How Al-Azhar plans to strike back against 'fatwa chaos'
Egypt's Al-Azhar faces an uphill battle to confront religious extremism as it continues its efforts to launch a TV channel that promotes moderate Islam.
"Fatwa chaos" is a term commonly used by Muslim scholars at Cairo's Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowments) to describe extremist religious discourse.
Such discourse is created by leaders of Salafist movements or those who support the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Al-Azhar, which seeks to play a pivotal role in managing this conflict. In 2014 and 2015, the Ministry of Awqaf prevented imams who are not certified by Al-Azhar or by the ministry itself to mount pulpits for Friday prayers and preach to the congregations.
But it's been a long battle for Al-Azhar. For many years, Al-Azhar has been trying to start a satellite TV channel to counter what the university sees as extremist ideology and to disseminate what Al-Azhar sheikhs call “the principles of moderate Islam." Financing a nonprofit channel can be challenging.
On Nov. 25, the acting head of Al-Azhar University, Ibrahim al-Hodhod, said in a press statement that Al-Azhar is still seeking to launch the channel but is facing many difficulties.
