CAIRO, 24 May 2005 — Al-Azhar, Islam’s highest Sunni authority, will launch a satellite TV channel to counter “anti-Islam onslaughts and highlight the true essence of Islam,” once opposition over its funding has been resolved, officials at Al-Azhar said.
The project was recently approved by the Islamic Research Academy (IRA), the highest authority at Al-Azhar, at the request of academy committee member Abdel Rahman Al-Adawi.
Adawi’s plan, which was proposed almost one year ago, is to establish a satellite channel to promote and correct the image of Islam and to fight the radical Islamic thoughts often broadcast on Arabic satellite channels.
Adawi said it had become a religious duty to launch the channel in light of recent media attacks on Islam, the Qur’an, and Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and Hadiths (teachings).
“The academy’s follow-up committee was alerted to this danger and realized that we should stop any attempt to demean the image of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),” Adawi told Arab News. “Part of our campaign is to counter a colonial war against Muslims and their faith.”
The scholar said the satellite channel would not attack other people or groups, nor attempt to cast doubt on other religions. “We will carry out what Islam preaches, which is to embrace other religions,” Adawi said.
Officials at the IRA said the project should have been approved a year ago, but financing was its major problem. The IRA’s secretary-general, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Fayoumi, told Arab News that Al-Azhar was still unable to fund this multimillion Egyptian pound project.
“We asked the government and officials at the state-owned TV to help us, but they were not convinced of the seriousness and importance of the project,” said Fayoumi. Indeed, early this year, the Information Ministry turned down a request by the religious committee of the radio and television union to set up a religious satellite channel or to allocate airtime on Egyptian satellite channels to defend Islam.
The committee had hoped that a channel could be hosted by a state-owned satellite channel with Al-Azhar scholars serving as guests discussing religious issues. To solve the funding obstacle, Adawi suggested that Al-Azhar should issue a fatwa (decree) to allocate a portion of zakah money, which Muslims donate for the poor, to the new channel.
Adawi’s proposal outraged major Islamic figures who accused Al-Azhar of misdirecting money meant for the poor and of issuing fatwas that did not conform to Islam. Last week, three Islamist MPs told Al-Azhar to finance the project using other sources.
“We call on the sheikh of Al-Azhar, the mufti, and Muslim scholars to issue a unified fatwa saying we cannot use zakah money to launch a channel,” read an interpellation by Hassan Ibrahim, Mahfouz Helm, and Mustafa Muhammad Mustafa at the People’s Assembly. “Islamic countries should decide what is the best way to finance this project,” they stated.
Many scholars are skeptical of the role the channel would play to correct misconceptions about Islam. Some Islamists told Arab News that since the channel would be fully controlled by Al-Azhar, it would not be truly independent, and therefore, not totally credible.
But the IRA’s affairs director, Sheikh Saber Thaalab, said the channel would not fall under government restrictions and would discuss all issues. He added that Al-Azhar’s scholars would be given a platform to discuss topics in a moderate and balanced way.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian State Security Court yesterday charged 25 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement with conspiring to revive the group’s activities. The court ordered a 15-day prison sentence for the 25 MB members — arrested Sunday — for further interrogation. Other charges included urging the boycott of a controversial referendum on the country’s constitution.
Among those arrested were MB Secretary-General Mahmoud Ezzat and senior MB official Hilmi Gazzar.
The arrests follow a series of demonstrations held by the movement earlier this month in Cairo and several other cities demanding an end of the 24-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. Tomorrow’s referendum is to decide to amend the constitution to allow multiple candidates to stand in presidential elections.
