Remarkable chaos and repeated crises.. Who has the right to a religious fatwa in Egypt?

Cairo -

The first international conference of the Dar Al-Iftaa of the Salam Center for Studies of Extremism - held a few days ago - brought back the discussion of legalizing the fatwa to the fore again, and what is being raised about political fatwas, in addition to the repeated uproar due to the increasing talk about controversial doctrinal issues on the communication sites.

Which raised the recurring and controversial question: "How is the fatwa controlled so that it does not fall under the control of political exploitation in order to preserve the tolerance and moderation of religion?"

According to the latest announced official statistics, the Egyptian Dar Al-Iftaa revealed that the number of fatwas issued by it in 2020 exceeded one million and 300 thousand fatwas, an estimated increase of 200 thousand fatwas from the previous year.

Observers - who spoke to Al Jazeera Net - believe that the independence of the fatwa institutions is the first way to save the fatwa itself from political exploitation or the risks of Egyptians distrust of it, which undermines its impact in the face of any extremism or terrorism.

While some demanded that the Dar al-Ifta be referred to the supervision of the Al-Azhar Institution, in order to ensure its independence and to prevent attempts to exploit it politically.

independence first

In this context, professor at Al-Azhar University and former undersecretary of the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments, Gamal Abdel Sattar, believes that the control of fatwas in Egypt must be governed by two basic things: The first is that the fatwa - especially in official institutions - should be based on those who have specifications chosen by scholars, and that scholars choose them and not A fatwa is merely a position chosen by a politician for security, political, or partisan reasons.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Abdul Sattar added that when scholars choose the mufti, the leader of the fatwa, or the body responsible for the fatwa;

He will be loyal to his intellectual, scientific and academic reference, not to the one who chose him or to a partisan or political reference just because he is affiliated with a particular political system, "and this is a major sin in the language of scholars that completely spoils the state of the fatwa, which we see a lot," according to his description.

Abdul Sattar - who holds the position of Secretary-General of the Association of Sunni Scholars - believes that the second thing to control the fatwa in its impact and its separation from the political situation is that it return to endowments and scientific bodies, in order to spend on themselves, as long as the mufti, the Dar al-Ifta and the legal references take their salaries and expenses from Political organizations, regimes, and parties, unfortunately, become largely isolated from the facts, and they tend to be inclined to power, and are isolated from the origin of the emergence of legitimate references, and then they are part of any system and revolve in its orbit, and here corrupts the position and corrupts society.

Necessary controls

Professor of the purposes of Islamic law, Wasfi Abu Zaid, believes that the fatwa is a great and dangerous position in Islamic law, and that every real mufti knows that he is acting in his fatwa on behalf of God Almighty, and knows that he is arrested in his hands one day, and this holds the author of the fatwa a huge responsibility.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Abu Zaid indicates that the fatwa will not be controlled until after correcting the current situation, and working to complete the independence of the fatwa institutions, while adopting courage in proposition and statement to express the intention of the street, and to investigate the interests of the people, not the intention of any ruler.

Abu Zeid believes that the politicization of fatwas is an old and new issue that will not end, but what really undermines it after the adoption of the controls of independence is the continuation of the masses in sorting and rejecting, and working to expose the scholars of authority and support the scholars of the nation, and this is a vital sign in Egyptians and others.

It is expected that attempts to limit the fatwa to specific parties will fail, in light of the technological development, and the inability to subjugate everyone, which requires focusing on highlighting the conditions, components and specifications of the fatwa, and upholding the journalistic code of honor in media institutions, so that they do not host an ignorant person who speaks about religion and gives fatwas to them without science, as he put it.

Politicization with the testimony of the revolution

For his part, former parliamentarian Mohamed Gamal Heshmat criticizes the fatwa discourse in Egypt, explaining that "Dar Al-Iftaa lost its true compass after it was separated from the supervision of Al-Azhar and became politicized," according to his opinion.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Heshmat confirms that he is not waiting for a real fatwa or a moderate jurisprudential opinion, and is preoccupied with real society issues from Dar Al-Ifta and its ilk in Egypt, in light of the severe political polarization that dominates its fatwa discourse.

Spokesman for the Board of Trustees of the January 25, 2011 Revolution and opposition politician Yasser Siddiq Hussein believes that politicizing fatwas has been an approach since the beginning of the revolution, saying, “When fatwas were circulated to prevent demonstrations and disobedience against the ruler, then I remained silent after the partial success of the revolution, and then the opposite happened when the will was It was held to overthrow the first elected civilian president, the late Mohamed Morsi, as completely opposite fatwas were circulated calling on Egyptians to revolt against him, then quickly returned to the fore in fatwas prohibiting disobedience against the ruler, and here is the crisis; the apparent manipulation of the politicization of the fatwa is a scourge in Egypt

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Hussein believes that the matter is not limited to the political dimension, as recent periods have witnessed conflicting fatwas, such as bank certificates with an interest of 18%, as happened in the crisis of the oral divorce fatwa that was rejected by the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, while there were representatives of the authority who supported what The regime went to him, in addition to the fatwa on polygamy that has long been repeated to preoccupy Egyptians with marginal issues, making it like playing with fire, as he put it.

He stresses that the issue needs the independence of the fatwa authorities from the authority, so that the authority does not have the right to issue a fatwa, and scholars become a tool in passing it, stressing that Al-Azhar is trying to independence in recent times despite the pressure on it, which needs support and support, according to his belief.

Several models

In the recent period, fatwas in Egypt have witnessed severe contradictions in the political, economic and social tracks.

In January 2011, numerous fatwas were issued prohibiting demonstrations against the ruler and concerns about what were described at the time as “regional fatwas” for interfering in Egypt's internal affairs.

On the contrary, in June 2013, numerous fatwas were issued to break against the ruler in order to participate in demonstrations to overthrow the first elected civilian president, the late Mohamed Morsi.

After July 2013, Egypt witnessed multiple fatwas opposing departure from the ruling authority and describing its opponents as Kharijites.

The Grand Mufti of the Republic, Shawki Allam, considered that the Muslim Brotherhood, which was at the fore in the scene of power in Egypt after the January 2011 revolution, was from the "Khawarij", which was rejected by the Brotherhood more than once in official statements.

Economically, the fatwas varied according to the political and intellectual bias, especially in the issue of bank interest.

After the Egyptian authorities announced the launch of investment certificates with an interest rate of 18% recently.

The preacher close to the authority, Khaled Al-Jundi, came out defending the purchase of certificates, while others asserted that it is an established usury.

The social path - which suffers from major crises in the family - was not spared from controversial fatwas, including the assertion of Al-Azhar University professor Ahmed Karima that the first wife must help the husband to marry a second, if he wants to pardon himself so as not to commit an immorality, stressing that the wife's permission Before the second marriage was not mentioned in Islamic law.

Karima's talk sparked widespread controversy, and the Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb issued a clarification that polygamy is a restricted license.

Al-Azhar was very disturbed by the chaos of fatwas, and the Sheikh of Al-Azhar identified the bodies entrusted with addressing religious fatwas, which are “the Council of Senior Scholars in Al-Azhar, the Islamic Research Academy, the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar Mosque, and the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwas, as well as the Dar Al-Ifta.” for an individual or individuals.