Egypt’s Baha’i Minority Faces Growing Burial Space Crisis Amid Recognition Challenges

Egypt’s Baha’i community is facing a growing shortage of burial space, with its last remaining cemetery in Cairo nearing capacity amid longstanding challenges over official recognition of the religious minority.

In a Cairo cemetery shaded by palm trees and tangled shrubs, pale graves stand tightly packed, with only narrow strips of sand and broken pavement separating neighbouring family plots.

The cemetery is the last remaining burial ground for Egypt’s Baha’i community, a religious minority that has long faced difficulties securing official recognition and access to essential civil services.

As the cemetery fills up, it has become a symbol of the bureaucratic obstacles and restrictions that community members say affect several aspects of their lives, including school enrolment, pension access and marriage registration.

“God forbid that this area becomes completely full. If that happens, we would have no other places where we can bury,” said Joumana Labib, a 25-year-old architect whose extended family is buried at the cemetery.

A Small Religious Minority Facing Growing Challenges

The Baha’i faith originated in 19th-century Iran and spread to Egypt through merchants in the 1860s. Its followers believe that its founder, Baha’u’llah, was a prophet.

Although Baha’is live across several continents, their population in Egypt is estimated to number only a few thousand in a country of approximately 110 million people, most of whom are Muslim.

Egypt’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion. However, mainstream Islamic scholars regard the Baha’i faith as heretical, while government officials have often been reluctant in practice to recognise religions outside the three main Abrahamic faiths: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Burial Restrictions Create Additional Difficulties

Baha’i burial practices present particular challenges because they require a deceased person to be transported no more than an hour’s journey from the place of death.

The shortage of burial grounds has made it increasingly difficult for families to observe these religious requirements.

Burial grounds previously used by Baha’is in the port cities of Alexandria and Port Said have either become full or been reassigned over the years, leaving many families with no option but to transport their deceased relatives to Cairo, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a leading Cairo-based human rights organisation.

Marina Samir, who leads the organisation’s work on freedom of religion and belief, said requests for new burial grounds in Alexandria and Port Said—where many members of Egypt’s Baha’i community live—had been rejected without clear written explanations.

“Death becomes, instead of a time when people are trying to comprehend their loss, a logistical process,” Samir said.

Egypt’s government information agency and the governorates of Alexandria and Port Said did not respond to requests for comment.

In a response last year to a United Nations human rights report, the Egyptian government said it did not impose restrictions on personal belief or religious affiliation, including adherence to the Baha’i faith.

The government also maintained that, based on official data, sufficient burial sites were available to meet the needs of all citizens.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly emphasised the importance of religious coexistence, saying the state works to combat discrimination and promote tolerance.

Baha’i Couples Face Marriage Recognition Challenges

A landmark court ruling in 2009 allowed Egyptians who do not follow Islam, Christianity or Judaism to leave the religion field on their identity documents blank.

The decision enabled Baha’is to avoid declaring a religious affiliation they do not follow. However, it did not resolve many of the practical difficulties they face in their daily lives.

One of the most significant challenges is obtaining official recognition of Baha’i marriages.

Many Baha’i couples are recorded as single in official documents, even after decades of marriage. This can create complications involving the registration of children, inheritance, pensions, health insurance and family records.

Hanan Kamal El-Din, 65, said her identity card still describes her as single, despite having married in a Baha’i ceremony 45 years ago. She has two children who are now in their 40s.

“What harm would recognising this marriage do to society?” she asked.

Like other Baha’is, El-Din obtained an individual court ruling recognising her marriage in 2020. However, a higher court overturned the decision in January this year, raising concerns among other Baha’i couples about the potential implications for their own legal status.

Ahmed Helmy, 49, also secured a court ruling allowing official documents to reflect his married status.

However, he said his wife had already been removed from the family section of his account on the government’s digital services platform.

He fears his identity card could revert to describing him as single when he next renews it.

“If I do not have proof of marriage, I cannot add my wife to health insurance,” he said. “Anything I own, my wife won’t be able to inherit. Anything she owns, I won’t be able to inherit.”

Calls for Equal Treatment

For Labib, the dwindling burial space and the difficulties surrounding official recognition are connected by a broader demand for equal treatment under the law.

The community’s concerns extend beyond access to burial grounds, touching on the recognition of family relationships and the ability to access essential public services without unnecessary administrative barriers.

“I am not asking anyone to accept my religion,” she said. “I am asking them to accept me as a person in this country.”

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