The Supreme Council for Sufi Orders held an emergency session Wednesday to discuss the continued attacks on shrines and the need to rebuild the demolished and vandalized tombs. Sheikh Abdul Hady al-Qasaby, head of the council, said “The council decided in its emergency session to form popular committees to protect the tombs in all governorates. Sufi sheikhs will form and supervise the committees to aid local agencies in putting an end to the continued attacks on Sufi tombs." Al-Qasaby added that the council has asked the prosecutor's office to provide a list of all the vandalized tombs and to continue investigations into the attacks. The council also plans to hold a seminar at the Notable's Syndicate attended by Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, Eygpt's Mufti Ali Gomaa, and other religious leaders, added Al-Qasaby. Al-Qasaby said Sufi leadership proposed avoiding sectarian tensions and rising above differences by calling on all Christians and Muslims to unite to build the nation and object to attacks on tombs. Over the past month, followers of the Salafi movement had been accused of demolishing shrines in mosques because they do not conform to their strict interpretation of Islam.
