Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa has asked employees on Monday to remove books unlicensed by the ministry and believed to promote fundamentalist Islamist, A source told Al-Masry Al-Youm Mohamed Abdel Razeq, the head of the ministry's religious department, said that small libraries of mosques, which rely on books donated by the public, pose a threat for promoting jihadi thought, unlike mosques with large libraries that are subjected to annual stock-taking. Abdel Razeq said the problematic books contain literature by Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna, late Islamic author and former MB leader Sayyed Qutb, and pro-Muslim Brotherhood preacher Youssef Al-Qaradawy, who resides in Qatar. He said that all ministry departments are instructed to take stock of mosque libraries and rid the unauthorized books. He warned imams who violate the rules and read from those books while preaching to be punished. The Endowments Ministry embarked on a campaign to clear its staff from preachers sympathizing with the MBs since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, preventing unauthorized imams from giving sermons or leading religious rituals.
