In this week’s Friday sermon, Minister of Religius Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa condemned the concept of illegal immigration, describing it as un-Islamic.
He added that it is illegal on both a judicial and religious level, saying that people who practice it subject themselves into misery and humiliation by “entering a country illegally”. In the sermon, which he gave in Sinai and was aired on Egyptian state TV, he called for “patience, resilience, work”.
He justified the waiting, by saying that young people will soon have job opportunities in the new national projects created by the state.
Gomaa added that youth should take the proper legal steps if they wish to travel, and “follow the law and their guardian”.
On the celebrations of the new Islamic year, which marks the journey of the prophet Mohamed from Mekka to Medina, Gomaa said: “there was no immigration after Islam was announced.”
This comes following the capsizing of an illegal migration boat off the coast of Rashid in Beheira governorate last week. The death toll has risen to 202.
