Places of Worship

Places of Worship:

All famous and major mosques are open to tourists, except for when services are in progress (the main service is on Friday at noon). Keep in mind that a mosque differs from a western church in that Christian churches are considered houses of God, while mosques are more a gathering place for the faithful of Islam. All visitors to mosques, mausoleums, and Madrassas (religious schools) must remove their shoes! Most Muslims walk around in their stockings, yet sometimes in those mosques that are major tourist attractions, canvas overshoes are available; a tip of 50 PT to 1 LE is in order for the people who put them on for you. Women must cover bare arms. There is no need to wear a hat, or to cover hair. Men and women should wear a long shirt and long trousers when you visit a mosque.

calendar:

The business and secular community in Egypt operates under the Western (Gregorian) calendar (B.C/A.D). But other calendars have official status in Egypt. The Islamic calendar (A.H) is used to fix religious observances and is based on a lunar cycle of 12 months of 29or 30 days. The Muslim year is thus 11 days shorter than the year according to the Gregorian calendar and months move forward accordingly.

In the Gregorian calendar, for example, April is always in the spring, but in the Muslim calendar all months move through all seasons in a 33-year cycle.

The Coptic calendar (A.M) is based on a solar cycle and consists of 12 months of 30 days and one month of 5 days. Every four years a sixth day is added to the shorter month. Many farmers, for planting and harvesting crops, use an adaptation of the Coptic calendar. The authorities of the Coptic Orthodox Church use it.