Egypt’s Mufti performs Friday prayers at Rawdah mosque

CAIRO – 1 December 2017: Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ahmed al-Tayyeb and Minister of Religious Endowments Shawky Allam have arrived at Al-Rawdah Mosque in Arish city, northern Sinai, where they will perform Friday prayers in defiance to terrorism and extremism.

High-profile leaders and security commanders will perform their Friday prayers too at Al-Radwah mosque which witnessed the murder of over 310 Muslim worshippers during their Friday prayers ceremony a week ago.



Police and military soldiers are deployed across the district of Al-Rawdah, in a crystal clear message to extremists that Egypt never forgives terrorism.

The bloody terrorist attack that hit the main mosque in North Sinai’s Al-Rawdah Village on Friday took the lives of roughly 22 percent of its male residents. The village’s population is just under 2,111 people, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics’ (CAPMAS) 2016 report.

At least 311 people were killed and 121 injured when unidentified militants attacked a crowded mosque during Friday prayers in the Sinai Peninsula, setting off explosives and spraying worshippers with gunfire.

According to eyewitnesses, the militants stormed the Al-Rawdah Mosque, West of Al-Arish City, detonated an explosive device around the mosque, set fire to cars of the villagers, and then cut off the main road leading to the village.

Al-Rawdah Village is near Bi’r Al-Abd city in North Sinai, and is considered one of the strongholds of the Sufi Ahmadiyya Al-Jerrahi Muslim Community. They have a Zawya (small mosque) beside the attacked Al-Rawdah Mosque; the village has no shrines.

Rawda village is located on the international road linking Al-Arish with Bi’r Al-Abd. The majority of its population works in producing salt and agriculture. The village harbored a large number of families who fled from Sheikh Zuweid city following several terrorist attacks that hit the area.