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by Emad Mekay CAIRO (Islam Online) - Ahmed Abdel Fatah takes off his worn-out shoes and walks through the ancient gates of al-Azhar Mosque in the heart of Cairo. "Peace upon you," he shouts to several other visitors and immediately finds a spot for himself to lie down and take an afternoon nap. "This is the place of God," said the 38-year-old street hawker. "I can rest and sleep here. I never tried to ask for a fatwa. I'd rather come rest and sleep here. It's cool and nice" Abdel Fatah is not the only one in this country and elsewhere whose perception of Sunni Islam's most prestigious learning bastion, al-Azhar, has come to be limited to respect for the old walls of the centuries-old mosque. "There's a trend to marginalize al-Azhar now, not only in this country, but all over the world," says Dr. Ibrahim el-Kholy, a professor at al-Azhar University. "There are the extremists on one hand, and the ordinary masses who respect the buildings now more than the knowledge al-Azhar is renowned for." At a time when Egypt and several Islamic countries face different Islamic cultural and political trends, many have called on al-Azhar to take up a larger role in preserving "real Islam." Many of Islam's orthodox groups consider al-Azhar an institution that has become a lackey to the government and no longer relevant. Many cite one incident when current Sheikh of al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, issued a fatwa in 1995 when he was the country's Grand Mufti, that bank interest was halal, or permitted. This, some observers stated, was done for the benefit of the Egyptian government, whose economy depends on Western style banking to function. "We have our own differences with al-Azhar," said Montassir el-Zayat, a de facto spokesman of Egypt's most violent group, the Gamaa Islamiaya. "Our differences however, are not to do with the roots of the cause. We both want Sharia and Islam to rule. The differences are to do with the methods." The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most popular Islamist organization, shares the same view. "Al-Azhar teaches people about the general issues of Islam," said Mostapha Mashhour, supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood. "We teach the young how to set up an Islamic state and restore the Islamic Caliphate." Even some insiders, like the al-Azhar Scholars Front (ASF) - an independent watchdog organization that monitors cultural and religious activities and whose membership draws from Azhari graduates, claiming to have thousands of supporters - believes that al-Azhar needs strengthening. The group is believed to be behind a strong debate inside the ancient university concerning its future. "When al-Azhar is in a better position with its scholars being able to present their views, all other deviant trends will vanish," said Yehia Ismail, another professor at al-Azhar University and member of the ASF. "Al-Azhar will be a strong case against anti-Islamic ideas." One example was the case of Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, denounced as a non-believer by an Egyptian court in 1997 for alleging that the Holy Qur'an wasn't Divine. The court ruling received the unfettered support of the watchdog ASF. The official leadership of al-Azhar was silent and passive. Although the Sheikh of al-Azhar, Tantawi, officially disbanded the group for personally targeting him and branding him subservient to government officials, its board remains as outspoken as ever. A recent street rumor claiming the English-language logo of the giant American soft drink maker Coca-Cola when held to a mirror read "no Mecca, no Mohammed," was not ruled out as false by some members of the group. Although the Grand Mufti of the Republic, Mohammed Farid Wassel, also an Azhari, issued a religious edict that it was "unIslamic to spread rumors," the Front said it was, on the contrary, possible that the Jews were behind the insulting logo. Their statements further inflamed public feelings over the issue. Several of Tantawi's views and edicts brought the anger of the Egyptian public and opposition alike. He has previously passed fatwas that organ transplants and interest rates are permissible. Tantawi is often censured, even by his fellow Azharis, for attending meetings by the Rotary Club and the Lions Club, both groups believed to be in arms with international Zionism. The Sheikh of al-Azhar has proven to be unimpressive but skillful in the art of surviving. He has been seen in public several times losing his temper, particularly with journalists. Ordinary Egyptians level similar criticism. They also see the clerics of al-Azhar as state pawns who do and say what the government wants them to in order to keep their prominent positions while Azharis themselves see their institution as the "guardian of the Qur'an." Al-Azhar's official website claims that the university "preserves" the Qur'an and Sunna. But recently, al-Azhar has issued positions that have won the institution approval from many quarters, although it is no longer the focal point of Islamic religious and cultural life for Egypt, and the entire Islamic world. The student demonstrations in June of this year are telling. Demonstrators desired to see a novel, "A Banquet to Seaweed," by Syrian author Haider Haider, labeled as blasphemous by religious circles, banned, and Culture Minister, Farouq Hosni, sacked for sanctioning the printing of the novel in official print shops. Al-Azhar still sends several scholars around the world, while others tour Muslim countries during the holy month of Ramadan. Qur'an tapes have to be approved by the centuries-old university and the Sheikh of al-Azhar's fatwas on certain publications still matter to a large extent. The Fatwa Committee, which draws its members from an al-Azhar pool of graduates, says it receives at least 500 questions everyday in al-Azhar mosque alone from Egyptians and Muslims abroad. Most newspapers turn to the men in the white turbans to relay queries from their audience on matters ranging from marriage to financial dealings. Dozens of pious Muslims visit the Azhari committee in person and meet with Sheiks to solve their problems. The committee has branches in almost every city in the country. During the 1995 U.N. World Population Conference, held in Cairo, al-Azhar and the Catholic Church, joined hands and scuttled a bill that would have given the green light for abortion legislation. The statements by the then Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, Gad al-Haq, were strong and fiery. He drew tremendous support from almost every conservative corner of the entire Islamic world and was a telling example that Azhar still has an international say. Gad al-Haq, who died a few years back, was a serious man who hardly smiled. Although he was generally viewed as an official pawn, he was still admired by regular Egyptians and Islamists in general for several of his views. He was also steadfast in his opposition to giving a fatwa that would allow female circumcision, a common practice in this country of 64 million people. His view was that female genital mutilation was not Islamic and that it was equally unIslamic to approve it. From this attitude, al-Azhar's conservative stature seemed to be returning to its former grand magnitude. The right atmosphere was there as al-Azhar's conventional views coincided with Islamist movements in the country that threatened to transform the Arab world's largest country into, like Iran, a purist Islamic state. "No matter how many people or how much they say about al-Azhar losing its luster, it remained the castle of Islam," said Omar Bastawisi, spokesman of al-Azhar. "We work to keep the Qur'an and God Himself helps us." |
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