page_title: Religion in Egypt
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Egypt
caption_attribution_description: English: A picture of a church next to the mosque in Bakus; a very crowded popular area in Alexandria, Egypt. A common scene in the Egyptian streets.
context_page_description: 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, with the next largest religious group being Coptic Christians. The exact numbers are subject to controversy, with Christians alleging that they have been systemically under-counted in existing censuses.
  Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in AD 970 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.
  In Egypt, Muslims and Christians share a common history, national identity, ethnicity, race, culture, and language.
context_section_description: 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 85-90% of the population), with the next largest religious group being Coptic Christians (with estimates ranging from 10-15%). The exact numbers are subject to controversy, with Christians alleging that they have been systemically under-counted in existing censuses. 
  Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in AD 970 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.
  In Egypt, Muslims and Christians share a common history, national identity, ethnicity, race, culture, and language.
  In 2002, under the Mubarak government, Coptic Christmas (January 7) was recognized as an official holiday, 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.
caption: A common religious scene in Egypt: a mosque next to a church.
exif: {}