The dwindling credibility of Al-Azhar -- once the Sunni Muslim world's most prestigious seat of learning -- may have helped spawn the rise of extremist Islamist thought. Gihan Shahine sheds light on why the demise took place, and what can be done to reverse it Leaving a serious gap What caused the drop in Al-Azhar's educational standards? When 30-year-old Sarah wanted to become a professional preacher, she chose not to pursue her studies at Al-Azhar University, for centuries the premier institution of learning in the Islamic world. Instead Sarah went to Al-Gameiya Al-Shareiya -- where she said she could "study in a free environment away from state hegemony". Many blame the drop in the quality of education at Al-Azhar on the institution's dependence on the state for its livelihood. For Nabil Abdel-Fatah, of Al-Ahram's Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, the demise in Al-Azhar's scholastic standard is a "byproduct of a serious deficit in social and political freedoms in Egypt, which have greatly undermined scientific research, stifled creativity and curbed any attempt at revisiting old exigencies of texts". Azharite scholars, according to Abdel-Fatah, currently restrict themselves to teaching old books, without any adaptation to modern times -- which was not the case more than half a century ago. The declining standards of an Al-Azhar education, according to Abdel-Fatah, have meant countries like Tunisia and Turkey do not even acknowledge the ancient university's degrees anymore. Many students now opt for alternative Islamic universities in Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco. That reality is highly unsettling for those who remember the heydays when Al-Azhar was renowned as the haven of moderate Islamic teaching, encouraging freedom of thought and expression. According to Ahmed Khaki, a 1966 deputy minister of education and the author of the Mission of Al-Azhar in the 20th Century, "there was a time at Al-Azhar when aspirants to knowledge would sit in study circles with their elders, taking turns to speak with no apparent restrictions. Azharites, sheikhs and students alike, were fond of debate and as heated as their debates sometimes were, they were always characterised by the precision in exposition and argument derived from the ancient tradition of scholastic logic." In the 19th century, Al-Azhar scholars like sheikhs Mohamed Abdu and Gamaleddin El-Afghani led "comprehensive reform movements... so familiar with Western philosophy that [they] could meet argument with counter argument, and proof with counter proof," Khaki says. Abdel-Fatah said a lot of that had to do with the fact that veteran Azharite scholars got their higher education in England and France, and brought home "a modern rhetoric that broke the rigidity of tradition. That period lasted until the 1950s, and saw heated political debates about controversial topics like Islam's relationship with modernity, progress and the regime, all of which reflected positively on the educational dynamic of Al-Azhar, which exuded with a stream of creative Islamic thinking at the time." Among the most distinguished Azharite figures were former Grand Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout, "who took Al-Azhar to an unprecedented peak in the age of modernity," and whose edicts are still valid today, Abdel-Fatah said. He also lists sheikhs Mahmoud Bikheet, Mustafa El-Maraghi, Ali Abdel-Razeq, and Mohamed Abdallah Deraz, all of whom contributed heavily to the study of Islamic theology and exigency. Al-Azhar's increasing dependence on the government placed a tight lid on its active academic life, which "created an environment of 'inner depression' and self-censorship inside Al-Azhar, where professors would feel reluctant to modernise their rhetoric", according to former fatwa committee head Sheikh Gamal Qotb. Instead of getting their education in Europe, professors would be sent on missions to Gulf countries, where they would end up being influenced by a "hardly-tolerant" wahabi doctrine, Abdel-Fatah said. Qotb also blames the 1961 law that forced Al-Azhar schools to teach the same textbooks taught in public schools in addition to their own original curricula of Islamic teachings. "Although, at first, the law looked positive, it soon became clear," Qotb said, "that it was designed to undermine the standard of Azharite scholars." When the load on students became too heavy, he says, Islamic teachings were removed and the secular add-ons remained. Other critics agree that the result has been a curricula split into bits and pieces that could only produce unskilled and superficial scholars. For Qotb, the problem was compounded when Al-Azhar University branched out to include faculties of sciences, engineering and medicine, which he said diverted the best students away from specialising in Islamic studies. Novelist Gamal El-Ghitani, a longtime observer of Al-Azhar, agrees that, "Al-Azhar lost its distinguished character when it branched out to include scientific studies." For El-Ghitani, this catalysed a deplorable state where "now, many Azharites do not master the Arabic language, and do not know the Quran by heart," with the result being a weakening of their moderate rhetoric in the face of extreme thought. Fatemah El-Bahr, an Al-Azhar graduate with a degree in simultaneous translation, said, "the educational standard of Al-Azhar students is now much weaker because of rote learning techniques." El-Bahr -- who does not know the Quran by heart -- said the main problems at Al-Azhar's secondary schools were "the heavy load caused by the inclusion of public textbooks in the curriculum" as well as "the poor quality of teaching that has made students unable to grasp religious lessons in a way that would qualify them to become good preachers." El-Ghitani said not many people are willing "to listen to an official discourse that lacks depth, and is widely known for its government support." That, according to El-Ghitani, has left "a serious gap for anyone to fill -- including, perhaps, a carpenter issuing a fatwa calling for the killing of innocent civilians." Interview by Gihan Shahine By Gihan Shahine
