From Tahrir to Sisi: Religion in Revolutionary Egypt

Locating religion in revolutionary Egypt helps explain the traumatic ouster of the country’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, and the return of military rule under Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

Friday Pray in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution (Photo Credit: Lilian Wagdy)

by Melinda Holmes

Religious motifs and phrases permeate the culture and social fabric of Egyptian life. It is unsurprising, then, that, both Muslim and Christian traditions contributed to a religious framing of revolutionary ideals in Egypt. While the January 25 upris…