Sufis are the latest religious group to fall foul of the Egyptian authorities' control freakery. Earlier this week, security forces in Cairo closed the Sayyeda Zainab and Sayyeda Nafisa mosques after night prayers and turned off their lights in order to prevent the holding of Sufi dhikr ceremonies. This was the first implementation of a ban announced earlier by the interior ministry.

According to a ministry official quoted by al-Masry al-Youm, the ban is "intended to preempt undesirable behaviour at such gatherings, such as the shouting of invocations and late-night loitering in mosques". 

The ban, which applies to all Sufi dhikr gatherings, is said to be temporary until such gatherings can be "more comprehensively regulated". It was allegedly introduced "in coordination" with a prominent (but hitherto unnamed) official from the Supreme Council of Sufi Orders.

It's not entirely clear what lies behind this, but there appears to be some kind of internal battle within the Sufi orders – in which the Egyptian government may be taking sides. On February 14, al-Masry al-Youm reported:

A conference held by leading representatives of Sufi religious denominations on Saturday called for the registration of all officially acknowledged Sufi orders and for forbidding what it called "intruders" from organising events not in accordance with established Sufi doctrines.

Conference participants criticised some of the dances performed during religious events organised by what they called "false" Sufi sects. They also condemned the practice of erecting tents that are shared between men and women at these events.

"Sufism must be purified from such intrusive practices," Sheikh El-Husseini, leader of the Husseini Sufi order, said.

According to another Sufi leader, Sheikh Alaa Eddin Abul Azayem, "No genuine Sufi order would ever allow men and women to share the same tent at a religious event."

As head of state, President Mubarak is officially in charge of Sufi affairs in Egypt. Last month, he appointed Abdel Hady Ahmed el-Qasbi (a member of the upper house of parliament) as Grand Sheikh of the Sufis. This followed months of legal wrangling between Qasbi and Mohamed Alaa el-Din Abu el-Azayem, head of the Azamiya order, after the death of the previous Grand Sheikh.

A few days after Qasbi's appointment – in what may or may not be a related incident – security forces arrested 20 Sufis from the Ahmadiya order who were meeting at a house in Derenka (Assiut province). Those arrested included seven members of Mubarak's own National Democratic Party.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 1 May 2010.