Egyptians Perceptions of the Islamic Identity and Renewing Religious Discourse as a Response to Media and Public Speeches

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Associate Professor, Cairo University

Abstract

      This paper constitutes the second stage of the Islamic identity investigation in Egypt that took place in media and public speeches of political and religious figures. The main target of this paper is to gauge the impact of injected messages within discourse on the Islamic identity characteristics and perceived meanings of religious discourse renewal. To answer the research questions, a field study has been conducted to provide explanation that clarify the characteristics associated to the Islamic identity in the Egyptian public consciousness. The paper explores the current image of Islam and the public views regarding the presidential calls to renew the religious discourse and whether it is generally positive or negative and to what extent they believe the religious discourse should be changed and in which directions.  

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