Al-Azhar says Islam ‘totally incompatible’ with violence

 Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”. Al-Azhar distanced itself from claims that its teachings condone, or even encourage, acts of violence in the name […]

 Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”.

Al-Azhar distanced itself from claims that its teachings condone, or even encourage, acts of violence in the name of Islam.

The bill comes as a prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Salem Abdul Jalil, appeared in court on Saturday (24 June) after calling Christians “unbelievers” on his TV show.

Naguib Gibrail, a lawyer and Coptic Christian activist who brought the charges against the cleric, said the Sheikh’s remarks amounted to “slander” against Christianity and threatened Egyptian unity. Gibrail has also filed similar charges against another Sheikh, Abdullah Rushdi.

According to Coptic news site Watani, “a number of prominent writers, journalists, and liberals have openly called for the lawyers to drop both cases, fearing that once a case is opened it would lead to arguments on the Christian and Muslim faiths, which is bound to deepen divides among Egyptians along religious lines”. (Worldwatch Monitor)