Orthodox Sunni Muslims and militant factions consider Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, to be heretical, and last year, Egyptian jihadists beheaded an elderly Sufi cleric in the northern Sinai. At least 235 people were killed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula after militants detonated a bomb and shot at worshipers in a mosque on Nov. 24. Last year, Islamic State militants asserted responsibility for two beheadings near Arish, including the killing of the elderly Sufi cleric Sulaiman Abu Haraz. The Al-Rawda mosque, while closely associated with Sufis, was also linked to members of a Sinai tribe that had opposed the Islamic State militants, said Elhor, the local journalist. The attack on the mosque was unusual, because the Islamic State militants “believe it’s not religious to blast a house of God,” he said.

Source: Washington Post November 24, 2017 12:45 UTC