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. Intimate of Heart

Anne Marie Oliver and Paul F. Steinberg

in The Road to Martyrs' Square: A Journey into the World of the Suicide Bomber

This chapter presents Suhail al–Hindi's descriptions of his younger brother, Muhammad, particularly in the martyr book he wrote for him after his death. It was in prison that Muhammad met a youth who ... More

This chapter presents Suhail al–Hindi's descriptions of his younger brother, Muhammad, particularly in the martyr book he wrote for him after his death. It was in prison that Muhammad met a youth who would change his life forever. Suhail's writing discusses his brother's friendship with Yasir an–Nimruti, a relation he defines in the terms of 'aqida. After “graduating” from prison, Muhammad enrolled in the department of mathematics at al–Azhar University in Gaza, where he quickly became a leader in the Islamist movement.Less

Egypt

Paul Marshall and Nina Shea

in Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide

The government uses laws against insulting a heavenly religion or “creating sectarian strife” to repress political dissent and prevent heterodoxy. The reformist Muslim intelligentsia, and the ... More

The government uses laws against insulting a heavenly religion or “creating sectarian strife” to repress political dissent and prevent heterodoxy. The reformist Muslim intelligentsia, and the Christian community and other minorities are particularly repressed. Quranists – a religious reform movement– have been sentenced for “insulting religion due to unorthodox Islamic beliefs and practices,” including arguing against the death penalty for apostasy. The late Muslim reformer Abu-Zayd was declared an apostate by Egypt's highest court, and fled Egypt before his marriage was compulsorily dissolved by the courts. The state-funded Al Azhar University has issued a fatwa against the Baha’is, calling on the state to “annihilate” them, called for the punishment of Muslims who convert to Christianity, and taken the lead in banning books by reformers. Legal and extra-legal charges of insulting Islam can also lead to terrorist or mob attacks. In 2005, reports that a play in a Coptic church in Alexandria had “insulted Islam,” resulting in a 5,000-strong mob attack on eight churches, with four killed and 90 injured. The late Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, was stabbed and partially paralyzed by an extremist who thought his novels insulted Islam.Less

Area Conservation in Cairo

Ahmed Sedky

in Living with Heritage in Cairo: Area Conservation in the ArabIslamic City

There are different efforts that have been made just to develop and upgrade Historic Cairo but it remained limited because of a main slogan proclaimed by Hassan Kafafi in 1990. Urban pressures were ... More

There are different efforts that have been made just to develop and upgrade Historic Cairo but it remained limited because of a main slogan proclaimed by Hassan Kafafi in 1990. Urban pressures were maintained, resulting in the accumulation of many problems in Cairo's historic areas. The UNESCO conference came up with specific recommendations to safeguard Fatimid Cairo, as being the most important area within the city walls that still exhibits the traditional features of Arab-Islamic cities and as an emblem of a living, traditional urbanism. Studies of urban scale came into focus in the attempt to save al-Azhar Mosque and its surroundings. The governorate has managed to create alliances with, and give administrative support to the ministries of housing and tourism, while conducting effective communications and agreements with the Ministry of Awqaf through the Executive Committee.Less

Introduction

Masooda Bano and Keiko Sakurai

in Shaping Global Islamic Discourses: The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa

This introductory chapter describes the working of the three most influential international centres of Islamic learning in contemporary times: al Azhar University in Egypt, the Islamic University of ... More

This introductory chapter describes the working of the three most influential international centres of Islamic learning in contemporary times: al Azhar University in Egypt, the Islamic University of Medina (IUM) in Saudi Arabia, and al Mustafa International University in Iran. These three universities, located in the politically influential countries in the Middle East and Gulf region, attract students from across the globe. Their graduates carry the ideas acquired during their education back to their home communities, and some also bring with them a reformatory zeal. The significance of these universities is in their hybrid nature; they produce ulama through their curriculum, as inherited from the seminary tradition, while claiming a “modern” space by adapting the formal structures of the Western university.Less

Protector of the “al-Wasatiyya” Islam: Cairo’s al-Azhar University

Masooda Bano

in Shaping Global Islamic Discourses: The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa

This chapter illustrates how al Azhar, established by the Shi'i Fatimid empire in 970, was eventually to become one of the most respected centres for Sunni Islamic learning around the globe. It shows ... More

This chapter illustrates how al Azhar, established by the Shi'i Fatimid empire in 970, was eventually to become one of the most respected centres for Sunni Islamic learning around the globe. It shows how the emphasis on a “middle way,” as reflected in al Azhar's emphasis on teaching all four Sunni madhāhib, has been central to the rise of al Azhar as a global centre of learning. A number of factors led to the rise of the university to this prominent leadership position within Sunni Islam, including its location in Cairo, the exodus of scholars from places such as Andalusia due to political instability and their settlement in Cairo, the university's ability to harbour multiple discourses, and the controversial state led reforms enacted since the 1960s.Less

Islamic Modernism, Political Reform and the Arabisation of Education: The Relationship between Moroccan Nationalists and al-Azhar University

Ann Wainscott

in Shaping Global Islamic Discourses: The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa

This chapter studies the impact of al Azhar University on the Moroccan nationalist movement and specifically its independence leader Allal al Fasi, whose ten-year exile in Egypt exposed him to the ... More

This chapter studies the impact of al Azhar University on the Moroccan nationalist movement and specifically its independence leader Allal al Fasi, whose ten-year exile in Egypt exposed him to the ideas of Muhammad Abduh and influenced the ideological position of the Moroccan independence party, Istiqlal. The chapter emphasises the impact that Abduh's ideas had on the educational policies of the independence party and their continued importance in Moroccan educational politics throughout the twentieth century. Graduates of the university, including Abdullah ibn Idris al Sanusi and Abu Shu'ayb al Dukkali, brought ideas of Islamic modernism back to Morocco. These ideas were shared with Moroccan religious students through lectures at the Qarawiyyin University in Fez and flourished into a movement for religious reform.Less

From Mecca to Cairo: Changing Influences on Fatwas in Southeast Asia

Yuki Shiozaki

in Shaping Global Islamic Discourses: The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa

This chapter demonstrates how exposure to al Azhar led over time to the complete transformation of the methodology adopted by independent ulama and state religious platforms to issue fatwas in ... More

This chapter demonstrates how exposure to al Azhar led over time to the complete transformation of the methodology adopted by independent ulama and state religious platforms to issue fatwas in Southeast Asia. It examines the mainstreaming of Salafi methodology — inspired by the work of Muhammad Abduh — in place of the taqlīd of the traditional Shafi'i School in Southeast Asia for the issuing of fatwas. A number of factors, including the establishment of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, led to a shift to al Azhar as opposed to Mecca being the base for Southeast Asian Muslim scholars. By comparing Southeast Asia fatwas of the early twentieth century against those issued in the 1970s, the chapter shows how the transition from Mecca to Cairo led to the mainstreaming of Salafi methodology.Less

“Azharisation” of ʿUlama Training in Malaysia

Hiroko Kushimoto

in Shaping Global Islamic Discourses: The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa

This chapter discusses the relationship between al Azhar and the government policy of ulama training in Malaysia. It traces how, during the twentieth century, a number of factors led to al Azhar ... More

This chapter discusses the relationship between al Azhar and the government policy of ulama training in Malaysia. It traces how, during the twentieth century, a number of factors led to al Azhar becoming one of the most popular choices for Malaysian students wanting to major in Islamic Studies. Initially, ulama adopted al Azhar's reformed curriculum by choice, as the mixed curriculum introduced by al Azhar, starting with Muhammad Abduh's modernisation project, helped the religious schools in Malaysia to compete with the state run modern schools. However, to demonstrate its commitment to Islam, the Malaysian state eventually started to invest in al Azhar education. Under a series of policies intended to emphasise Islam, religious education and religious administration expanded rapidly, thus providing increased job opportunities for al Azhar graduates.Less

Cairo as Capital of Islamic Institutions? Al-azhar Islamic University, the State, and the City1

Diane Singerman

in Cairo Contested: Governance, Urban Space, and Global Modernity

This chapter reveals the “mapping of state power” as the state implements its master plans, designs parks, buildings, and communities; enforces its regulations and implements court decisions; arrests ... More

This chapter reveals the “mapping of state power” as the state implements its master plans, designs parks, buildings, and communities; enforces its regulations and implements court decisions; arrests people and collects fines; demolishes buildings; shutters workshops; bulldozes markets; and forcibly “removes” residents and their noisy, polluting, or “dirty” workshops and businesses from one area to another due to the “public interest” or disasters such as fires, earthquakes, or rock slides. It also argues that globalization, cyberspace, and the new media have allowed “peripheral 'Ulama” to become central to the Egyptian public sphere. Before looking at the expansion of the new religious networks, it is useful to explain how Nasser's reforms were justified and integrated into the intertwined and ambivalent mythical tales of tradition and modernity centrality and decline, that made al-Azhar a nationally emblematic institution through its physical presence in Islamic Cairo and in the functions it represents. It also describes the enlargement of al-Azhar's territories.Less

Selective Learning from the Middle East: The Case of Sino-Muslim Students at al-Azhar University

Yufeng Mao

in Islamic Thought in China: Sino-Muslim Intellectual Evolution from the 17th to the 21st Century

As a part of a broader Islamic modernist program, Chinese Muslim students went to Egypt—to al-Azhar University in Cairo—in the 1930s to bring home not only true Islamic teachings but also means of ... More

As a part of a broader Islamic modernist program, Chinese Muslim students went to Egypt—to al-Azhar University in Cairo—in the 1930s to bring home not only true Islamic teachings but also means of empowerment for Muslims in China. Influenced by their personal backgrounds, their interactions with local Muslims, and their aspirations within the Chinese Republican state apparatus, these cultural intermediaries between Chinese Muslims and the Islamic heartlands chose to highlight modernist thought in the Islamic world and to emphasize Chinese nationalism and a cooperative relationship with the Chinese state.Less

A Sabbatical Year Abroad—Egypt and Greece

Anna Botsford Comstock

Karen Penders St. Clair (ed.)

in The Comstocks of Cornell-The Definitive Autobiography

This chapter examines Anna Botsford and John Henry Comstock's sabbatical year abroad in Egypt and Greece. On January 1, 1908, the Comstocks boarded the Italian steamer “Perseo,” bounded for ... More

This chapter examines Anna Botsford and John Henry Comstock's sabbatical year abroad in Egypt and Greece. On January 1, 1908, the Comstocks boarded the Italian steamer “Perseo,” bounded for Alexandria. Arriving early on January 5 in the city of Euclid and Cleopatra, the Comstocks then visited the Egyptian Quarter—a narrow, crooked street through houses that date back to Cleopatra's time. From Alexandria, they traveled to Cairo, where they wandered through the Ezbekieh Gardens and admired the palm trees and studied the hooded crows. They also took a train to Old Cairo and visited the pyramids. However, one of their most interesting experiences in Cairo was a visit to the University which is held in the Mosque of Gamai el-Azhar. Later, it was on the S.S. Osmaniah that the Comstocks took passage from Alexandria to Greece. They then went to the Acropolis and the Parthenon in Athens.Less

Conclusion: Rethinking the Islamic Legal Tradition

Aria Nakissa

in The Anthropology of Islamic Law: Education, Ethics, and Legal Interpretation at Egypt's Al-Azhar

This conclusion briefly summarizes the key findings from previous chapters. It argues that bringing together hermeneutic theory and practice theory is not only essential for understanding the Islamic ... More

This conclusion briefly summarizes the key findings from previous chapters. It argues that bringing together hermeneutic theory and practice theory is not only essential for understanding the Islamic legal tradition, but also for understanding other cultural, legal, and religious traditions. It begins by noting that cultural, legal, and religious traditions typically contain rules, and indicates that the book tries to elucidate how knowledge of such rules is transmitted over time. It then notes the problems that occur if either hermeneutic theory or practice is used as the sole approach, and the benefits that can be gained by using them together. Finally, this conclusion describes the attempts made in the book to discern broad patterns within the Islamic tradition, while also examining a local and historically specific manifestation of Islam in modern Egyptian religious education.Less

I Body Enshrined: The Bones of Mawlay Idrīs

Scott Kugle

in Sufis & Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in Islam

This chapter analyzes a tomb shrine built over the long-dead but still-present body of the patron saint of Fās (the city of Fes, or Fez, Morocco) in the late fifteenth century (the beginning of the ... More

This chapter analyzes a tomb shrine built over the long-dead but still-present body of the patron saint of Fās (the city of Fes, or Fez, Morocco) in the late fifteenth century (the beginning of the early modern period). It explores how the bones of dead saints are pegs that secure the foundation of our human social world, acting as pivot points in time and space that establish a sacred order. The chapter notes that the tombs of saints and other relic shrines create “a privileged suspension of the flat tyranny of distance” in monotheistic societies, as pointed out by Peter Brown. It also explores the posthumuous legacy of one body, that of the saint–king of Morocco, Mawlay Idris al-Azhar, who founded the city of Fes.Less

Dynamics of a Stagnant Religious Discourse and the Rise of New Secular Movements in Egypt

Nadine Sika

in Arab Spring in Egypt: Revolution and Beyond (A Tahrir Studies Edition)

This chapter analyzes the extent to which the Egyptian public sphere, especially religious institutions were controlled by the ruling authoritarian regime. Eventually, both the state's dominance over ... More

This chapter analyzes the extent to which the Egyptian public sphere, especially religious institutions were controlled by the ruling authoritarian regime. Eventually, both the state's dominance over institutions and society, along with the established religious institutions' discourse, became stagnant, which precipitated the development of new social movements that were able to mobilize people beyond the stagnant religious discourse. These developed a new discourse, based on human rights, freedoms and social equality. Through developing their new discourse, new secular social movements did not undermine Egyptian's religious consciousness, but rather developed new ideals, in harmony with the Egyptian political culture, but beyond the constraints of the main religious institutions.Less

The Formation of Religious Leaders and Impact of Enlightened Imams1

Baqer S. Alnajjar

in Arab Human Development in the Twenty-first Century: The Primacy of Empowerment

Given the importance of religion in social interaction and identity formation in the Middle East as whole, this chapter explores several questions in the area of Arab religious devotion and religious ... More

Given the importance of religion in social interaction and identity formation in the Middle East as whole, this chapter explores several questions in the area of Arab religious devotion and religious discourse. How does religion contribute to building and shaping society? To what extent does the role of religion re?ect theory and history? How are clerics trained, and what challenges do they face? To what extent does religion express identity? What mechanisms have Muslim communities developed to preserve their identity? What role did religion play in the Arab Spring? What does the future relationship between religion and politics look like? The main issue this chapter addresses is whether the contexts that in?uence the formation of religious ?gures and ordinary people in the Arab region provide incentives that positively and effectively contribute to human development. The increasing voices in the media and from well-established religious institutions such as al-Azhar or al-Zeitouna demanding renewal of religious discourse confirm the basic premise of this chapter.Less

Migration and the Forging of a Scholarly Community

Michael Farquhar

in Circuits of Faith: Migration, Education, and the Wahhabi Mission

This chapter explores the role of large numbers of non-Saudi staff members at the Islamic University of Medina (IUM) from the early 1960s to the 1980s, and considers the part that they played in the ... More

This chapter explores the role of large numbers of non-Saudi staff members at the Islamic University of Medina (IUM) from the early 1960s to the 1980s, and considers the part that they played in the remaking of Wahhabi religious authority. It argues that until the mid-twentieth century, the relatively parochial and insular nature of the Wahhabi scholarly milieu meant that Wahhabi scholars lacked the kinds of symbolic resources that would be required to launch such an ambitious missionary project. It then traces the trajectories that brought migrants from across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and beyond to work at the IUM. It argues that, by bringing diversified reserves of spiritual capital — including qualifications acquired in venerable centers of learning like al-Azhar — these migrants lent legitimacy to the new effort to extend the Wahhabi mission to broad audiences beyond the kingdom’s borders.Less

Language, Literature, and Science

Edward William Lane and Jason Thompson

in An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians

Cairo as a centre of Arabic literature and Muslim theology and jurisprudence is the first stop in this chapter, the type of education offered at al-Azhar for example. It examines the dialect of ... More

Cairo as a centre of Arabic literature and Muslim theology and jurisprudence is the first stop in this chapter, the type of education offered at al-Azhar for example. It examines the dialect of educated Cairenes in particular, comparing it to other regional and national dialects and also to the classical written language—fusha. It then dissects the types of books available in Arabic, at libraries and booksellers, how they are bound and written, and who reads them. It also names and discusses specific contemporary learned men—ulama—and the history of learning among Arabs in science, from astronomy to chemistry.Less