Egypt: Religion and Origins

In Ancient times, most are familiar with the gods and goddesses that the Egyptians of the past worshipped and heavily depended on them for guidance and favor. Currently, although these gods and goddesses are regularly referenced and still talked about, it is not a religion that the people of Egypt typically practice anymore.
           
In 2016, the state religion of the nation Egypt is Islam. [1] Egypt is home to nearly 80 million Muslims, which make up around 88% of the people who deem themselves as religious. Typically, these Muslims call themselves "Suni" Muslims. In Egypt, Constitutional Law states that all legislation proposed music coincide with the Islamic Law. [2] This means that legally, residents must associate themselves with one of three religions. These three include Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. [3] There are multiple religions that are unrecognized and/or persecuted in the borders of Egypt. It is not unlikely to hear news of an individual that is charged with the crime of apostasy, which means non-affiliation with a religion. [4]

Islam

[5]

Since 1980, Islam has been recognized as the official State Religion of Egypt. To the right, there is a photograph featured of Islamic Cairo. This particular area of Cairo is referenced as "Islamic Cairo" because of its many mosques as well as other Islamic infused monuments that stand there. [6] Many Muslims believe that either your religious beliefs should be individual and private or the exact opposite, that you should heavily show that your beliefs dominate your every day life.

[7]

Christianity
Varied accounts of numbers have been reported at which is actually the correct percentage of Egyptians who are practicing Christians. Around 10% is the designated number, with outliers that range from 3% all the way to 20%. [8] Christianity is a vast minority to other religions in Egypt, yet it still has the largest numbers of Christians in the Middle East and of North Africa. [9] The second largest city in Egypt, Alexandria, was and is still the largest hub of Orthodox Christians in Egypt. It was an early center of Christianity [10]


Judaism is also one of the three supported religions within the Abrahamic religions that Egypt seeks to have the residents remain within, however, there are not many practicing Jews in Egypt. Since 1948, when Israel declared independence, numbers of residents that practice Judaism in Egypt plummeted nearly 80,000 people. [11]


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Egypt
[2] https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Egypt#/media/File:Cairo(js).jpg
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Cairo
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Egypt#/media/File:The_church_is_hugging_the_mosque.JPG
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Egypt
[9] Ibid.
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_centers_of_Christianity#Alexandria
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Egypt