| ID | 163882 |
| Title Proper | Tipping point? Al-azhar’s growing crisis of moral authority |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Bano, Masooda |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Routinely required to lend religious legitimacy to contentious state policies, al-Azhar's moral authority has been under pressure since its nationalization in 1961. This article outlines how Shaykh al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayyib's recent alliance with President ʿAbd al-Fattah al-Sisi has, however, exposed al-Azhar's moral authority to unprecedented risks. This is for three reasons. First, the tactics used by al-Sisi's government to quell the Muslim Brotherhood have been more extreme than those used by previous regimes. Second, the al-Azhari establishment's defence of these violent tactics has been more unqualified than in the past. Third, current state-led reforms of al-Azhar's curriculum are more controversial than prior efforts along these lines. As I show, these recent developments are not a complete break from the past; rather, they are a natural outcome of incremental shifts that have been occurring within al-Azhar since its nationalization over fifty years ago. |
| `In' analytical Note | International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 50, No.4; Nov 2018: p. 715-734 |
| Journal Source | International Journal of Middle East Studies 2018-12 50, 4 |
| Key Words | Muslim Brotherhood ; Arab Spring ; Al-Azhar ; Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi ; Islamic Authority |