The name of Egypt’s President Sisi is mentioned in the Quran, an Egyptian broadcaster claimed this week, sparking ridicule on social media.

Mohammed al-Gheity, who presents a programme on satellite station LTC, cited a verse of the Quran that one scholar – Palestinian Sheikh Bassam al-Jarrar - interprets to mean that the state of Israel will cease to exist by the year 2022.

According to Gheity, Sisi will be in power in that year, and is the only leader in the region capable of bringing about the destruction of Israel.

“The Egyptian presidential elections were at the end of May 2014. God willing, the Field Marshal [turned president Sisi] will rule Egypt for two presidential terms, or four years,” Gheity said.

“2014 plus eight is 2022, meaning that Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is the only Arab leader chosen by God…to achieve security, stability and justice for Egypt and the Arab nation.”

“God willing, the coming years will make clear that this is the case.”

Gheity also argued that Sisi is the only Egyptian president able to bring about the destruction of Israel in that year, because his name contains a “miracle number” mentioned in the Quran.

Sisi’s full name, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, contains 19 letters in Arabic –19 is considered by some Islamic scholars to be a sacred number encoded within verses of the Quran.

According to Gheity, Sisi is the only Egyptian president whose name contains 19 letters, unlike Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (17), Mohammed Anwar Sadat (15), Mohammed Hosni Mubarak (13) and Mohammed Mohammed Morsi (12).

Sisi came to power in 2013 following a popular-backed military coup against Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s first democratically-elected president.

Since he took power, Sisi’s government has launched a fierce crackdown targeting supporters of the Brotherhood, as well as secular activists and human rights defenders.

Despite that he has also sought to garner support from Islamic religious institutions and figures.

Former Grand Mufti – the highest Sunni Muslim authority in Egypt – Ali Gomaa said last November that “Allah supports Sisi,” who was sent by God to “relieve Egypt of distress”.

In June 2015, Sisi said in a public speech that God had sent him as “a doctor to diagnose [Egypt’s] problems”.

Gheity’s latest comments were greeted with ridicule by social media users.

الغيطي أبو ميار: السيسي ذكر في القرآن في سورة الإسراء. كلامه صحيح بس في سورة البقرة {الشيطان يعدكم الفقر ويأمركم بالفحشاء} — إنما النصر صبر ساعة (@momfas36) May 13, 2016

Translation: Gheity: Sisi is mentioned in the Quran in The Night Journey. He’s right but it’s in The Cow: ‘the Devil brings you poverty, and forces you into indecency”

الغيطي مذيع المصري السيسي مذكور في القران

صحيح فقد ذكر إلقران المنافقين — مـحـمـد الـراشـد (@viq_viq) May 12, 2016