At al-Azhar mosque, struggle over Islam roils a revered Egyptian institution

Al-Azhar, an influential mosque and university founded in the 10th century, has in modern times been a bastion of moderate Islam. But in post-revolution Egypt, it is feeling the pull of new political and religious currents.

By Griff Witte, WashPost
Published: March 3

CAIRO — They came by the thousands, pouring through the ancient stone archways and into the gleaming white marble courtyard of al-Azhar mosque. The faithful had come to pray, to hear a thundering sermon from a leader of Hamas and to witness a rebirth.

Co-opted for decades by irreligious and autocratic Egyptian governments, al-Azhar was retaking its rightful place as the world’s leading voice of Sunni Islam, worshipers said. The presence of a once-banned Hamas preacher willing to speak incendiary truths was proof that the millennium-old mosque and university that bear the al-Azhar name had finally been set free.

“Before, al-Azhar was covered by dust,” said Yasser Abdel Monen, 32, beaming in the shadow of the building’s towering minarets. “Now we have removed the dust to show what it is truly made of.”

But to others, that Friday sermon late last month was proof of something more ominous: the perverse outcome of a revolution built on a thirst for freedom but overtaken by a hunger for hard-line religious dogma.

(More here.)