Islamic Identity in Contemporary Egyptian Media Discourse (2014 -2018)

Renewing religious discourse has been always a contested issue in Egypt between the ruling authorities and the Islamic entities such as Sheikh Al-Azhar, Al-Mufti, and the civilian Islamic groups. Since 2014, the ruling authorities accuse Islamic discourse as a one-sided dogmatic communication that incites violence and supports terrorism and extremism. However, the Islamic entities tend to resist these allegations by distinguishing between the fundamental resources of Islam which are the Holy Quran and verified Sunnah, and the Islamic thought which is unholy human interpretations that vary by place and time.
This research explores the characteristics attributed to Islamic identity by media discourse along with the perspectives of the heads of political and religious institutions. Critical Discourse Analysis is applied to demystify the hidden agendas that the speakers inject through language. Al-Sisi calls to start a “Religious Revolution” primarily by reforming the Islamic discourse have been widely deliberated by the media and discussed within different contexts.
The investigation included in this paper is the first stage of a project aims to explore the vulnerability of an ideological identity to be influenced by media and public speeches. Moreover, to gauge the potential media impact on people perception and whether the identity in its religious version shows resistance against change or not.