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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 March 2000 Issue No. 474 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 March 2000 Issue No. 474
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Turmoil at Al-Azhar
By Mona El-Nahhas
Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution, has lately been in a state of turmoil after several conflicting administrative decrees being issued during the past few weeks. Firstly, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Imam, quietly removed his deputy, Sheikh Fawzi El-Zefzaf, from office and replaced him with Sheikh Ali Fathallah, head of Al-Azhar's educational institutions. Two weeks later, Sheikh El-Zefzaf returned to his office, to much acclaim, and Sheikh Fathallah was reassigned to his original post on the authority of another administrative decree.
The press spokesman for Al-Azhar, Sheikh Omar Bastawissi, asserted that El-Zefzaf had not been dismissed. "He left his post simply because he had reached retirement age in late February," said Bastawissi. "And he came back after the Grand Imam prolonged his term of service until the end of June."
The appointment of Sheikh Fathallah was resented by the secretary-general of Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy, Sami El-Sha'rawi, son of the late popular preacher Mohamed Metwalli El-Sha'rawi. He reacted by submitting a letter of resignation to Sheikh Tantawi, arguing that the post of deputy head at Al-Azhar was his legal right, on the grounds that he is more senior than Fathalla. El-Sha'rawi felt that it was humiliating to take instructions from someone he considers as his junior.
El-Sha'rawi's decision to leave did not change after the Grand Imam brought back Sheikh El-Zefzaf. "What happened has clarified Tantawi's attitude towards me. He would never allow me to act as his deputy, although I am the most senior and worthy person to occupy the post," El-Sha'rawi told Al-Ahram Weekly. "There is nothing personal between me and Sheikh Fathallah. I resigned simply to protect my dignity."
According to Bastawissi, the Grand Imam has neither accepted nor rejected El-Sha'rawi's resignation. And yet, El-Sha'rawi maintained that he handed in his letter on 26 February and, "after the passage of 30 days, the resignation will take effect, even if Tantawi does not approve it. This is the law."
In another version of the same events, former officials of the dissolved Al-Azhar Scholars' Front, who have for the last two years been attacking Tantawi's policies, claimed that El-Zefzaf was dismissed because of serious financial irregularities that have occurred since he assumed the post three years ago. Yehya Ismail, former secretary general of the dissolved front, claimed that although El-Zefzaf was very close to Tantawi, the latter had no choice but to dismiss him, after it became known that he had wasted more than half-a-million pounds of Al-Azhar's funds. "It would have been extremely embarrassing for Tantawi to keep Sheikh El-Zefzaf, despite his loyalty, because of the corruption charges attributed to him," Ismail said.
Sheikh El-Zefzaf, however, stuck to the official version, saying that he left the post because he had reached the age of retirement, and he returned on the authority of a presidential decree. El-Zefzaf angrily denied the accusations levelled against him, describing them as "groundless."
