The ministry of religious endowments called on all of its employees, including its leadership, not to speak to the media on the unified pre-written Friday sermons except with the official approval of the head of the religious sector in the ministry if necessary.

In a Friday statement, the ministry urged its employees to "stay away from 'controversy'"  while calling on the media to report news concerning the sermons from its official website "as it is the only official source of information," MENA reported.

The Al-Azhar mosque Friday did not abide by the endowment ministry's standardised sermon entitled Cleanliness is a Civilised Behaviour and intsead gave a different sermon on National Unity and the Rihts of Christians in Islam, as announced on Egypt's top Islamic body  Al-Azhar's official website.

The Council of Senior Scholars, headed by Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, said the latest move amounts to "freezing religious discourse."

The endowments ministry announced two weeks ago that Muslim clerics would be required to read from the same pre-written script during the weekly sermon at Friday prayers, a move aimed at pushing moderate Islamic ideology and combating extremism.

The decision already sparked outcry amongst many clerics earlier this month who say scripted sermons would waste an imam's talents and fail to cater to different communities.

The ministry of religious endowments has been setting topics for weekly sermons delivered during Friday prayers across the country since 2014.

Under the Egyptian constitution, the 1000-year-old seat of Islamic learning, Al-Azhar, is in charge of regulating Islamic preaching and Dawa. The endowments ministry is responsible for administering mosques and Islamic centres.