Azhar school reforms trigger controversy

By Gamal Essam El-Din

The draft triggered strong criticism from writers on Islamic affairs, who saw it as part of a conspiracy to undermine the leading religious institution of Sunni Islam.

However, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, defended the legislation saying it would put Al-Azhar students on the same footing with their counterparts from public schools. Also, he added, it would check the exodus of Azharite students to the public school system.

The three-article draft submitted by the government modifies Law 103 of 1961 which regulates Al-Azhar activities. In addition to shortening the Azharite programme, it empowers the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, with the prior approval of Al-Azhar's Supreme Council, to decide the curricula that will be taught for an interim period of time.

Since news about the draft first appeared in the Arabic-language press, a storm of criticism has been raging. Writers on Islamic affairs, such as Mustafa Mahmoud and Ne'emat Ahmed Fouad, and prominent preacher Sheikh Mohamed Metwalli El-Shaarawi, were particularly hostile to the legislation. "Cutting short the curricula of the Qur'an and Shari'a and deleting entire chapters from other religious books can only make us reach the conclusion that Islam is being uprooted in favour of all that is Israeli," wrote Mustafa Mahmoud.

However, during the debate on the draft by the two parliamentary committees, Sheikh Tantawi launched a counter-offensive. He said he was surprised to "see that some people are insisting that Al-Azhar is being subverted and undermined."

Recalling his controversial meeting with an Israeli rabbi, Tantawi said, "Those who are too cowardly to meet him should give the opportunity to those who are courageous enough to face him."

The Grand Imam said it was necessary to review the Al-Azhar curricula periodically "because life is developing all the time and we have to keep pace with these developments and innovations while maintaining our distinctive character at the same time."

He said a large number of Azharite students had moved to public schools during the past few years. "When I took office as Sheikh of Al-Azhar, I found that as many as 15,270 students had left Azharite elementary and preparatory schools for public schools," Tantawi said. "I felt that this had to be stopped."

He said the draft was not just a matter of eliminating parts of the curricula. "What we want to achieve is equal standards for the students of the two school systems," Tantawi said.

Another objective of the draft approved by the committees last Sunday was to meet the request by the family councils of Azharite students to reduce the heavy burden of the taught curricula, he added. He cited passages to show that some books taught in Azharite schools are rife with "outdated, incorrect and unnecessary learning material."

Expressing a similar view, Sheikh Hamdi Zaqzouq, Minister of Al-Awqaf (religious endowments), said several attempts to upgrade the education system at Al-Azhar had been made in the past. "And each time news of these attempts was leaked, there was strong resistance," he said. "In this latest attempt, some writers, out of sheer concern for Al-Azhar, claim that the reform is inspired either by the government or by the West. In fact, it is inspired by neither. It is only inspired by a sincere bid to make Al-Azhar keep pace with the modern age while preserving its historic traditions at the same time."

Ahmed Omar Hashem, president of Al-Azhar University and chairman of parliament's religious affairs committee, said the Azharite curricula had often been criticised for including "unnecessary material." Because of this, the number of students at Azharite secondary schools had dropped from 15,000 to 12,000 during the last few years, he said. "Even in Al-Azhar University, the number of students fell from 60,000 to 45,000 for the same reason," Hashem added.

Some MPs, however, expressed fear that the legislation could lead to a decline in the standard of education in Azharite schools. Rifaat Sherif, deputy chairman of the education committee, said that shortening the programme by one year means that as many as 900 lessons will be cancelled. "So, this is not just a matter of deleting unnecessary material from the curricula because a lot of essential material will be deleted too," he said.

Mohamed Metwalli, director of Al-Azhar's secondary education, however, refuted Sherif's claim. He said the number of lessons would be reduced from 108 to 89 in the literary section and from 153 to 125 in the scientific sections.