A Piece of Advice for the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to Get Rid of the Control of the Head Sheikh of Al-Azhar and his ISIS-like Azharite Clergymen

Published in January 30, 2017

Translated by Ahmed Fathy

Firstly: the head sheikh of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar is accused of committing high treason against Egypt: 

1- Egypt can never rise and advance in a real renaissance while being overburdened by Al-Azhar institution, with its fossilized, stagnant ISIS-like terrorist Wahabi mentality that insists on making most Egyptians remain immersed in the Middle-Ages culture by Azharite terrorist thought, fanaticism, obscurantism, extremism, bigotry, and backwardness. It is very clear now that the current head sheikh of Al-Azhar, despite his being an ignoramus, controls the cultural, religious, and intellectual aspects in Egyptian life; it is clear enough that this head sheikh aims to gain more control, power, and authority, as he has defied the head of the Egyptian State, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, and as he gets support for Al-Azhar by the KSA, the one country that is the source of all evil obscurantism and terrorism worldwide. The servile Al-Azhar clergy and head sheikh obsequiously gratify the 'rich' and 'generous' Saudi regime by maintaining, propagating, and defending the cursed religion of ISIS (Wahabism) to be taught all over schools and universities inside Egypt and spread in Egyptian media. This is a crime against the interests and security of our beloved Egypt that fights terrorism now. This means that we canaccuse the head sheikh of Al-Azhar of committing high treason against Egypt.       

2- The KSA maintains its existence from its dominance and control over the Egyptian State and from destroying of non-Wahabi countries near the KSA (e.g., Yemen and Syria). The KSA will certainly collapse when a strong Egyptian State stands against it, as strong as it was during the era of President Abdel-Nasser. We must all bear in mind that the KSA is the archenemy No. 1 of Egypt; the Saudi royal family members never forget that the very first Saudi state was destroyed in 1818 by the Egyptian army led by Ibrahim Pacha, son of the Egyptian ruler at the time Muhammad Ali Pacha. Indeed, the founder of the third current Saudi state (the KSA, founded in 1932), Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, took care very much to infiltrate Egypt by his agents who have spread Wahabism inside it under the name of Salafism, via religious societies and organizations, as we have explained in detail in our book published on our website, in English and in Arabic, titled "The Wahabi Opposition Movements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Twentieth Century". The KSA has been the real founder and controller of the terrorist MB organization and its money helped the MB to infiltrate insidiously inside Egyptian soil and in many other countries worldwide. The KSA has helped – directly and indirectly – in creating Wahabi terrorist organizations worldwide, including ISIS, Al-Qaida, and the terrorist MB. We repeat here the fact that the KSA is the real archenemy of Egypt; the KSA is the axis of evil all over the planet.         

3- It is clear now that the current head sheikh of Al-Azhar conspires with the KSA against Egypt, and because the KSA is the enemy of Egypt, the head sheikh of Al-Azhar who allies himself to the KSA is a traitor who has committed high treason against Egypt. 

Secondly: Al-Sisi might be accused sooner or later of high treason, if he does not undertake religious, legislative, political, and educational reform in Egypt:

1- The Egyptian media during the presidential term of Al-Sisi has called the KSA as ''the big sister'' of Egypt, and this is very insulting to Egypt. In fact, many old vending stores in Cairo are older than the KSA; indeed, the Egyptian Cairo-based leading public newspaper Al-Ahram was founded in 1875, which means that this newspaper is older than the KSA which was founded in 1932. How come then that the KSA has been described in the Egyptian media as ''the big sister'' of Egypt?! Egypt is seven millennia old, the most ancient country in the world. May Saudi oil be cursed!    

2- Al-Sisi is to gain strength by being loyal only to the Egyptian citizens and by siding with them all the time. We propose that he should apologize for the Egyptians, release those innocent ones who have been unjustly imprisoned, and immediately undertake religious, legislative, political, and educational reform. This way, he can confront and stand against the KSA that will dwindle into its real dwarfed role, making it seeking the aid of Egypt to go on existing. This way, the KSA will be ''the little sister'' of Egypt. Egypt has the right to get half of Saudi oil revenues, because prices of Saudi oil soared because of Egyptian blood spilled in the 1973 War to liberate Sinai from Israeli occupation (i.e., the Yom Kippur War). It is a disgrace that the KSA, and not Egypt the pioneer country, to be named as the leader of the so-called 'Islamic' world! What a shame!    

3- When Al-Sisi gains strength by being loyal only to the Egyptian citizens and by introducing the desired reform, he can lead and mobilize the so-called 'Islamic' world, and he can demand that Egypt must re-control again the Hejaz area, where Mecca is located, as Egypt used to fully control the Hejaz area from the Tulunid dynasty era (868-905 A.D.) to the end of the Ottoman caliphate in 1924. This way, Al-Sisi will vow to make Egypt supervise the pilgrimage sites within an international neutral body that will make Hejaz a safe haven for all peaceful people of all denominations. Sadly, it is a very bad thing that Al-Sisi would seek to cede two islands in the Red Sea to the KSA, but he failed to do so, and would seek to get nearer to the 'rich' 'big sister' KSA like the head sheikh of Al-Azhar who allies himself to it while disregarding Egypt.

4- Al-Sisi still has the chance before him to change and correct his stance regarding the KSA in order to make himself avoid being accused of high treason, an accusation that fits the head sheikh of Al-Azhar. After all, political life has its changes, paradoxes, and contradictions as per changing interests of all countries. In political life, it is OK to do the right thing after making many mistakes; many politicians have changed their stances and adopted different ways. What is deemed impossible is to find clergymen in Egypt reforming themselves or changing their stances, especially Azharite clergy who are required to think but they are ignorant ones who assume their posts unjustly. Hence, it is no use to expect that the head sheikh of Al-Azhar and his clergymen would change for the better; yet, there is hope that Al-Sisi and his men and generals will change for the better.      

5- In Egypt with its hardships and crises that make the Egyptian State on the verge of collapse, especially regarding the economic situation, the Egyptians should save what can be saved. This peaceful saving process is quite possible if it comes from the head of the Egyptian regime itself: President Al-Sisi. We might disagree with him on certain policies and agree with him on some other policies that he has adopted, but we think that he cares for his personal safety, of course, as much as we care for the fate of millions of Egyptian citizens who are endangered by economic crises and threatened by Wahabi terrorism as well. It is the interests of Egypt that dictate that Al-Sisi must undertake immediate religious, legislative, political, and educational reform. We have written before about violent hunger revolts that might occur because of economic crises in Egypt. The desired reforms must be applied soon and they include constitutional reform that enable Egyptians to build a civil state that respects human rights. Al-Sisi can have a second and last presidential term, but after that, he and the military generals should leave rule of Egypt in peace and leaving it to a democratically elected civil government. This way, Al-Sisi and the military generals will avoid the fate of Kaddafi and Saddam Hussein.           

Thirdly: it is not difficult for Al-Sisi to reform Al-Azhar:

1- Religious reform is the essential part and parcel of any other reform to come, and it cannot be done unless Al-Azhar is thoroughly reformed first. Of course, Al-Sisi has all the power to reform Al-Azhar immediately through the Egyptian Parliament and his executive authority as the President of Egypt, and through the dominance of Al-Sisi over the judicial system and the Egyptian media as well. Even by existing laws alone in Egypt, Al-Sisi can easily reform Al-Azhar.     

2- Reforming Al-Azhar must be based on an uncontested principle; namely, that Islam (the Quran only) fits all eras and locations, as the Quran is the final divine message, or Word of God, to all humanity until the end of days on the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, it is a grave injustice to confine Islam to the Ottoman Era and to the Middle Ages with its injustices, obscurantism, backwardness, extremism, bigotry, and fanaticism. 

3- Reforming Al-Azhar includes the steps below.

3/1: The ancient curricula of Azharite primary, preparatory, and secondary schools (including subjects like Quranic interpretation, fiqh, hadiths, history, biography of Muhammad, theology, etc.) must be reformed  immediately, and so are the curricula of Al-Azhar University, especially the faculties/departments that teach theology, 'Islamic' studies, history of 'Muslims', Sunnite sharia laws and legislations, and the so-called ''branches of theological knowledge'' of the 'Islamic' faith. These ancient Azharite curricula spread Wahabi terrorist ISIS-like notions in the minds of hundreds of thousands of students, who later on teach at schools and work as preachers in mosques, propagating the Sunnite Wahabism of ISIS while wrongly calling it 'Islam', inside and outside Egypt. Let us remember that the terrorist Dr. Omar Abdul-Rahman and the clergyman of Wahabi terrorism Al-Qaradawy are both Azharite graduates. Such Wahabi curricula of Al-Azhar have polluted curricula of school subjects like Arabic language, history, and religion in public non-Azharite schools. Azharite and non-Azharite religious leaders propagate the cursed religion of ISIS and control Egyptian media and mosques, and many of such corrupt leaders are terrorist Salafists and terrorist MB members whose fame and stature in Egyptian culture, politics, and media allow them to spread obscurantist thought that makes Egypt descends the more in the quagmire of disgrace, backwardness, and terrorism. If reform is not done, civil sectarian strife might break out in Egypt. Hence, such Azharite curricula must be removed totally from schools and universities and within the post-graduate studies as well. Such curricula books must be replaced with books that reflect the higher values of the Quran, while making Al-Azhar a civil organization that cares for Islamic affairs, and whose primary role is to defend human rights, citizenship rights, religious freedom, and other values like justice, charity, mercy, and human dignity. The proposed books that may be taught instead of the current Azharite curricula include all our Quranist books published on our website, and they are available to be printed and taught for free by anyone. 

3/2: Reforming Al-Azhar Law is a must; indeed, Al-Sisi has amended this law issued by Gamal Abdel-Nasser in 1960, but the amendments were very bad and caused catastrophes, as we have detailed in our book published on our website, in English and in Arabic, titled "A Witness of the Earliest Months of The Presidential Term of The Egyptian President Al-Sisi". In fact, immediate reform and amendments of Al-Azhar Law is urgently required, by asserting in this law that the only role of Al-Azhar is to focus on elucidating Quranic facts of Islam, reforming 'Muslims' peacefully from within real Islam (i.e., the Quran alone), showing how the Quran is the only source that contains the higher values of Islam, values which are approved by all human beings everywhere, and finally to face all those who seek to distort Islam and tarnish its image, especially by using its name in worldly political ambitions. All this entails that any Azharite sheikhs who hinder or are reluctant to apply such reform measures must be fired from their posts.        

Thirdly: how to get rid of ISIS-like clergymen of Al-Azhar and its head sheikh by already existing Egyptian law:

1- In addition to reforming and amending Al-Azhar Law of 1960, Al-Sisi can force any Azharite sheikhs, teacher, or employees retire at the age of 60, and he can appoint in Al-Azhar those who can apply reform, even if the appointed persons are non-Azharite.  

2- As per Egyptian penal code, anyone inciting murder and massacre is incriminated like murderers and killers who actually committed the heinous deed, and they are to be imprisoned. This punishment applies to any Azharite sheikhs and preachers (whether belonging to the terrorist MB or Salafists, or not) who incite murder and hatred as well as acts of terrorism. The head sheikh of Al-Azhar is a  criminal who incites such crimes because he refuses to incriminate ISIS terrorists and adamantly opposes reforming of religious discourse in Egypt and the reform of Azharite Wahabi curricula that incite terrorism. Hence, he is a criminal who have caused indirectly the murder of innocent Egyptians (especially Christian Copts) because of terrorist operations committed inside Egypt. The same accusation can be leveled against all clergy of Al-Azhar and all non-Azharite Salafist sheikhs. It is strange that Al-Sisi regime has imprisoned innocent youths (and men like a chancellor who has exposed corruption and Mr. Al-Beheiry, the Muslim thinker and reformer who criticized Azharite curricula on his TV show and was condemned for 'defaming' Islam and showing 'contempt' of religion) with vague accusations and leaves the criminal head sheikh of Al-Azhar enjoying impunity. This disgrace must stop; otherwise, a bleak future is looming in the horizon for all Egyptians.     

3- In order to intellectually face, debunk, refute, and undermine Salafist and Wahabi thought that dominates over Egypt, Al-Sisi can command Egyptian media to discuss all our Quranist writings that are published on our website. The books authored by us include the following: "Pilgrimage between Islam and the Muhammadans", "Slavery: A Fundamental Historical Overview", "The Wahabi Opposition Movements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Twentieth Century", "The Cursed Religion of ISIS", "Religious Freedom between Islam and Fanatic Muslims", "Rules of Engagement in War of Ideas against Jihadists", "Women's Right to Aspire to the Presidency of Any Islamic State", "The Seven Principles of the Real Islamic Sharia and How to Apply Them", "The Unspoken-of History of the Pre-Umayyad 'Righteous' Caliphs", "The Quran Is Enough", "Penalty for Apostasy", "Karbala Massacre", "Islamic Shura", "Arabian Civil War", "Torment of the Grave", "The Book of Intercession", "The Ibn Hanbal Doctrine as the Father of Wahabism: Destruction of Iraq during the Second Abbasid Era", "Fasting and Ramadan", "The Book of Prayers between the Quran and the Muhammadans", "The Introduction by Ibn Khaldoun: a Fundamental Analytical Study", "Egypt in the Quran", "Sufism Encyclopedia", "Warning against Mixing Religion and Politics", "Persecution of Copts after the Arab Conquest", and "The Characteristics of Egypt After the Arab Conquest". in addition, there are thousands of articles and fatwas regarding religious and political topics. All our writings are a comprehensive and rich program of how to apply religious reform in Egypt that spreading it will cost nothing at all and we ask for no reward or remuneration from any one for it. Making our writings discussed in Egyptian media will make satellite channels gain more money, propaganda, and viewers. The current regime might 'distract' the masses from revolting against it (because of soaring prices) by devoting months for the discussion of our Quranist writings; this will cause the terrorist MB member, Salafists, and Azharite clergy try hard to defend their Sunnite religion and their existence because they fear to face Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour. It is bad to distract people away from politics and the daily (economic) problems by committing crimes in streets to make media thrive and people shut up. Instead of filling hours of TV transmission with idle talk, pornography, myths, religious nonsense or opium of the masses, gossip, scandals, and tackling terrorist crimes all the time, why not devote few hours to discuss Quranism as the solution by debating our Quranist books every day? The TV presenters might even host sheikhs to try and 'refute' and 'undermine' us and our book, provided that our books and ideas are shown honestly and with integrity, while showing our Quranism website of course (www.ahl-alquran.com) to make people verify our views. Why not ban Salafist and Wahabi thought TV shows from Nile Satellite Channels of Egypt? Indeed, Quranism and its school of thought is the only tool to refute, debunk, and undermine Salafism/Wahabism easily and without costs. Indeed, Sunnite religion cannot stand unless protected by regimes and heaps of Saudi money as well as laws incriminating those who question and discuss it to throw them in jail after accusing them of showing contempt toward religion. Indeed, such an accusation of showing contempt toward Islam fits to be leveled at the head sheikh of Al-Azhar and all Azharite clergy. It is time for Al-Azhar sheikhs and Salafist preachers to step aside once and for all in order to make room for other voices that must discuss and question all hushed-up topics in order to establish true intellectual religious reform that will save our beloved Egypt from collapse.             

Lastly:

1- The Azharite obscurantist ISIS-like clergy are frightened by hearing the name of Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour and they enjoy their dominance over media and cultural life in Egypt, thus they have managed so far to ban our books and name. by merely allowing our books to be printed in Egypt and discussed by Egyptian media, this will save our beloved Egypt and the whole world from the Wahabi evil and terror supported by the corrupt Azharite ISIS-like clergy. 

2- After all, we, Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, are a former Azharite assistant professor and a free Muslim thinker for more than 40 years, whose books on religious reform are unprecedented in the history of Egypt and the history of 'Muslims', in terms of the quantity and quality of our writings that bring innovative and creative ideas ascribed to us in the field of reform. We have adopted an unwavering stance in defense of Islam against those who have distorted it and tarnished its image. Indeed, our positive influence on the thought of 'Muslim' thinkers of today is unparalleled and undeniable; let us remember how the religious intellectual thought has remained dormant for centuries because of Middle-Ages authors like Al-Bokhary, Al-Ghazaly, Al-Shafei, etc. We take pride in being the pioneer of Quranist school of thought all over the world.      

3- Egypt and its Al-Azhar brought to the world a disgrace called sheikh Al-Qaradawy, the MB terrorism theologian who disgraced Egypt and all humanity. This disgrace can be removed by making room for another Azharite reformist thinker like ourselves in Egyptian media. 

4- All this is easy to do and available, only if Al-Sisi is willing to do his duty to save what can be saved.  

5- If Al-Sisi becomes reluctant to do the above required reform immediately, he may pay the price by being accused of high treason inside Egypt and, outside Egypt, by being accused of committing crimes against humanity in the International Court.

6- The reason we are asserting this is as follows: sooner or later the international community will realize the responsibility of Al-Sisi in leaving the ISIS-like Azharite Wahabi clergy corrupting Egypt and other countries worldwide. Once this realization occurs, all wealth of Al-Sisi and what he has acquired will be of no use to him. let us remember that Kaddafi hoarded money that was of no use to him at all and never protected him when he was assassinated.