Calls from a Bahraini Sunni cleric to destroy Egypt’s Great Pyramids have been revealed as a hoax. The demands were made from a Twitter account which claimed to be owned by Bahrain’s President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud.
In the post, a person masquerading as al-Mahmoud labeled the pyramids “idolatrous” and asked Egypt’s new president to destroy them, as Egypt's Daily News reports.
Several conservative websites used the news to raise alarm over the rise of Egypt’s Islamist government.
According to rumors, al-Mahmoud encouraged Cairo to “accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.”
This was a reference to the Muslim Prophet Mohammed’s companion, Amr bin al-As, and his ancient tribesmen who invaded and conquered Egypt in 641.
An Islamization process was begun under his rule – which saw many Egyptian monuments destroyed as “relics of infidelity.”
However, demolishing the pyramids was prohibited during the 7th century – so the structures remained untouched.
The parody tweet was published on June 25 – the same day Muhammed Morsi was announced president of Egypt. However, it wasn’t picked up by media until today.
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