CAIRO: Egypt's Islamic Research Academy today rejected a bill which would unify the law of building places of worship in Egypt. The bill is intended to grant the same rights to Christians to build churches as to Muslims to build mosques. Egypt's Minister of Awqaf (religious endowments), Grand Mufti Ali GOmaa, former Grand Mufti Nassar Farid Wasel, and other members of the academy attended the meeting. The academy agreed to pass the law regarding churches, but disagreed over the bill's provisions regarding the building of mosques. The bill stipulates that any Egyptian region that has a great number of residents may build a mosque, provided that the are for the mosque is not less than 500 square meters and it is not build on disputed lang. The bill also says there shall not be any mosques or small places for prayer inside residential buildings, and there shall be no building of mosques along the Nile River of canals without permission from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. Building mosques shall not be carried out without permission from the Ministry of Awqaf, after the building site of the mosque is checked. The bill also stipulates that anyone who contributes to building a mosque must donate at least 50,000 EGP (U.S. $8,500) to indicate serious intentions to build the mosque.
