Cairo -
Between attack and defense, two men have raced to the top of the short tweeting site (Twitter) in Egypt in recent days. They are "Down with the rule of Al-Azhar" and "Al-Azhar Al-Sharif is the fortress of Islam", amid widespread controversy over the reasons for the repeated attack on the Al-Azhar sheikhdom from time to time.
Opponents of Al-Azhar believe that it has become a "state within the state" and exercises "guardianship in the name of religion" over society, while supporters of Al-Azhar believe that it is a bastion of moderation and that its role is pivotal in raising religious awareness in Egypt and the Islamic world in accordance with the constitution.
Article 7 of the current Egyptian constitution states that “Al-Azhar is an independent, scientific Islamic body, with exclusive jurisdiction over all its affairs. It is the primary reference in religious sciences and Islamic affairs, and is responsible for advocacy and dissemination of religious sciences and the Arabic language in Egypt and the world.”
The escalation of the attack on Al-Azhar prompted the Egyptian Dar Al-Ifta to issue an official statement supporting Al-Azhar and confirming its role.
And the Egyptian Dar Al Iftaa said - in its statement - that "Al-Azhar Al-Sharif is a value and stature, a place and a prestige, witness to the sincerity and the tongue of justice on the moderation of Islam and the tolerance of its legislation in building people and nations, and its rational approach will continue at the hands of its honorable scholars in spreading correct science and a sound understanding of religion, and it will not affect it. Arrows of Doubt.
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif is a value and stature..a place and a prestige..a witness to the sincerity and a fair tongue of Islam’s moderation and the tolerance of its legislation in building people and nations..and its rational approach will continue at the hands of its honorable scholars to spread the correct knowledge and a sound understanding of religion, and the arrows of skepticism will not affect it.
— The Egyptian Dar Al Iftaa 🇪🇬 (@EgyptDarAlIfta) July 12, 2022
fortress of moderation
Professor at Al-Azhar University and former undersecretary of the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments, Gamal Abdel-Sattar, agrees with the content of the fatwa statement, stressing that Al-Azhar is a bulwark of moderation.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Abdul Sattar says that everyone knows that Al-Azhar is the source of moderation and that with its sheikhs, scholars and students it represents a protection for moderation in the face of extremism and negligence, and is considered the holder of the method of moderation in the entire Islamic world, and only a hater or hostile to it is challenged, "according to his opinion.
He added that Al-Azhar, with its scholars, represents the safety valve for the comprehensive and moderate understanding of Islam, as it did not align itself with a sect and studied all sects, and did not return to a sect;
Even the Shiite sect taught it, and did not bind the state or the people to one sect, as it was accommodating all the ideas, sects and trends stemming from the Islamic understanding.
The professor at Al-Azhar University and the former deputy undersecretary of the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments appreciates Al-Azhar’s standing firm in the face of what he described as “vicious and ferocious campaigns that are managed from inside and outside and target the constants of religion and the moderation of Al-Azhar, with the aim of spreading atheism and negligence,” as he described it.
He believed that these campaigns have nothing to do with science or moderation, as they "believe that they got rid of the Islamic (political) trend and keep Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, as they are trying to undermine it in order to bring it down from people's hearts until the complete Islamic reference falls," he said.
He concluded by saying that "these are delusional, and Al-Azhar will remain in the hearts of Muslims in Egypt and the world, and its methodology will remain more stable, widespread, strong, immune and influential," as he put it.
قال تعالى :{وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَن يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا مُّبِينًا}.الأحزاب (36)#فضائل_الحجاب pic.twitter.com/cgDmcplNju
— Al-Azhar Al-Sharif (@AlAzhar) June 29, 2022
fierce attack
For his part, former parliamentarian and politician Mohamed Gamal Heshmat describes the repeated attack on Al-Azhar as a treachery and a fierce attack, behind which "extremists and secularists" stand, as he described it.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Heshmat believes that Al-Azhar has a pivotal and major role, and that what he considered "the silence of Al-Azhar in issues of rights and freedoms" caused the attackers to attack him, so they continued to do so, and insisted on limiting Al-Azhar with a loud voice so as not to protect beliefs and morals.
He added that it is the duty of Al-Azhar and all those who love and wish to play its constitutional role to support its efforts, publicize it, and stand in the face of the fierce attack on it by secularists and extremists.
The hashtag “# Al-Azhar_Al-Sharif_Fortress of Islam” tops the social networking sites in Egypt;
In response to the offensive hashtag “Down with Al-Azhar’s rule,” which attacks the fatwas of Al-Azhar, its sheikhs and scholars pic.twitter.com/rONaulGKMO
— Monitor Network (@RassdNewsN) July 12, 2022
hijab fatwa
The reasons for the attack on Al-Azhar varied in recent years, leading to the recent crisis that raised the slogan “Down with Al-Azhar’s rule,” and prompted Al-Azhar’s defenders to launch a corresponding label under the title “Al-Azhar is the fortress of Islam.”
The controversy over the veil was the latest reason for the attack on Al-Azhar, following a fatwa confirming the hypothesis of the veil of Muslim women issued by the International Center for Electronic Fatwas of Al-Azhar prior to Eid al-Adha.
The fatwa was a direct response to controversial televised statements made by Al-Azhar University professor Saad Al-Din Al-Hilali, questioning the hypothesis of the veil, statements that were celebrated by those who rejected the veil, and later prompted them to attack Al-Azhar and launch the hashtag “Down with Al-Azhar’s rule.”
The Egyptian writer, known for rejecting the veil, Sahar Jaara, said that she rejects the religious establishment's interference in the details of Egyptians' lives.
Jaara participated in the hashtag "Down with Al-Azhar's rule", considering that Al-Azhar imposes its guardianship on society, and intrudes on the civil state, and withdraws its powers in managing society and organizing the Egyptian street, as she described it.
Multiple crises
The renewal of religious discourse was one of the reasons for the repeated attack on the sheikhdom of Al-Azhar, accused by its opponents of stagnation and obstruction of renewal, while Al-Azhar always asserts that it does not call for renewal, but rather implements it, but sees that some use the calls for renewal to challenge and question Islam and its sciences and scholars.
At the end of January 2020, Egyptians watched live a heated debate between Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb and Cairo University President Mohamed Othman Al-Khasht over the concept of renewing religious discourse.
Criticizing Al-Khisht’s negative talk about heritage, Al-Tayyib said that “a lot of what is said about heritage criticism is outbidding over heritage.” He begged the heritage critics to search for another problem more important to the nation, adding, “We buy weapons to kill each other, we buy death with our money, and we cannot make a rubber.” (car wheel".
And last February, media professionals launched a campaign against Al-Azhar, claiming to encourage its sheikh, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, to beat wives, which the sheikh denied.
Al-Azhar's denial came in response to broadcaster Amr Adib, who devoted an episode to criticizing the views of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb in the case of "wife beating" by hosting anti-Sheikh parties and not allowing Al-Azhar the right of reply.
The newspaper, "Voice of Al-Azhar", issued by the Sheikhdom of Al-Azhar, launched a sharp attack on Adeeb, describing him in the title of the file that it allocated to respond as "the media of entertainment." to beatings, and spreading rumors about Al-Azhar’s standing against the issuance of a law to deter those who do so, as well as conducting a debate on Al-Azhar without the presence of a representative.
Al-Azhar was subjected to a wave of attack last May after its expansion in the establishment of schools in Egypt, and nearly half a million Egyptian children applied to join Al-Azhar's "Child's Gallery for Memorizing the Qur'an".
The Egyptian novelist Salwa Bakr launched an attack on Al-Azhar because of this, stressing in a media interview that memorizing the Qur’an for children is a theft of childhood, according to her description, which was approved by writers and activists.
But Al-Azhar criticized this in a sharp official statement;
Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwa said that the call to distance young people from the Holy Qur’an and its sublime and tolerant teachings is an explicit call to distance them from their religion and values, and cut them off from their language, culture and identity, as it opens the door to destructive ideas and interpretations.
The supervisor of the Children's Gallery for the memorization of the Qur'an, Abdel Moneim Fouad, stressed that the turnout of nearly "half a million children" to memorizing the Book of God is a practical response to the calls for "war against the Book of God," as he put it.
In response to the accusation of stealing childhood by teaching the Qur'an in childhood, Fouad said, "Why do you encourage children to teach foreign languages when they are young, and they do not know what they want? Why do we teach them swimming and sports when they are young, isn't this theft of their childhood?!"