The Egyptian prosecution opened this weekend an investigation against Ibrahim Eissa, known for his crusade against religious extremists.

The journalist is accused of having questioned on television a miracle attributed by Muslim tradition to the Prophet Muhammad.

The man, who has written several books denouncing the bigots – and in particular the Muslim Brotherhood, pet peeves of the regime of Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi – caused an outcry in the overwhelmingly Muslim country, for having said Friday evening not to believe that the Prophet Muhammad had soared to seventh heaven on a winged mount.

Immediately, the very zealous MP Moustafa Bakri raised the issue in Parliament and filed a complaint, while the official Media Commission said it was trying to establish whether there was cause for sanctions.

A figure of the independent press

On Saturday evening, the Attorney General's office announced "opening an investigation after the filing of several complaints" against the author, in particular of

Mawlana,

a bestseller that has become a film denouncing the shortcomings of Muslim televangelists.

A figure of the independent press regularly worried under Hosni Mubarak, overthrown in 2011 by the Arab Spring, Ibrahim Eissa has received numerous international awards.

Since Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi came to power in 2013, the journalist has stopped political broadcasts to focus on his personal crusade: dismantling the discourse of the supporters of rigorous Islam, which has continued to gain ground in Egypt in recent decades.

In November, in his daily television program, he protested at having seen a pharmacist reading the Koran, urging him to “read books on medicines first”.

Debate on social networks

On Friday, he therefore took a new step: "There was no trip to seventh heaven, it's a pure invention", he said before adding that "the imams only do you learn to interfere in people's lives.

“The trip to seventh heaven took place, no one can question it,” immediately replied the official Islamic Council.

On social networks, supporters and detractors were still opposed on Sunday.

Some hail "an intellectual leading the revolution against the radicals", while others accuse him of "wanting to create doubt about the Koran".

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