One week before the bombing of St. Peter’s cathedral chapel which left at least 25 Christians dead, hostility for Christian churches was being shown in the usual, less spectacular way. Egyptian authorities and politicians held a meeting sponsored by Al Azhar, the nation’s topmost authority on Islam, in the village of Naghameesh, Sohag. Those present […]
Top Muslim university rejects reform, stands by “terrorist curriculum”
Much of the curriculum of Al Azhar—the Islamic world’s most prestigious university, located in Cairo—is based on Islamic books written in the medieval era or earlier. These books—histories, biographies of Muhammad, hadith (words and deeds of the latter), tafsirs (Koran exegeses), etc.—are often criticized by more reform-minded Muslims for being too backwards, teaching things such […]
Egypt: Top Islamic institution preaches “religious freedom” to West, while supporting death penalty for apostates at home
In a statement titled, “The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Calls on Al Azhar’s Sheikh to Renounce His Remarks Which Contradict Religious Freedom and Support Violent Extremism,” the institute blasted Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb’s recent remarks concerning apostasy, first reported in the English here. Though Tayeb is often portrayed as a “moderate” and “reformer,” the […]
Muslim cleric says Pokemon Go is un-Islamic
“Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. […]
Egypt’s highest Islamic authority — a “moderate” — says apostasy punishable by death
The line between “moderate” and “radical” Muslim continues to fade. On the question of apostasy in Islam—whether a born or converted Muslim has the right to abandon Islam for another or no religion—the radical position is well known: unrepentant apostates are to be punished with death. Yet one of the Muslim world’s greatest authorities, the […]
Young women burned alive by Islamic State captors for refusing them sex
While the West gets pounded with emotionally charged accusations of historic colonialism and the Crusades, brute slavery is happening today, while willful blindness prevails in the face of political correctness. A female Al-Azhar University theology professor, Suad Saleh, described the rules of historic Islamic ownership of women and girls captured in war. She stated, according […]
Egypt: Lawyer accuses Al Azhar of promoting hate for Christians
During a televised Egyptian talk show that aired on January 18, lawyer Ahmed ‘Abdu Maher called for the “punishment of those who author books that promote strange and perverse ideas in Al Azhar.” As with many others before him, the lawyer denounced the Islamic world’s oldest and most prestigious university for continuing to radicalize […]
Al Azhar Grand Imam: Dissociate Islam from “extremist attacks”
Everyone in the Western media and government establishment has already imbibed the dogma that Islam has nothing to do with Islamic terrorism; only the Islamic terrorists haven’t gotten the message. But al-Tayyeb isn’t talking to them: he is one in an apparently endless succession of Muslim authorities who call upon the West to stop linking […]
Leading Muslim body calls airing of Muhammad cartoons “odious terrorist act”
A lack of perspective and common sense that increasingly afflicts not just al-Azhar, but the entire world. Just for the record: drawing or publishing or displaying cartoons is an innocuous act by any objective standard. Murdering people who do those things — that’s an odious terrorist act. “Key Muslim body Al-Azhar condemns ‘sick’ Mohammed cartoons,” […]
Al Azhar distributing free book dedicated to discrediting Christianity, the “failed religion”
Al Azhar—arguably the Islamic world’s most prestigious Islamic university—continues to incite Egypt’s Muslims against Christians. Most recently the university was exposed distributing a free booklet dedicated to discrediting Christianity, chock full of direct attacks on Christianity in general and the nation’s Coptic Christians in particular. Christianity is referred to as a “failed religion,” while Islam […]
Al-Azhar Sheikh: “Islam cannot prevail and spread by means of weapons”
Al-Tayeb says here that “what the Islamist armed movements are doing is wrong.” However, rejoicing over his “moderation” may be premature: he has justified anti-Semitism on Qur’anic grounds; called for the Islamic State murderers of the Jordanian pilot to be crucified or have their hands and feet amputated on opposite sides (as per the penalty […]
Islamic State relied on Egyptian-Salafi book to behead 21 Copts in Libya
Dr. Ahmed Karima, professor of Sharia at Al Azhar University, Egypt, recently exposed the fact that the Islamic State received its justification to slaughter 21 Coptic Christians in Libya from a book titled (in translation) Christians in the Koran. The author of said book is Mahmoud Lutfi ‘Amr—president of Damanhur’s Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhammadiya, that is, […]
State Dept tweets speech by Muslim cleric who blames Mideast unrest on “world Zionism”
The people at State who are responsible for this probably didn’t see anything amiss. They probably believe much the same thing, even if they wouldn’t state it in the same lurid terms: they likely think that if Israel would just go away, peace would prevail in the Middle East. “State Department Tweets Speech by Cleric […]
Al-Azhar Sheikh who justifies Qur’anic anti-Semitism calls for Islamic reform
Al-Tayeb’s call for reform here is not genuine. He has shown himself over the years to be a doctrinaire literalist: he has justified anti-Semitism on Qur’anic grounds; called for the Islamic State murderers of the Jordanian pilot to be crucified or have their hands and feet amputated on opposite sides (as per the penalty in […]
Egyptian TV host: Nobody dares admit that the Islamic State’s crimes are based on Islamic sources
Will the international media and Barack Obama now excoriate Ibrahim Issa for “blaming all Muslims for the crimes of a few,” which is their knee-jerk accusation to anyone who dares suggest that Islamic sacred texts contain incitement to hatred and violence? Will an investigation be opened into “Islamophobia” on Egyptian television? “Egyptian TV Host Ibrahim […]
Al Azhar “freely” promotes slaughter of Christians and infidels
Egypt’s Al Azhar University — seen by many as Sunni Islam’s most authoritative voice — continues to incite enmity for and violence against non-Muslim “infidels.” (So much for President Sisi’s exhortation before Al Azhar that its sheikhs and ulema reform Islam in a way that makes the Muslim world cease to be “a source of […]
Al-Azhar Sheikh: Killers of pilot should be “crucified or…have their limbs amputated”
The clerics do not mention this story from Muhammad’s conquest of Khaybar: “Kinana b. al-Rabi`, who had the custody of the treasure of B. al-Nadir, was brought to the apostle who asked him about it. He denied that he knew where it was. A Jew came (T. was brought) to the apostle and said that […]
Al Azhar refuses to denounce the Islamic State as “un-Islamic”
For all its talk about “combatting radicalism,” Al Azhar University—perhaps Sunni Islam’s most authoritative voice—will not even denounce the Islamic State as “un-Islamic.” When pressed on it, an Al Azhar spokesman, Abbas Showman, recently said: “As an official entity, Al Azhar has never in all its history proclaimed anyone or any organization as un-Islamic …. […]