Cairo police destroy "atheist cafe" as residents accuse it of Satanism

From Morocco World News, quoting Egypt's  Youm7:

Egyptian police on Sunday reportedly destroyed a café of atheists in the Hay Al Abidine district in Cairo. During the destruction, residents who live near the café expressed their joy and denounced the atheists, local media reported.

Egypti’s Youm7 quoted the head of Hay Al Abidin Jamal Mohi as saying that the café was located on Avenue Al Falaki in downtown Cario, and “it was a resort for atheists and Satanists who were spreading wrong ideas about religion.”

Jamal Mohi went on to add that local authorities decided to destroy the café after they received many requests from residents who live the café.

“Residents said that each midnight, atheists and Satanists in the café would start performing sort of satanic rituals,” he explained.

Mohi also revealed that the local authorities destroyed the café amid local women’s ululations of joy.

On the other hand, decision to destroy the café angered some Egyptian social media activists, who condemned closing the café and considered it a violation of the freedom of beliefs.

Ayman Ramzy, an Egyptian atheist and social media activist, told El Wady News that that café does not impact the beliefs of the Egyptian citizens.

Ramzy went on to add that local authorities should worry about the critical issues that Egypt is facing, such as the growing number of homeless children, rather than violating the individual freedoms of Egyptian citizens.

He explained that the number of atheists is on the rise in Egypt due to the awareness of youth and the behavior of religious institutions.

It is worth mentioning that a recent study released by the Egyptian Dar al-Ifta (Fatwa House) revealed that Egypt has the highest number of atheists in the Islamic world, estimating their number at 866 people.

That "866" number is referenced in this related article:

No one in Egypt can agree on how many people live in Cairo, let alone the precise ratio of Muslims to Christians. But senior government clerics are quite sure of one thing: there are exactly 866 atheists in Egypt – roughly 0.00001% of the population.

This suspiciously precise figure means Egypt harbours the highest number of atheists in the Arab world, according to claims by Dar al-Ifta, an official wing of government that issues religious edicts, citing research released this week by a regional polling group. Morocco came in second, with supposedly only 325 atheists. Yemen is meant to have 32.

Religiosity is very high in Egypt, and across the Arab world. But the tiny estimates nevertheless prompted high amusement among atheists and secularists in Egypt, who say atheism is slowly on the rise. Even Dar al-Ifta’s definitions of atheism seemed comic. According to the clerics, atheists include not just unbelievers, but those who believe in a secular state, and Muslims who convert to other religions.

“They are in denial,” said Rabab Kamal, a spokesperson for The Secularists, a small but vocal group that lobbies for a secular state. “I could count more than that number of atheists at al-Azhar university alone,” she added, referencing the Cairo-based institution that is widely regarded as the seat of global Sunni learning.

“In pragmatic terms, you can’t make scientific studies about how many atheists or agnostics there are – we’re in a country where talking about ideology other than Islam is a stigma.”

Dar al-Ifta clerics say the number of atheists in Egypt is a dangerous development that should “set alarm bells ringing” – a stance that may surprise outsiders who imagined last year’s overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood constituted a stepping stone towards a secular state.

Wishful thinking again trumps reality in the Middle East.

(h/t Bob Knot)