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Egyptian authorities have banned a book that criticises the rising influence of a new generation of Muslim preachers hosting popular TV shows and advocating the islamisation of society, the publisher said Tuesday.
Mohammed Madbuli, a member of prominent familiy of Cairo publishers, told AFP that copies of Mohammed Fattuh's "Modern Sheikhs and the Industry of Religious Extremism" were confiscated.
"Members of the security services came to our shop and confiscated 280 copies of the book," Madbuli said, adding that one of his employees was detained.
"It is an arbitrary measure which does not have the backing of any judicial order," he complained.
The book is a collection of 23 essays written by Fattuh, including one that launches a stinging attack on "modern sheikhs who wear suits, preach their word on television and meet their supporters in five star hotels."
Fattuh also takes a swipe at those "who islamicise science by talking of Islamic surgeons and Islamic scientists, when science has no religion."
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Egypt-religion-Islam-book
AFP 171615 GMT 10 06
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