Egypt ministers criticized for cutting short their hajj

Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim cut short their pilgrimage to Mecca, leaving required rituals unfulfilled.
Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim (C), surrounded by security guards, walks along a street near Talaat Harb square, in downtown Cairo August 25, 2014. Security forces on Sunday cleared the streets near Talaat Harb Square, as the Interior Ministry launches a campaign to increase the presence of security forces in downtown Cairo, according to local media. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR43NMP
Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim (C), surrounded by security guards, walks along a street near Talaat Harb square, in downtown Cairo, Aug. 25, 2014. - REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
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Walaa Hussein
@walaahuseen
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CAIRO — On the first day of Eid al-Adha, on Oct. 4, social networking sites in Egypt saw angry comments and cynical jokes about Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, who cut short their pilgrimage to Mecca by abruptly returning to Cairo on Oct. 4, to perform Eid al-Adha prayers with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The wave of ridicule waged by activists on social media was accompanied by another wave of controversy about Mehleb and Ibrahim violating the duties of hajj by only performing some of the required rituals.

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