Roadmap for religious reform

Al-Azhar, which has resisted and persecuted those who have attempted to reform Islam since the end of the 19th century, is now being called upon by Egypt’s president to do what they have long suppressed:. reforming Islam. The response of the sheikhs of al-Azhar has been to announce conferences and seminars as well as digital campaigns and television channels to discuss updating religious rhetoric. They are only altering the means by which they communicate their ideology and not the contents of their ideology itself. I therefore present the following steps which al-Azhar could take to show that they are truly interested in reform: allowing once again for independent and critical interpretations [ijtihād] of religious texts; stopping the issuing of religious proclamations on political and economic matters; refusing the generalization of religious texts to applications outside their geographical, temporal and historical contexts; adopting a unified methodology for textual exegesis which does not conflict with scientific facts or an age which consecrates humanity and freedom; and abandoning the principle of abrogation [nasakh] within Islamic jurisprudence.

(16 Feburary, 2015, Civic Egypt, Mu’min Sallām)

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