In a move that is bound to reinforce concerns over creeping Islamism in Egypt, the country’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked government had announced that it will be issuing sharia-compliant bonds in an attempt to stabilize Egypt’s teetering economy:

Egypt’s upper house of parliament, which has assumed temporary legislative powers, approved the law last week after amending it to meet recommendations from Al-Azhar, the country’s leading Islamic authority… Egypt’s official gazette said the law had been approved by Mursi and would go into effect on Wednesday. Regulations for using the law would be issued within three months, it added.

The news comes amid a series of other legal and cultural moves which have raised concerns of deepening Islamism in the roughly eighty million person nation. A BBC report recently highlighted how religious tensions have “become much more pronounced,” are “affecting all areas of daily life,” and are even negatively impacting Cairo’s much-celebrated night life scene.

Perceptions of deepening religious fundamentalism have badly damaged hurt Egypt’s tourism sector, which is considered critical to the country’s economy. Egyptian Islamists recently opened their first hotel in which alcohol is banned. Egypt’s tourism minister recently had to intervene publicly to emphasize that alcohol and bikinis were still permitted in the country.

[Photo: Jonathan Rashad / Flickr]