CAIRO — Egyptians in general welcome premarital education for Muslim couples, in light of the country's high divorce rate. But courses offered strictly to young women by Salafi groups are raising controversy for their claims that women are solely responsible for their marriages' success or failure.

In a statement published July 20 in Egyptian newspapers, Salafi preacher Sameh Abdel Hamid called on the Egyptian government to entrust every authorized marriage officer to propose counseling courses to couples wishing to marry. But reactions were largely unfavorable to an ad distributed in the streets of Cairo for courses targeting only young women. The Qurrat Ayun (Joy of the Eye) association, which organized those courses, ended up canceling classes scheduled for Aug. 2-5. The group cited reasons “beyond its control.”

The ad announced three pre-marriage courses to be held at Qurrat Ayun’s office in Mansoura, in Alexandria governorate, for 100 Egyptian pounds ($6) per course. The courses could be taken remotely via teleconference programs and were to focus on Salafi ideas about how to manage marital life. Salafism is a fundamentalist branch of Sunni Islam.

Salafi thought promotes a number of ideas that many citizens see as being against women’s rights. Salafism is known to promote early marriage, polygamy, the husband's right to beat his wife or prevent her from working, as well as the prohibition of birth control. Egyptian women's rights institutions have been struggling to root out these ideas and practices.