Story By: Basant Essam, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
A famous American belly dancer in Egypt has sparked outrage after posting snaps of her posing outside a major mosque in Cairo in a low-cut dress.
The belly dancer and instructor, who goes by the stage name Shahrzad and does not reveal her real name, shared images of her wearing a colourful dress with a slit up the front outside the Mosque of Muhammad Ali in the Citadel of Cairo.
Shahrzad, who boasts 231,000 followers on Instagram, accompanied the photos with the message: “Beautiful evening at the Salah El Din Citadel. I will never lose my awe and excitement of being able to live in a place with so much history.”
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However, the curvy dancer’s post caused anger among netizens who pointed out that taking such photos outside a mosque is inappropriate.
On Instagram one user wrote: “Shooting in the mosque, OMG!”
While another added: “A loss for Egypt and the mosques of Egypt.”
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Earlier this year, Russian belly dancer Ekaterina Andreeva, better known as Johara (Jewel), caused anger in Egypt earlier this year when she posed for snaps in a mosque courtyard in the Egyptian town of Hurghada.
Belly dancing has been popular among Egyptians for decades, however, in recent years it has been frowned upon as too risque. As a result, the number of local performers has decreased while foreign belly dancers dominate the scene in the country.