EGYPT: New Head of Al-Azhar Quits Party Politics

By Adam Morrow Reprint | | Print |

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, Apr 28 2010 (IPS) - When Ahmed al-Tayeb, the newly-appointed grand sheikh of Egypt’s prestigious Al-Azhar religious institution, relinquished his membership in President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), it carried significance.

“The government thought it better if the new grand sheikh distanced himself from the ruling party so it could not be accused of mixing religion with politics – which is exactly what it accuses the Muslim Brotherhood [opposition group] of doing,” Abdel Menaam Mounib, Islamic affairs expert at the independent daily Al-Dustour, told IPS.

The resignation came despite earlier statements by al-Tayeb in which he insisted that there was “no contradiction whatsoever” between his new position and membership in the NDP. “It is not expected that the grand sheikh, or any other government official, oppose the regime,” he was quoted as saying on Mar. 21.

Nevertheless, on Apr. 11, Mubarak accepted his resignation from the party. Notably, al-Tayeb had also been a member of the NDP’s extremely influential Political Office, which is largely responsible for drawing up party policy.

Mubarak officially appointed the Sorbonne-educated al-Tayeb as grand sheikh on Mar. 19 following the death of the previous head of Al-Azhar, Mohamed Sayyid Tantawi, nine days earlier. Al-Tayeb quickly declared his intention to “focus on reinforcing national unity and inter-civilisational dialogue” and to “work on maintaining Al-Azhar’s status as the main point of reference for Muslims worldwide.”

Al-Tayeb is hardly a stranger to Al-Azhar: since 2003, he had served as president of Al-Azhar University, and had briefly served as Egypt’s mufti – the nation’s premiere authority on Islamic Law – prior to that.

Although its influence has waned in recent decades, Al-Azhar has traditionally been seen as the most authoritative seat of Islamic learning and jurisprudence in the Sunni Muslim world. Along with a world-renowned university, the institute includes a famous mosque and a far-flung network of schools.

Al-Azhar is funded largely by the government and its top positions are appointed directly by the President. The grand sheikh maintains the post until death.

Tantawi, who had run Al-Azhar since 1996, drew frequent criticism – both from the public and from fellow Muslim scholars – for his unabashed support of unpopular government policies.

In 2003, when the French government banned Islamic headscarves in public institutions, Tantawi simply told French Muslims to comply with the diktat. In 2008, Tantawi drew fire for shaking hands with Shimon Peres – he later claimed not to have recognised the Israeli leader – at a UN- sponsored interfaith meeting in New York.

Last year, Tantawi outraged much of the public when he attempted to ban female students at Al-Azhar University from wearing the niqab, the full Islamic face veil. And in January of this year, the late grand sheikh formally sanctioned construction of an underground steel wall on Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, which critics fear will seal the fate of the strip’s besieged population.

Echoing a common perception, prominent Egyptian columnist Fahmy Howeidy was recently quoted in the state press as saying that Tantawi “used to fear the regime more than he feared God.”

But according to Mounib, Tantawi’s pro-government orientation was simply a reflection of the fact that, for almost 50 years, Al-Azhar’s leadership has been firmly controlled by the state.

“The grand sheikh of Al-Azhar is hardly an independent position,” said Mounib. “Since 1961, the grand sheikh – along with other top positions in Al-Azhar – has been appointed directly by the president, which has effectively turned it into a government organisation.”

Previously, the grand sheikh had been elected by a committee of senior clergymen, which had guaranteed him a measure of independence from the temporal ruler.

In light of these circumstances, says Mounib, the grand sheikh’s relationship with the government – controlled for decades by Mubarak’s NDP- is largely dependent on his personal strength of character.

“If he has a strong personality, he can use his standing to take positions at variance with those of the state,” Mounib explained. He pointed to previous grand sheikhs, such as Abdel Halim Mahmoud in the 1970s and Gad al-Haq in the 1990s, “both of whom espoused positions opposed to those of the government.”

“As for al-Tayeb, it’s still too early to tell whether he will be like Mahmoud and al-Haq or like Tantawi,” Mounib added.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition movement – currently bearing the brunt of a seasonal crackdown at the hands of the ruling regime – is likewise adopting a wait-and-see approach vis-à-vis Al-Azhar’s new headman.

“We haven’t taken a position on him yet. We’re giving him a chance,” official brotherhood spokesman Essam al-Arian told IPS. “But we hope that he manages to revive Al-Azhar’s lost standing in the Muslim world.”

“I suspect al-Tayeb will prove different from his predecessor,” added al-Arian. “Since his appointment, he has overturned some of the more controversial decrees issued by Tantawi. He has already issued a decision to teach all four schools of Sunni Islam at Al-Azhar, overturning Tantawi’s earlier insistence on limiting studies exclusively to the Shefai School.”

In an Apr. 15 statement, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie — himself elected by the brotherhood’s upper echelons only three months ago — appeared no less conciliatory towards al-Tayeb.

“We reject anything that pushes us to confrontation with Al-Azhar or the grand sheikh. Our goals are the same: to spread a moderate interpretation of Islam in society and the world,” Badie declared. “We might differ with the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar on certain issues, but there is no conflict.”