 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 March 2000 Issue No. 471 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 March 2000 Issue No. 471
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Interview Features Focus Heritage Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
The religious question
By Omayma Abdel-LatifNews reports that Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy will reconsider its policy of recommending the prohibition of books -- opting instead to respond to offensive texts -- were dismissed as "groundless" by Al-Azhar officials.
Sayed Khedr, head of the Translation and Publication Committee at the academy, affirmed that the academy's policy on books containing offensive material that either tarnish the image of Islam or misinform the reader about religious questions remains the same.
Responding to press reports that the academy was considering altering its policy, Khedr told Al-Ahram Weekly that "There is no compromise with religion; we cannot tamper with scared texts or the rulings of Sharia [Islamic law] just to please some authors."
Abdel-Money Al-Berrie, former dean of the Faculty of Islamic Theology and a former member of Al-Azhar Ulemma Front, has argued that reports like the recent claims about a policy shift at Al-Azhar are meant to push the government to exercise more "modernising" pressure on Al-Azhar ulemma (religious scholars).
Khedr dismissed the notion that Al-Azhar has fallen under any pressure to change the nature of its work. He nevertheless rejected accusations that the committee was behind the actual banning of books, saying that the prohibition was carried out by security authorities on a court order.
"It should be made clear that Al-Azhar does not ban books," Khedr said. "[Al-Azhar] only reviews material, at governmental request, to see whether it complies with Sharia and does not contain wrong information."
Legally, Al-Azhar is empowered by Law 250 of 1975 to supervise the publication and interpretation of the Holy Quran and the prophet's sayings. The Committee of Translation and Publication is responsible for examining books, CDs and video and cassette tapes and recommends whether the items should be distributed or prohibited. The committee carries out this task only at the request of the censorship board.
"We don't go to the streets and look for books to ban," one source at Al-Azhar told the Weekly. "We examine these books at the government's request and the committee's recommendations are not necessarily binding," the source added.
Earlier this week, the academy came under fire for recommending the prohibition of yet another book, Sheikh Ahmed Fayez's The Road to Dawa'a [Islamic call] in the Shadow of the Quran. The recommendation was viewed by some secular writers as a retreat from measures that should be taken to protect the freedom of expression.
Minister of Endowment Hamdi Zakzouk claims that censorship and book banning can be detrimental to Islam's image, arguing that such acts provide unknown authors with the opportunity to become famous as victims of Islamic fundamentalism.
"Our policies on these books is not an issue for discussion. Our basic task is to fact-check them," Khedr said.
For decades the country has been locked in a religious controversy between Al-Azhar's conservative ulemma and secular intellectuals who view Al-Azhar's recommendations as "religious censorship" and an affront to freedom of opinion and thought. But Al-Azhar officials maintain that the debate is fueled by personal grudges rather than a genuine desire for constructive dialogue on the part of the academy's critics.
Many Islamists attest that these disputes are fundamentally caused by a misunderstanding of Al-Azhar's role, a view shared by such figures as Al-Berrie and prominent Islamic writer Mohammed Emmara.
"Those who attack need to be more informed on what exactly the academy's role is in the process of banning books," Al-Berrie told the Weekly.
Emmara contends that secularists discussing Islamic matters often suffer from being uninformed and end up missing the point -- the result of which is that both secularists and Islamists are pitted against each other in fruitless debates.
"In order for both of us [secularists and religious conservatives] to reach a state of cohabitation," Emmara told the Weekly, "[secularists] have to understand that religion is still a sacred and respected issue in this country."
