Events in Egypt overtook this news report which would - and should - otherwise have commanded great attention. Fr. Samir reported on it just as the first street uprisings were getting under way in Egypt, and of course, it was quickly buried by the onslaught of 'topical news', just as I had been meaning to post it since Friday, but somehow, it kept being sidelined....Also, I was originally going to post this in ISSUES, but in many ways, it is one of those unexpected 'fruits of Regensburg'...
Egyptian imams and intellectuals:
Renewing Islam towards modernity
The program - truly revolutionary - wants to rethink
the value of women, fraternisation between the sexes,
the relationship of equality with Christians, and
to clarify interpretations on the sayings of Mohammed
and the myths of fundamentalist Salafism, rejecting
the influences that come from Saudi Arabia.
by Samir Khalil Samir, SJ
ROME, Jan. 26 (AsiaNews) - Rethinking fraternisation between the sexes; opening the doors to women right up to the Presidency of the Republic, guaranteeing the right of Christians to have access to positions of prestige (even the presidency); purifying and reinterpreting the sayings of the Prophet (the Hadith); bringing people to God through wisdom and thanksgiving and not with the threats ... these are just some of the truly revolutionary proposals that a group of professors, theologians and Egyptian imams are putting to their communities.
The attempt to modernize the lives of Muslims, to put a halt to (and even stop) the fundamentalist influences that come from Saudi Arabia. The group of scholars holds the renewal of Islamic teaching at heart, as well as a relationship of harmony with Christians.
A score of intellectuals and theologians of Al Azhar have issued a text of enormous importance, entitled "Document for the renewal of religious discourse." The text was "posted" on the Internet on 24 January at 18:27, on the website of the weekly magazine
Yawm al-Sâbi(The Seventh Day). The importance of the document also derives from its signatories, all noted scholars and profoundly committed Muslims.
Among these it is worth mentioning: Dr. Nasr Farid Wasel, former Grand Mufti of Egypt, the imam Safwat Hegazi, Dr. Gamal al-Banna, brother of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, the professors Malakah Zirâr and Âminah Noseir the celebrated Islamist writer Fahmi Huweidi; Dr. Mabruk Atiyyah, a large number of preachers (du'ât), responsible for Islamic Propaganda, such as Khalid al-Gindi, Muhammad Hedâyah, Mustafa Husni, etc..
It is the first time that such an attempt has been made by recognized Islamic figures. On being posted, the document received 153 comments in the same day. The majority (88.25%) condemned the text, saying it distorts Islam or tries to establish a new religion. Only 18 people congratulated the authors. This means that the path of renewal will be long and require much time and effort.
The original text of the document (in Arabic) and comments can be found at:
www.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=343007.
Here we publish a draft translation of the document, which will probably need to be reviewed. In the coming days we will also comment on some of the proposals.
Document for the renewal
of religious discourse
1. Review the books of the Hadith (the words attributed to Muhammad) and Koranic commentaries to purge them.
2. Fine-tune Islamic political-religious vocabulary, such as the gizyah (the special tax required of dhimmi, the second-class citizens).
3. Find a new expression for the concept of fraternisation between the sexes.
4. Develop the Islamic vision of women and find suitable ways for marriage laws.
5. Show Islam is a religion of creativity.
6. Explain the Islamic concept of gihâd, and clarify rules and requirements that govern it.
7. Block attacks on external piety and foreign practices that come from neighbouring states [a euphemism that aims to expose the influence of Saudi Arabia]
8. Separate state and religion.
9. Purify the heritage of the "first centuries of Islam (Salafism), discarding the myths and attacks against religion.
10. Give adequate preparation to missionary preachers (du'ât) and in this field open the doors to those who have not studied at the University of Al Azhar, according to clear criteria.
11. Formulate the virtues common to the three revealed religions.
12. Eliminate incorrect practices and provide guidance with regard to Western ways.
13. Articulate the relationship that should exist between members of religions through schools, mosques and churches.
14. Redraw in a different way [adapted] to the West the presentation of the biography of the Prophet.
15. Do not keep people away from economic systems with the requirement not to deal with banks.
16. Recognising the right of women to the Presidency of the Republic.
17. Combat sectarian claims, [underling] that the flag of Islam [must be] one. Invite people to come to God through gratitude and wisdom, not through threats.
18. Evolve the teaching of Al Azhar.
19. Recognise the right of Christians [to have access] to important positions and [also] to the presidency.
20. Separate religious discourse from power and restore the bond with the needs of society
21. Establish the bond between the Da’wah (the call to conversion to Islam) and modern technology, satellite chains and the market for Islamic cassettes.
This document was more surprising in view of the totally unfounded polemical attitude suddenly taken by the Grand Imam of Al Azhar - Sunni Islam's highest authority - towards the Pope and the Catholic Church, an attitude that is certainly at odds with the sentiments of the document. Anyway, this report has been out there long enough for Sandro Magister to pass it on and comment on it today, although I am not sure one would characterize this development the way Magister does in his title. If anything, this would tend to be buried under and left inactive for some time depending on how the uprising of the Arab street against their own leaders ends up. It's the first time the Arab street - or the 'Muslim street', for that matter - has ever turned entirely against its own rather than against 'foreign devils' since the Shah was overthrown in Iran
A glimmer of light in
an Egypt in revolt
An appeal by 23 Muslim figures for an Islam that is more authentic and respectful of the rights of all.
On the path of the illuminist revolution proposed by Benedict XVI.
An analysis by the Jesuit Islamic scholar Samir
ROME, January 31, 2011 – Mubarak's Egypt was a mainstay of Western politics in the Middle East. It was also a mainstay for the dialogue between the Church of Rome and
Shiite Islam, with its epicenter the mosque and university of al-Azhar.
[Not Shiite, SUNNI!]
Egypt was considered a bulwark against radical Islam and protection for local Christians, although at the price of their oppressive subjection, under a regime of perpetual "dhimmitude."
Today, all this risks being overturned by an upheaval whose beneficiaries will inevitably be the Muslim Brotherhood and the radical Islamic currents.
The New Year's Eve massacre at the Coptic church in Alexandria is the tragic corollary of a "fitna," of a fracture inside the Muslim world in Egypt and in other countries, against regimes and leaders held to be apostates, against a Christian presence held to be polluting, to be swept away.
Even the accusations of "interference" unexpectedly hurled against Benedict XVI at the beginning of this year by the grand imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, and his subsequent abandonment of dialogue with the Church of Rome are part of this fracture, which has exploded in the revolts of recent days.
The Imam of al-Azhar is tied with a double thread to Mubarak's illiberal regime, with which he shares the same description of "moderate" against the background of international equilibrium.
To keep the brakes on mass Muslim revolts, both of the Egyptian authorities – political and religious – have always repressed on the one hand the freedom of the Coptic Christians, and on the other, the range of activity of the radical Islamic currents.
Most recently, the increased fear of a collapse of the regime has induced both Mubarak and al-Azhar to crack down even harder. In fact, even before the massacre in Alexandria, Imam al-Tayyeb – who is also one of the signers of the famous "letter of the 138 Muslim scholars" to the Pope – had opened the hostilities against the Church of Rome.
He demanded and obtained the retraction of one of the Vatican's key delegates – Fr. Khaled Akasheh, Jordanian, an expert on Islam and member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue – from talks previously scheduled in Cairo but now suspended indefinitely.
Until recently, moreover, both Mubarak and al-Azhar had also systematically reduced to silence all of the pro-reform voices in the Muslim camp that have distanced themselves from the traditionalist currents. The list of "heretics" who have been killed, wounded, put on trial, imprisoned, silenced, exiled, is startling. It includes a Nobel laureate in literature, the great Naguib Mahfuz.
It is no surprise, therefore, that in these days of general revolt, some of these reformist voices have come out into the open.
Among the other collective actors present in Egypt, the Copts have held back from taking to the streets (a protest march broke out among them only after the massacre in Alexandria). They are afraid that the collapse of the Mubarak regime would make their lives even more difficult.
The Muslim Brotherhood has also stayed on the sidelines, but for different reasons. They are calculating that either way, the collapse of the regime would be to their advantage.
For the reformist Muslims, however, an opening has been made. And they have made their voices heard.
[On the religious front, yes, but their voices may have no weight on the developing political front, since all the Egyptian religious authorities, as in other Muslim countries, are appointed by the government.
On January 14, on the website of the Egyptian magazine
Yawm al-Sâbi (The Seventh Day), a text appeared entitled "Document for the renewal of religious discourse." By that night, the text had already been posted on more than 12,000 other Arab websites.
Its importance was pointed out beyond the Arab world by a Jesuit and Islamologist, Samir Khalil Samir, Egyptian by birth, greatly respected by Benedict XVI.
He has translated and commented on the essential parts of the document in two articles published by the online agency "Asia News" of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
[Magister then reproduces Samir's translation of the document posted in Samir's article above.]
These 22 points are followed by Fr. Samir's commentary on teh most important points.
www.asianews.it/news-en/Egyptian-revolt-not-only-political-but-also-spiritual-and-Islamic-20...
Which, in Fr. Samir's judgment, give a glimpse of a real and proper revolution with respect to the traditionalist and puritanical ways of living Islam recently introduced into Egypt, above all by Saudi Arabia.
For instance, Point 8, the proposal to separate religion from politics. In his commentary, he points out that the word "almaniyyah" (secularism) is used - a word that in Arab countries is usually understood as atheism, and therefore automatically condemned. So much so that at the synod on the Middle East held in Rome last October, the bishops avoided using it.
Here, however, the authors of the document write that secularism must not be considered an enemy of religion, but rather as a safeguard against the political or commercial use of religion.
"In this context," they write, "secularism is in harmony with Islam, and therefore is juridically acceptable." But not if it is turned into a control of Islamic activities on the part of the state.
Fr. Samir comments: "This point, although it is greatly debated, demonstrates the fact that in Egypt the concept of civil society is emerging, not immediately in agreement with the Islamic community."
Also noteworthy is point 6 on jihad, or holy war. The authors of the document admit it can be waged only if it is defensive, and only in Muslim territory. But they say it can never apply to the killing of unarmed persons, women, the elderly, children, priests, monks. Never with attacks on places of prayer. They emphasize that this has been the teaching of Islam for 1400 years, and that those who violate it seriously betray it. [[But why has it taken them all this time to say this - when they should be affirming it everytime an Islamist terrorist kills someone anywhere!]
The signal given by this document is a small one. But it must not be overlooked. When these issues were discussed previously - a number of times – in talks between representatives of the Catholic Church and of Islam, they were never picked up and reported to the Muslim public.
The "letter of the 138" itself is still unknown to most of the Muslims in the world.
This document from Cairo, on the other hand, immediately spread to a wider circuit of opinion. It is getting a lot of comments on the various websites, most of them in disagreement and hostile, but still proof of interest in discussing the issue.
If one looks at what Benedict XVI has said – in the same year as the lecture in Regensburg and the voyage to Turkey – about the future of Islam, this document from Cairo marks a small step in the very direction hoped for by the pope.
Benedict XVI said to the Roman curia on December 22, 2006:
The Muslim world today finds itself facing an extremely urgent task that is very similar to the one that was imposed upon Christians beginning in the age of the Enlightenment, and that Vatican Council II, through long and painstaking effort, resolved concretely for the Catholic Church. [...]
On the one hand, we must oppose a dictatorship of positivist reasoning that excludes God from the life of the community and from the public order, thus depriving man of his specific criteria of judgment.
On the other hand, it is necessary to welcome the real achievements of Enlightenment thinking – human rights, and especially the freedom of faith and its exercise, recognizing these as elements that are also essential for the authenticity of religion.
Just as in the Christian community there has been lengthy inquiry into the right attitude of faith toward these convictions – an inquiry that certainly will never be concluded definitively – so also the Islamic world, with its own tradition, stands before the great task of finding the appropriate solutions in this regard.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/01/2011 18:49]