A week on: Al-Azhar scholars' objections to scripted Friday sermons
Tue, 19/07/2016 - 11:49 Al-Masry Al-Youm
http://www.egyptindependent.com//news/week-al-azhar-scholars-objections-scripted-friday-sermons

A week ago, government authorities announced the decision to make all mosque
preachers deliver an identical, government-approved sermon during Friday
prayers. The sermons are to be written by officials from the Religious
Endowments Ministry and senior clerics from Al-Azhar.

In the days since the announcement, Imams and religious scholars have been
mulling over the decision, and many have raised objections. Inside the walls
of Al-Azhar, a number of faculty professors and deans have placed themselves
in direct opposition to the policy, submitting complaints to the Grand
Sheikh's office. Al-Masry Al-Youm met with religious sources and Religious
Endowments Minister, Mokhtar Gomaa, to hear some of the reactions that have
arisen from the new policy.

Al-Azhar scholars have declared their rejection of pre-written sermons,
saying that this destroys the relationship between the congregation and the
preacher, and will eventually lead to people absenting from attending Friday
prayers.

Several preachers have expressed fears that the new system will make
preachers lazy and cause them to loose their knowledge of Islam, as they
will read mindlessly from a script where they used to prepare their own
material on a weekly basis.

Some staff from the ancient center of Islamic scholarship say the decision
was made on the back of a false accusation from ministry officials that
Al-Azhar was a cause for extremist and Salafi preaching in Egypt.

Meanwhile, Gomaa told Al-Masry Al-Youm the decision will not be reversed,
and that a specialized committee of scholars is being formed to prepare the
sermons on a monthly basis.

“It’s not true that pre-written sermons kill creativity. The Imam of the
mosque delivers two sermons a week, so he can preach about whatever he wants
in the second,” Gomaa stated, in response to fears that a one-size-fits-all
sermon neither allows individual preachers to draw on their own resources,
or to tailor their talks to local needs.

“The ministry seeks to fight extremism and to combat the imposing of
individuals' viewpoints [on congregations],” he said, though he admitted the
success of the policy remains to be seen.

Gomaa denied any political motive behind the decision, though as news agency
Aswat Masriya reported, combating security threats linked to extremist Islam
have been at the top of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's agenda since he
took power from the ousted Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm