faith politics clash as egypts alazhar pressed to reform
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

In the venerable Islamic authority praised

Faith, politics clash as Egypt's Al-Azhar pressed to reform

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Faith, politics clash as Egypt's Al-Azhar pressed to reform

Pope Francis welcomes Egyptian Grand Imam
Cairo - Arab Today

When Pope Francis visits Egypt's Al-Azhar this week, he will find support for his message of peace in the venerable Islamic authority praised as a bulwark against extremism.

But his visit comes as Al-Azhar, which runs one of the world's oldest universities, is under fire from critics within Egypt who say the Sunni Muslim institution has itself become part of the problem. 

Al-Azhar had been at the centre of a messy collision between politics and theology since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began campaigning for religious reforms, with profound implications for Islamic doctrine.

A former army chief who overthrew his Islamist predecessor in 2013, Sisi believes that Islamist extremists have not been properly challenged on theological grounds.

"He thinks that extremist ideas have thoroughly infiltrated Muslim societies and they are latent" but could set off "a tidal wave of devastation,"  said a member of a foreign delegation that met Sisi.

Al-Azhar and its Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb have warily endorsed Sisi's call for reforms. 

Dating back almost 1,000 years, the prestigious institution runs a university and schools across the country, and thousands of international students from as far as China come to study religion and return home as clerics. 

The clergy of the traditional Sunni bastion loathes the theology of jihadists inspired by the puritan Salafism dominant in Saudi Arabia.

- Resisting interference -

Privately, however, many of Al-Azhar's clergy and professors resent the former army officer's attempt to reshape Islamic thought.

The manner in which he pushed for the reforms further scandalised some clerics, especially when he suggested that he would complain about them to God if his call went unheeded.

"By God, I will contest you before God on the Day of Judgement," Sisi told the clerics in a 2015 speech outlining the need for religious reforms.

"The religious establishment - not all of it but most of it - is pretty resistant to the idea of somebody from outside interfering or stipulating how religion and religious discourse should function," said H.A. Hellyer, a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council.

In a meeting with another foreign delegation, "Tayeb openly scoffed at the idea for religious reform that Sisi has promoted," a delegation member told AFP, saying "the problem is unemployment and inequality."

Members of both delegations requested anonymity because they were discussing comments made in private.

Sisi's calls for reforms emboldened secular and modernist critics of Al-Azhar as well as clerics seeking influence with the president.

One such cleric, endowments minister Mokhtar Gomaa who runs the country's mosques, decided to impose a written Friday prayer sermon on all preachers to weed out extremist rhetoric, which Sisi had demanded.

Al-Azhar mutinied, forcing Gomaa to back down, and Sisi distanced himself from the attempt.

"Whenever I see the Imam, I say your excellency the Imam, you're torturing me," Sisi said in a speech attended by Tayeb after the controversy.

"He says to me: 'Do you love me or what?' I say: 'Your excellency the Imam, I love you.'"

- 'Under attack' -

Secular and reformist critics of Al-Azhar also felt encouraged by Sisi. One, Islam el-Behairy, went so far as to attack canonical Sunni books as inspirations for extremism.

Behairy and other critics pointed to classical manuals of Islamic jurisprudence taught at Al-Azhar that contained antiquated rulings on slavery, women and non-Muslims that may be jarring to a modern reader.

The institution's professors say their students understand that those texts were written in a different age and not all their content applies in a modern context.

After an uproar by Al-Azhar, Behairy ended up serving a prison sentence for "insulting religion". 

"Many of my colleagues and students feel we are under attack, starting with Behairy," said one professor at Al-Azhar, referring to criticism of the institution.

The tensions mounted when Sisi demanded in January that the clerics look into amending divorce procedures to invalidate the Islamic practice of verbal divorces.

Al-Azhar's top body, the Council of Senior Scholars, flatly refused. "It was a consensus vote," a cleric who sits on the council told AFP.

Following three Islamic State group suicide bombings of churches that killed dozens of Coptic Christians in December and April, the pressure doubled on Al-Azhar.

Critics lambasted Al-Azhar and Tayeb in talk shows and newspapers for failing to counter the extremists and not reforming its university and high school curriculums. 

Mohamed Abu Hamed, a lawmaker, introduced a bill to reform the institution, which the constitution empowers as Egypt's authority on "Islamic affairs."

The bill includes term limits for the Grand Imam, who currently can serve as long as he wants.

"We found that the curriculum of Al-Azhar and its institutions contains many ideas that lead to violence or even incite violence," Abu Hamed told AFP.

Al-Azhar rejects the accusations, pointing out the conferences it has organised to counter extremism and a monitoring group it set up to challenge their ideology.

"The criminals who commit these crimes do not include a single suicide bomber who studied even for a single day in Al-Azhar," Tayeb's deputy Abbas Shoman said in a newspaper interview.

Sourcce: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

faith politics clash as egypts alazhar pressed to reform faith politics clash as egypts alazhar pressed to reform

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

faith politics clash as egypts alazhar pressed to reform faith politics clash as egypts alazhar pressed to reform

 



GMT 21:16 2016 Monday ,27 June

Zaki Badr discusses cleaning problem in Giza

GMT 21:46 2017 Saturday ,14 January

Turkey arrests 60 businessmen for alleged Gulen ties

GMT 22:38 2017 Friday ,24 March

Abbas meets with Merkel in Berlin

GMT 09:02 2017 Monday ,27 March

Tunisian Premier Concludes Visit to Sudan

GMT 15:54 2017 Friday ,01 September

Attorney General Directs Prosecutors to inspect Prison

GMT 09:22 2017 Sunday ,31 December

HM King condoles with Afghanistan President

GMT 10:12 2016 Wednesday ,06 April

Strong dollar, mild weather shrink H&M profits

GMT 17:03 2016 Saturday ,24 December

7 police killed in attacks in Afghansitan

GMT 13:51 2017 Friday ,17 March

Israel denies Syria shot down a warplane

GMT 04:08 2017 Thursday ,05 January

Carbon tax can fund clean energy transition

GMT 19:27 2016 Wednesday ,14 September

Alstom to go ahead with plans to shut down Belfort plant

GMT 01:44 2017 Friday ,15 December

Mennat-Allah underlines importance of landscapes

GMT 04:57 2017 Thursday ,14 December

Trump tells NASA to send Americans to Moon

GMT 21:43 2017 Wednesday ,11 October

Qabil discusses with Swiss delegation improving power

GMT 21:06 2017 Sunday ,17 September

OIC condemns suicide attack in Kabul

GMT 08:27 2017 Thursday ,27 April

Nokia reports another loss as networks sag

GMT 19:41 2017 Monday ,06 February

Elina Svitolina Claims Taiwan Open Title

GMT 09:39 2017 Friday ,03 February

Former Brazilian president Lula's wife dies of stroke
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday