2024-05-13 14:14:01
Following the controversy that recently followed the announcement by a number of Egyptian intellectual figures of the creation of an institution called “Takween” responsible for “intellectual reform” and “enlightened religious thought”, pages and accounts on social networks circulated a video which allegedly shows Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb responding to this institution and its officials.
But this statement is false, because the video was published years ago and is not recent, and it has nothing to do with the emergence of the “Takween” Foundation in recent days.
The video shows the Sheikh of Al-Azhar criticizing those who approach Islamic religious issues without being specialists.
Comments accompanying the video on Facebook and X indicated that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar was responding to the “Takween” Foundation.
The publication of these publications comes a few days following a number of intellectual figures, such as Islam Al-Beheiry, Youssef Zidane and Ibrahim Issa, announced the launch of the “Takween” Center, which aims to “support enlightened thinking and intellectual reform (. .) and enlightened religious thought”, at the beginning of this month of May.
The figures who oversee the “Takween” Foundation are causing great controversy, in light of a major debate that has intensified in recent years in Egypt and the Arab world over religious reform.
In this debate, two currents confront each other: the first calls to “renew” Islamic discourse and to “purify” it of the impurities that have been historically introduced into it, while the second current considers these calls as an attack once morest Islamic intellectual and jurisprudence. heritage.
Years ago, a senior official at Al-Azhar University called Islam Al-Behairi an “apostate” for criticizing imams in Islamic jurisprudence, prompting the sheikh to Al-Azhar to relieve the head of Al-Azhar of his duties.
The opinions of Ibrahim Issa and the novelist Youssef Zidane also sparked widespread controversy on social networks, violent reactions from conservatives, as well as severe criticism from reformist intellectual figures.
Following the announcement of the launch of the Takween Foundation on May 4, voices were raised in Egypt to demand its closure or the confrontation of its ideas.
Did the Sheikh of Al-Azhar respond to the “Takween” Foundation?
However, this video circulating of the Sheikh of Al-Azhar is not new, rather it was published years ago, which denies that it is a response to the “Takween” Foundation, launched on May 4.
The video was published by Egyptian media in May 2020, in light of the spread of the Corona virus. In his speech, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar criticized what he considers “a controversy that escapes the controls of knowledge and cultural dialogue” and calls for religious “reform” without scientific basis.
“statement”
A few days ago, a senior Al-Azhar official denied to Agence France-Presse the authenticity of publications reporting the creation of a special unit within Al-Azhar to respond to ideas “Takween”.
But widely circulated posts on Facebook and
But this statement is also incorrect, as the “Bayan” unit was created by Al-Azhar in 2019 and not recently, and its creation has no connection with the emergence of the “Takween” institution these last days.
A senior Al-Azhar official denied to journalists from Agence France-Presse’s fact-checking service the veracity of the statements made in the leaflets.
Director of the Al-Azhar International Fatwa Center, Osama Al-Hadidi, said: “The +Bayan+ unit is a unit launched by the Al-Azhar International Fatwa Center in March 2019,” and there is no There is therefore no truth in the rumors circulating. regarding his recent creation to respond to “Takween”.
Al-Hadidi added to Agence France-Presse that the goal of the “Bayan” unit is “to educate the younger generation regarding all the atheist ideas that have become widely spread in our world in recent years.”
He went on to say, “Its goal is to open safe dialogues that do not reject others or view them as infidels, but rather respond to all of their ideas in a sound religious way. »
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