Friday's prayers at Tahrir Square's Omar Makram Mosque concluded last week with the announcement of a new group, the National Front for the Defence of Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Religious Endowments, formed by a group of Al-Azhar scholars, led by Sheikh Mazhar Shahin, that seeks to protect the two Islamic institutions from attempts by Islamists to control them. Al-Azhar officials and preachers attended the press conference alongside public figures. Former Muslim Brother Kamal Al-Helbawi and former MP Hamdi Al-Fakharani were among those who listened as Shahin outlined the aims of the front. “It will stand firmly against attempts to Ikhwanise both Al-Azhar, the highest seat of Sunni learning, and Egypt's Ministry of Endowments,” said Shahin. Shahin condemned the “unwarranted” replacement of officials at the Ministry of Religious Endowments with Brotherhood supporters. In its foundation statement the front said it would work towards separating the daawa (Islamic preaching) sector from the Ministry of Endowments so that it can be placed under the supervision of Al-Azhar. It will also press for better conditions, including pay, for Imams and for greater job security, restricting attempts to remove them from mosques to cases in which clear infringements can be shown to have been committed. “We are seeking to maintain the moderate spirit and neutrality of Al-Azhar and Islamic daawa,” says Shahin. The front will be open to all Egyptians, says the pro-revolution sheikh, and not confined to members of Al-Azhar. It will use peaceful means, including demonstrations and sit-ins, to protest any extreme policies adopted by Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Endowments. “We are developing an action plan which includes protests across the country to focus public opinion on specific issues. We also intend to launch a legal challenge to recent government appointments at Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Endowments.” It is “the duty of every Egyptian” to defend Al-Azhar against the Muslim Brotherhood's “authoritarian” tactics, argues Al-Fakharani. For decades Al-Azhar has embodied the moderate spirit of Islam, and it must be protected from attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis to use it as a vehicle to propagate radical views. In recent months protests have been growing against Minister of Religious Endowments Talaat Afif as imams have voiced their concerns over what they say are Afif's attempts to Ikhwanise the ministry. Last week hundreds of imams held a sit-in in front of the Downtown headquarters of the ministry to protest against recent appointments of Muslim Brothers and Salafis. In Gharbiya a protest was held by moderate preachers in support of Sabri Ebada, the first assistant to the minister of endowments and known to be at loggerheads with his boss, whose office was recently attacked by an estimated 60 imams affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood. Against a backdrop of growing tensions Afif held a press conference last week in which he denied that the Muslim Brotherhood was being promoted within the ministry. “We are in the process of reforming this old bureaucracy and are injecting new blood,” said Afif. He added that only “a few” new appointees were affiliated to the Brotherhood and they were chosen solely on their merit. Since Morsi came to power in June 2012 Brotherhood sympathisers have been appointed to a host of senior positions within state institutions fuelling fears that the group is seeking hegemony over the state's most influential bodies. Within the Ministry of endowments there have been repeated complaints about the Ikhwanisation of what is one of Egypt's largest bureaucracies, responsible for the supervision of more than 198,000 mosques. The claims by the imams against Afif were backed by a report in Al-Watan newspaper three weeks earlier which included leaked documents showing that Afif had replaced 200 top ministry officials with new appointees, all of them Brotherhood members. Under ousted president Hosni Mubarak the Ministry of Religious Endowments was dominated by the National Democratic Party and appointees vetted by the security apparatus.
