2002, archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
^"Egypt: Events of 2005", Egypt: Overview of human rights issues in Egypt. 2005, Human Rights Watch, 2006-01-18.
^Arab Barometer Wave V (2018 - 2019) "Data Download". Data can be also accessed using the "Online Data Analysis Tool". Retrieved 10 October 2019.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
ReligioninEgypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. The state religion of Egypt is Islam, although estimates vary greatly in...
Ancient Egyptianreligion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered...
Egyptianreligion may refer to: Ancient Egyptianreligion Modern religioninEgypt This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Egyptian...
Christianity is the second largest religioninEgypt. The vast majority of Egyptian Christians are Copts. As of 2019, Copts inEgypt make up approximately 10 percent...
The decline of ancient Egyptianreligion is largely attributed to the spread of Christianity inEgypt. Its strict monotheistic nature did not allow the...
Islam is the dominant religioninEgypt, with approximately 90% of Egyptians identifying as Muslims. The majority of Egyptian Muslims are adherents of...
Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. Egypt was an early...
the Semitic religions, the Egyptianreligion, the Greek religion, and various Iranian religions. Islam is the most widely followed religionin the Middle...
Mesopotamian religion Ancient Egyptianreligion Historical Vedic religion Ancient Greek religionReligionin ancient Rome Ancient Celtic religion History of...
Nubian texts and artifacts prior to their interactions with Egyptians, much of early Nubian religion is still unclear. Fortunately, archeologists have uncovered...
Kemetic paganism, is a neopagan religion and revival of the ancient Egyptianreligion and related expressions of religionin classical and late antiquity...
accountants, and in 1961 Coptic Christians owned 51% of the Egyptian banks. A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found...
core of ancient Egyptianreligion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural forces and phenomena, and the Egyptians supported and...
ancient ones. Egypt portal Sa'idi people Nubian people Beja people Siwi people ReligioninEgypt List of EgyptiansEgyptian Americans Egyptiansin the United...
inEgypt". Religion and Public Life. Harvard Divinity School. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023. "Who are Egypt's Coptic...
ancient Egyptianreligion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty (2890 BC). Her name also is rendered as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In ancient...
Classical Greece. Change came from the addition of new religions from other countries, including the Egyptian deities Isis and Serapis, and the Syrian gods Atargatis...
Atenism, also known as the Aten religion, the Amarna religion, and the Amarna heresy, was a religionin ancient Egypt. It was founded by Akhenaten, a...
religion may refer to: Religions of the ancient Near East Sumerian religion Assyro-Babylonian religion Canaanite religion Ancient Egyptianreligion Minoan...
The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze...
Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East, and the fourth-most populous on the African continent, after Nigeria, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic...
world, including Egypt, Persia, and India, as having a similar power structure at this point in history. What is called ancient religion today, they would...
Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeast Africa. It was concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River, situated in the place that...
dioceses inEgypt (current, titular and former) List of saints from Africa ReligioninEgypt Christianity inEgypt Coptic Orthodox Church Protestantism in Egypt...
eish baladi (Egyptian Arabic: عيش بلدي) is a staple of Egyptian cuisine, and cheesemaking inEgypt dates back to the First Dynasty of Egypt, with Domiati...
wife, Nefertiti, contributed a great deal to his new direction in the Egyptianreligion. Nefertiti was bold enough to perform rituals to Aten. Akhenaten's...
Global Information