THERE are growing warnings that Muslim preachers are sowing, intentionally or otherwise, the seeds of extremism and sedition in Egypt and elsewhere. According to sources inside Egypt's Ministry of Religious Endowments (Waqfs), the preachers, who have done courses sponsored by the Ministry, have disappointed people, who thought they would cleverly help modernise the vision of Islam in accordance with a rapidly changing modern world. Minister of Waqfs Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq is said to have been angered by reports that these preachers have not been living up to their task. It is the rise of fundamentalist thought and ideologies, which has persuaded Minister Zaqzouq to try and reduce the popularity of Muslim hard-liners. He decided to mobilise 3,000 preachers to eloquently reconcile the time-honoured teachings of Islam with the commitments of the Muslims of today. Zaqzouq gave this regiment of preachers good salaries and jobs, straight after taking classes to upgrade their skills and broaden their minds. The applicants were selected for their knowledge of Islam, eloquence and charisma. They must also know foreign languages, mainly English and French. The Minister was given the cue to do this by President Hosni Mubarak, who stresses that enlightened religious discourse will compel radicals and fundamentalists to retreat, thereby removing the threat to social stability. Minister Zaqzouq is apparently having second thoughts, having been informed that placing his complete trust in the newly -graduated preachers was a gamble that has backfired. More alarming, the new preachers have been accused of launching a coup against his Ministry by attempting to promulgate disputed teachings and ideas, popular with fundamentalists and radicals. Senior aides and advisers in the Minister's office say that privately owned religious TV channels are also to blame for the disappointing results. In order to counter the Ministry'sefforts to improve the image of Muslim preachers, these private channels have witnessed an invasion by extremists and radicals, bent on circulating their controversial vision of the Muslim faith. Professor Mohamed Chaker from the Islamic Studies Department in Ain Shams University said that the TV preachers signed up by private channels know little about Islam. He regrets that the incessant bombardment of these disputed ideas has made these preachers more popular with the ordinary citizens. Many Egyptians are illiterate and depend entirely on television for information about their religion and other things, Shaker said. He rebuked officials at Al-Azhar (the highest Islamic institution in Egypt) for allegedly ignoring the important issues and dragging their feet over things of less importance, such as whether women should wear the niqab (full-face veil) or not.
