Egyptian women’s religious information-seeking behavior: A field study in the Boulak Abu El-Ela region
Authors: Saudi Aya 
Published: August 2024

The main objective of this study is to identify the reality of the behavior of searching for religious information among Egyptian women in the Bulaq Abu El-Ela region, with the aim of revealing the reasons and motives that drive women in the Bulaq Abu El-Ela region to search for religious information, the nature of the information that women need, and monitoring the types And the forms of sources of religious information that women use in slum areas, and knowing the role of the national library and the media in making religious information available to such areas, and identifying the obstacles and difficulties they face when searching for such information. The study relied on the field survey method, using a questionnaire and a personal interview. As a main tool for collecting data, the questionnaire was distributed to (242) women out of a total of (24,048), which represents the number of females in the Bulaq Abu Al-Ala neighborhood, through several different sheikhs in the Bulaq neighborhood, namely: Al-Adawiya, Sheikh Ali, Al-Sabtiya, Darb Sheikh Farraj, and Darb Nasr. , Al-Tarjuman, Sinan Pasha, and finally the Al-Jawaber area. (203) questionnaires were completed by the women who were the study’s sample, and they were selected randomly. The study reached a number of results, the most important of which are: Most women in the Bulaq region are uneducated due to their early marriage, as well as leaving school to work to help their families with their livelihood. Most women search for religious information with the aim of getting closer to God and then having a correct understanding of religion. Most Muslim women rely on On easy-to-access information sources to obtain the religious information you need, such as various religious programs on television to obtain religious information, which represented a percentage of (77.3%) of the total study sample, followed by family members with a percentage of (49.3%), then Holy Quran Radio programs with a percentage of (44.3). %), then the sheikh of the mosque with a percentage of (37.4%), followed by neighbors and colleagues with a percentage of (31.5%), then religious books with a percentage of (20.7%), followed by social networking (Facebook) with a percentage of (7.9%). The sources of information that Christian women rely on most to obtain religious information are churches, bishops, priests, and religious television programs at a rate of (100%). The reason for women’s choice of their preferred source of information in the Bulaq Abu El-Ela area, as the study explained, is that it represents a source of trust for them at a rate of (100%). 85.2%), and that it is the easiest to access among other sources (58.1%), and that it is the least expensive (21.2%), and finally for other reasons, including that it is experienced (1.0%), the woman in the Bulaq Abu Al-Ela area indicated that the National Library does not have Public libraries have a role in making religious information available to such areas or facilitating access to it, and the most difficult difficulty women face when searching for religious information is the high illiteracy rate among the women in the study sample. Among the most important recommendations that came out of the study: that the state provide literacy classes in these areas to teach their residents so that they are able to read and research, that Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, in cooperation with the National Library (Dar Al-Kutub Al-Misria), hold monthly religious seminars attended by senior scholars, sheikhs, and preachers to spread the word. Religious awareness in slum areas, providing mobile libraries in slum areas that provide religious books, newspapers, magazines, and booklets so that women can reach their homes at low prices, or some of them are free of charge, to spread knowledge.