CAIRO, FEBRUARY 14 - Saint Valentine's is a Christian feast and therefore ''haram'', a sin, according to Egypt's main Salafist movements. Jamaa Islamiya and Salafists in Suez put up posters calling for the abolition of St. Valentine's, warning women not to wear red and street sellers not to sell heart-shaped balloons. Lovers' presents, flowers and stuffed animals are also on the Salafist sin list.
''St. Valentine is a Western invention and it has nothing to do with religion,'' according to an Egyptian Salafist movement spokesperson, Khaled. In Alexandria, unknown militants distributed flyers warning against ''the wrath of God'' and saying people who indulged in anything Valentine-related were going to hell. On Twitter, some fundamentalists threatened sinners with 80 lashes, because St.
Valentine is ''against sharia'', or Islamic law.
A branch of Sunni Islam, the Salafist movement calls for a strict and puritanical approach to religion, with some elements espousing violent jihad against civilians as a legitimate expression of Islam.
