Al-Azhar controversy leads to curriculum updates - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, Egyptian Imam of al-Azhar Mosque meets with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (not pictured), in Cairo May 4, 2015. Steinmeier will also meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his two-day visit to Egypt. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany - RTX1BIPX

Subscribe for less than $9/month to access this story and all Al-Monitor reporting.

OR

Create an account for a 7-day trial to access this article and all of AL-Monitor.

By entering your email, you agree to receive ALM's daily newsletter and occasional marketing messages.

Why AL-Monitor?

AL-Monitor is an award-winning media outlet covering the Middle East, valued for its independence, diversity and analysis. It is read widely by US, international and Middle East decision makers at the highest levels, as well as by media, thought and business leaders and academia.

Read by

Live news & notifications

Follow over 100 expert journalists based across the region and get notified in real time of breaking stories and exclusives. *Expanded coverage on Energy & Defense sectors.

Premier analysis of the Middle East

Access the sharpest and most diverse regional minds giving you all the angles on regional trends.

Live events & video

Priority access to roundtables, summits and other events alongside ALM's global community of regional influencers.

Specialized Newsletters

Get timely reporting on key countries and sectors with up to 10 daily and weekly newsletters straight to your inbox.

Big, exclusive interviews

Follow conversations with the region's biggest names in politics and business.

ALM archives since 2012

Access a repository of over a decade's worth of regional coverage, insights and trends.

Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, Egyptian Imam of al-Azhar Mosque meets with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (not pictured), in Cairo May 4, 2015. Steinmeier will also meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his two-day visit to Egypt. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany - RTX1BIPX

Subscribe for unlimited access

By becoming an Al-Monitor subscriber, you drive our team’s rigorous and independent journalism spanning the Middle East.

Continue

A man reads the Koran minutes before sunset as he waits to break his fast and have his Iftar meal near Al-Azhar mosque, in the old Islamic area of Cairo, Egypt, July 9, 2015. Picture taken July 9, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh - RTX1JWC3

Al-Azhar rethinks primary school teaching to encourage moderation

Reham Mokbel

Will Christians soon be enrolling at Egypt's Al-Azhar?

Amr Mostafa

Students attend a class on the first day of their new school year at a government school in Giza, south of Cairo September 22, 2013. Students resumed their studies at the beginning of the new academic year this weekend amid parental concerns of a possible lack of security after the summer vacation ends. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS EDUCATION) - RTX13UK0

Egypt strikes Islamic texts from schools, angering Salafists

Ayah Aman

In Cairo, reporting on politics and culture

An Al-Azhar Sheikh, explains some papers in the courtyard of Al-Azhar adminstrative building, in Cairo September 10, 2012. A proposal by ultraconservative Salafis to give Egypt's main Islamic institution the final say on whether the law of the land adheres to Islamic law threatens to bring the already painfully slow process of drafting the new constitution to a grinding halt. The proposal would give the revered Al-Azhar power similar to a supreme court by making it the arbiter of whether a law conforms with

Al-Azhar rewrites curricula

Walaa Hussein