During his visit to Egypt last week, “Pope Francis visited al-Azhar University, a globally respected institution for Sunni Islamic learning,” and “met with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the imam of the government-run Al-Azhar mosque and an Islamic philosophy professor.” This has been reported by several media outlets, often with much fanfare.
Unfortunately, however, Sheikh Tayeb, once voted “world’s most influential Muslim,” and Al Azhar, the important madrassa he heads, are part of the problem, not the solution. Tayeb is a renowned master of exhibiting one face to fellow Muslims in Egypt — one that supports the death penalty for “apostates,” calls for the totality of Sharia rule, refuses to denounce ISIS as being un-Islamic, denounces all art as immoral, and rejects the very concept of reforming Islam — and another face to non-Muslims.
Consider, for instance, the words of Islam al-Behery — a popular Egyptian Muslim reformer who frequently runs afoul of Muslims in Egypt who accuse him of blasphemy and apostasy from Islam. The day after last month’s suicide bombings of two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, the Muslim scholar was interviewed by phone on a popular Egyptian television program (Amr Adib’s kul youm, or “Every Day”). He spent most of his time on the air blasting Al Azhar and Ahmed al-Tayeb — at one point going so far as to say that “70-80 percent of all terror in the last five years is a product of Al Azhar.”
The reformer knows what he speaks of; in 2015, al- Behery’s televised calls to reform Islam so irked Al Azhar that the venerable Islamic institution accused him of “blaspheming” against Islam, which led to his imprisonment.
Now Behery says that, ever since President Sisi implored Al Azhar to make reforms to how Islam is being taught in Egypt three years ago, the authoritative madrassa “has not reformed a single thing,” only offered words. “If they were sincere about one thing, they would have protected hundreds, indeed thousands of lives from being killed in just Egypt alone,” said al-Behery.
By way of examples, the Muslim reformer pointed out that Al Azhar still uses books in its curriculum that teach things like “whoever kills an infidel, his blood is safeguarded, for the blood of an infidel and believer [Muslim] are not equal.” Similarly, he pointed to how Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb claims that ISIS members are not infidels, only deluded Muslims; but those whom they kill — such as the bombed Christians — are infidels, the worst label in Islam’s lexicon.
Debating Behery was an Al Azhar spokesman who naturally rejected the reformer’s accusations against the Islamic madrassa. He said that the source of problems in Egypt is not the medieval institution, but rather “new” ideas that came to Egypt from 20th century “radicals” like Hasan al-Bana and Sayyid Qutb, founding leaders/ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Behery’s response was refreshing; those many Western analysts who follow the same line of thinking — that “radicalism” only came after thinkers like Bana, Qutb, Mawdudi (in Pakistan) or Wahhab (in Arabia) came on the scene — would do well to listen. After saying that “blaming radicalism on these men is very delusional,” the reformer correctly added:
The man who kills himself [Islamic suicide bomber] today doesn’t kill himself because of the words of Hassan al-Bana or Sayyid al-Qutb, or anyone else. He kills himself because of what the consensus of the ulema, and the four schools of jurisprudence, have all agreed to. Hassan al-Bana did not create these ideas [of jihad against infidels and apostates, destroying churches, etc.]; they’ve been around for many, many centuries….I am talking about Islam [now], not how it is being taught in schools.
By way of example, Behery said if anyone today walks into any Egyptian mosque or bookstore and asks for a book that contains the rulings of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, “everything that is happening today will be found in them; killing the people of the book [Christians and Jews] is obligatory. Let’s not start kidding each other and blaming such thoughts on Hassan al-Bana!” Moreover, Behery said:
There is a short distance between what is written in all these old books and what happened yesterday [Coptic church bombings]—the real bomb is in the books, which repeatedly call the People of the Book “infidels,” which teach that the whole world is infidel… Hassan al-Bana and Sayyid al-Qutb are not the source of the terror, rather they are followers of these books. Spare me with the term Qutbism which has caused the nation to suffer terrorism for 50 years.
Behery does not blame Al Azhar for the existence of these books; rather he, like many reformers, wants the Islamic institution to break tradition, denounce the rulings of the four schools of law as the products of fallible mortals, and reform them in ways compatible to the modern world. He said that, whereas Egypt’s former grand imam, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi (d. 2010), had “without even being asked removed all the old books and placed just one introductory book, when al-Tayeb” — who days ago embraced Pope Francis — came, he got rid of that book and brought back all the old books, which are full of slaughter and bloodshed.”
The bottom line, according to Behery, is that the Egyptian government — and here the Vatican would do especially well to listen — cannot rely on Al Azhar to make any reforms, since, if anything, it has taken Egypt backwards.
mortimer says
WHEN WILL POPE FRANCIS ‘GET IT’ ???
Egyptian reformer Islam al-Behery is amazingly brave when he declares, “70-80 percent of all terror in the last five years is a product of Al Azhar.”
Pope Francis needs to LISTEN to Islam al-Behery, even if he will not listen to anyone else. Islam al-Behery is interpreting ACCURATELY what Al Azhar scholars have been saying.
Grand Imam Al-Tayeb, speaking as the head of Al Azhar University and Sunnite Islam, has REFUSED TO CONDEMN ISIS, since ISIS is METICULOUSLY ISLAMIC and SELF-CONSCIOUSLY following ALL the doctrines and regulations of canonical Islam.
No Islamic community in the world is in fact MORE ISLAMIC than ISIS.
ISIS IS THE MOST ISLAMIC COMMUNITY that exists today.
Is Pope Francis ever going to get that?
underbed cat says
Isis is Islam. Fighting isis does not end terrorism unless it can be walled off…..up pops other group following the same message…it seems all we have done by avoiding the truth about Islam is like dropping silver mercury, it splits apart into small balls but it is still mercury. This article explains the ideas that come right from Islamic sources, but that are constantly denied by outreach, media and some who believe the it be moderated and should bloom in western countries as a harmless flower of peace, but it is mercury and it has it’s nature.
elee says
As Maajid Nawaz put it: You can’t kill a bad idea with bullets.
marina says
As long as Muslims believe that Koran is the direct word of God there cannot be any reformation in Islam. These well meaning reformers are only wasting their time. There will be outrage all over the world if anybody ever wanted to change just one word let alone whole chapters of the koran.
Roger N. says
Islam is a ripoff of Judaism that Muhammed tried to repackage and sell to the Jews as “the one, true religion.” Alas, the Jews didn’t buy into his deception and in retaliation, Muhammed went postal and declared jihad on the Jews. As a consequence, whatever “peaceful” passages there were in the Koran and the Haditha were abrogated (replaced) with the most vile, vicious and repugnant anti-Jewish hate speech in history that called upon Muslims to persecute, humiliate and murder Jews wherever they found them.
In addition to hijacking all of the Jewish prophets and patriarchs and claiming they were Muslims, Muhammed also said that Jesus was a Muslim and passed off his sermons as also being of Islamic origin. Islam didn’t exist before the birth of Muhammed in the early 7th Century. So, how can Muslims claim that Jesus and Abraham were Muslims who worshiped Allah given the fact that Jesus lived 600 years before Muhammed and Islam ever existed with Abraham living an additional 3,000 years before that?
In short, there is no way that Islam can be reformed when it began its existence as a plagiarized religion.
Don Foss says
Bingo!!!
mortimer says
To be noted is that prior to the Palm Sunday Massacre (at churches in Tanta and Alexandria) which killed 49 and wounded 100, a nearby mosque broadcast anti-Christian sermons for weeks before the blasts.
https://www.pressreader.com/lebanon/the-daily-star-lebanon/20170413/281779923990898
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/04/cairo-muslims-invoked-allahs-wrath-on-christians-over-loudspeakers-before-palm-sunday-church-jihad-attacks
Nero says
AMERICANS SHOULD DEVICE WAYS TO CONTAIN ISLAM NOT TO REFORM IT BECAUSE REFORM WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
mortimer says
Agree about Islamic reform. It can never be reformed. We must OPPOSE Islam legally by pointing out all the ELEMENTS in Sharia law that conflict with human rights and reason: status of women, child marriage, FGM, slavery, Dhimmitude, political assassination, Muslim supremacism, Islamic hegemony, etc.
gravenimage says
Mortimer, why would you think pious Muslims care about human rights?
They *know* that Islam conflicts with human rights, and they reject human rights in favor of Islam.
Pong says
Reform of islam is possible, but very unlikely. From the point of view of moslems islam doesn’t need reformation. Untill islam is considered a religion by non-islamic nations and moslems as humans, reform is impossible. No pressure within islam itself will lead to reform, only outside pressure can do it.
Islam is a political ideology in its worst presentation. To argue about any aspect of islamic religious or political theory is important only to educate non- moslems. It will have no effect on moslems themselves.
People who believe in islamic dogmas should not be recognised as the equal members of humanity. Moslems resemble other people only by superficial fitures and have no attributes of humanity. As such they are not humans in the true sense of the word. Until we understand that islam is not a religion and moslems are not humans, islam doesn’t need reformation.
miriamrove says
As an Ex Muslim, I can tell you this, it is their book that inspires them to kill. Period. I posted this a long long time ago, I remember as a kid my grandma would tell me when the 12th Imam appears(this is a shai belief) He is going to clean up this mess and there will be blood knee high after the cleansing. m
mortimer says
Thank you, miraimrove, for your testimony. What a traumatic memory. I believe the emotional subtext of Islam is sadomasochism. Muslim women, brainwashed by the Islamic Stockholm syndrome endorse the sadism and masochistically go along with it. It’s so tragic.
gravenimage says
How awful, miriam. To hear this from your grandmother is especially appalling. No surprise, though.
Carolyne says
But was your grandma aware of whose blood it will be?
TJ says
That is an accurate comment by you, Raymond, about the origin of the bombs being in islam’s books. ‘Bombs’ in the koran are made by throwing out the quotes of Jesus and exchanging them for something explosive. For instance, Jesus is quoted in the bible as calling the devil a murderer and a liar. When Jesus applied this principle against people it was specifically against those who were lying against Him and who also wanted to kill Him. Those people were very guilty. This was the right application of the devil by Jesus. The koran throws out this honest transaction by Jesus. In its place, the writers of the koran give the devil the human characteristic of blue eyes. This perverse and explosive exchange from the way Jesus spoke of the devil helps fuel a lot of hatred against the white race. Not surprisingly, this dirty statement about the devil in the koran is a lot more popular in places where most people have dark eyes. Isaiah of the old testament gave us blue eyed people a much better compliment than the koran. Isaiah said the people living in the islands and the coastlands will wait upon the return of Jesus. He is giving us a compliment for choosing a messiah over a book that throws out the messiah’s quotes and fabricates a relationship with Him. Obviously, Jesus and Isaiah deserve to be glorified over the koran.
rubiconcrest says
What a great title; it alone says it all.
Abu Nudnik says
Nothing will change until it is generally accepted by Muslims that Muhamed was a human being with all human flaws magnified by political power. It’s possible. The ancient Jews drew a line regarding the political corruption of David, Solomon, and Rehoboam, causing the split between Judah and Israel. This corruption that Samuel warned of eventually became doctrine in the New Testament’s “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and render to God the things that are God’s.” This is not impossible. But they will have to look at Muhamed as a man, not a god, and not a perfect man either. If this can be done, a great religion is possible since it demonstrates the twin abilities of man to do good or evil, depending on his level of coercive power. The end of the death penalty for apostasy would be the signal that this work has begun. Coercion must go. Terrorism is the ultimate in coercion and corruption of the human soul.
Cretius says
A belief system that embraces violence against non-believers does not leave many options for dealing with it. As it stands, Islam is anti-Western and prepared to shed blood to further their belief system. Only fool leftists would ignore the reality of the teachings of Islam, the aggressive and bloody history of Islam, the cultural practices associated with Islam and its barbaric legal system, Sharia Law.
undrbed cat says
Good explanation Cretius, not too many options so information would help leaders from ignoring the reality of the teachings.
RationalVoice says
The blind eye of leftist and liberal commentators and politicians will never be opened. Obama has once more stuck his nose into European politics by advising the French to vote for Macran the Islamic sympathising equivalent of Hollande which is hardly surprising given Obamas birth and upbringing.
The UK people were advised by him to vote Remain in the EU and rejected his advice. Lets hope the French will do the same on Sunday and make Marine Le Pen the new president to deliver the coup de grace to the EU and immigrant invaders and once more confound the opinion poles
Carolyne says
Is there a difference between Obama meddling in the French election and the Russians doing the same to us? Obama is no longer an official of the US; he is a private citizen and as such is not legally entitled to try to conduct US foreign policy. But he has done many illegal things, first of all claiming US citizenship.
davej says
Islam knows that the road to Supremacy is paved with Appeasements.
In addition to their blood lust and perverted ideology they have the patience of 14 centuries and know that gradualism can prevail. Unless we, like the frogs, decide to hop out of the boiling water early enough to save ourselves from the fate they have in mind for us.
salim says
Al Azhar prides itself as being the institution that protected Islam and the Arabic language for centuries. I don’t think there is any Arab or Muslim who can disagree with this fact.
Mr. Islam Al Beheri is a liar who tries to paint Islam in false rosy colours that never belonged to Islam. All Muslim reformers are liars because the true Islam is the salafi/wahhabi one that is practiced by radical Muslims.
What is the solution? If we expect the solution to come from Muslims then we have to wait for a long time or a miracle.
My hopes were that the solution might come from the West by allowing open and critical discussion of Islam in the main stream media. At least to treat Islam as they treated Christianity.
I am disappointed that Islam seems to be more guarded by the West’s MSM than by Al Azhar.
ibrahim itace muhammed says
Raymond Ibrahim,you lied.There is nothing in the books of classical islamic jurists which authorises destruction of christian and jewish places of worship as prophet muhammad specifically instructed that such places shall not be touched.thus,the actions of the mobs bombing churches cannot be supported by the books of the four sunni schools.Read them carefully ,mr Raymond ,if you can read and understand Arabic.so the question of throwing them or what your christian mischiefmakers will not even arise because they contain rich and standard works on sharia.the updating of events being carried out by modern muslim jurists is ok.
gravenimage says
Appalling Muslim apologist ibrahim itace muhammed wrote:
Raymond Ibrahim,you (sic) lied.There is nothing in the books of classical islamic (sic) jurists which authorises destruction of christian (sic) and jewish (sic) places of worship as prophet muhammad (sic) specifically instructed that such places shall not be touched.
……………………….
What absolute claptrap. Muslims have destroyed Churches and Synagogues since the days of the “Prophet”. The idea that he protected places where what he considered blasphemy being preached is utterly false.
Under Shari’ah, Christians are specifically prohibited from repairing Churches that are destroyed or fall into ruin.
And Raymond Ibrahim is the son of Coptic refugees–he knows all too well the persecution of Christians in Dar-al-Islam.
More:
thus,the (sic) actions of the mobs bombing churches cannot be supported by the books of the four sunni (sic) schools.Read them carefully ,mr (sic) Raymond ,if (sic) you can read and understand Arabic.
……………………….
Of course, the idea that Arabic–alone of all tongues–cannot be translated into other languages is absurd.
But muhammed is stymied here, in any case–Raymond Ibrahim does indeed speak fluent Arabic–in fact, this a main focus of his scholarship.
How can muhammed be ignorant of this?
Besides, he never gets around to explaining how, if attacking Christians is forbidden, that so many pious Muslim mobs are assaulting and murdering Christians all the time.
More:
so (sic) the question of throwing them or what your christian (sic) mischiefmakers will not even arise because they contain rich and standard works on sharia.the (sic) updating of events being carried out by modern muslim (sic) jurists is ok.
……………………….
Of course, Muslims oppress and murder Christians all over the world.
If muhammed *really* thought that his coreligionists were wrong in brutalizing Christians, he would take it up with them, instead of slinging Taqiyya at the civilized Anti-Jihadists here.
gravenimage says
Raymond Ibrahim: ‘The Real Bomb Is in Islam’s Books’
……………..
Yes–all of this savagery comes from the texts and tenets of Islam’s “holy texts”, and the model of the barbaric “perfect man”, “Prophet” Muhammed.
David M says
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/curtis-chengs-killer-farhad-jabar-died-for-the-sake-of-allah-20170504-gvymw9.html
This is the thinking of the associate who gave the 15 year old Muslim in Sydney the gun who killed the innocent government worker. This is the poison of Islam that ruins their minds.
ibrahim itace muhammed says
Mr Raymond ibrahim,you got it wrong to say that the study of classical fiqh books by four sunni schools by Azhar univerisity cairo is the source of violence against christians in Egypt and bombing of their churches.please read these books carefully if you can read and understand Arabic version of the books.According to these four sunni schools and those of shia even during military confrontation with non_muslim forces ,christian priests and jewish rabbi shall not be harmed and their places of worship shall not be touched pursuant to what prophet Muhammad used to tell muslim fighters before going to the batlefield.if that is the case ,where do the violent mobs get authority to attack their fellow christian countrymen and detroy their places of worship?mr Raymond ,if you are conversant with Egyptian history ,christians have been working with muslims to build modern Egypt since the time of muhammad Ali pasha; and there has never been frictions between them despite the study of these classical fiqh books at Azhar university.so,the idea of baning the study of these books of four sunni schol for being sources of violence is mischievous.The books are rich and containe standard interpretation of islam.they serve as working models for problem solving in current situation.The modern approach to the study of these classical fiqh books,especially at Azhar university,is to raise current issue and seek solution from the predence used in the past similar to current situation and evaluate to see if the problem can be solved within the context of that model.if not,go back to the sources(THe Quran,Hadith etc).so,the issue of discarding classical fiqh books in the name of reform as suggested by dictator sisi to serve his jewish masters will never be accepted by muslims in Egypt.
davej says
Suggest that Muslims should stay in their hellhole countries with all the barbaric Shariah practises they love, instead of moving to the wicked West and trying to impose your savagery on a more civilized country.
Thomaspj Poovathinkal SSP says
TO CONQUER EVIL IN THE WORLD, JESUS THE LORD IS THE ONLY WAY.