CAIRO — Al-Azhar Mosque and the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) have been at odds over which institution should determine the content of Friday sermons. Now the tension is growing, as the ministry has officially declared itself in charge.
Without consulting the mosque, on Jan. 10 the ministry officially declared that, beginning in March, it will be determining Friday sermon scripts for the next five years as part of its plan to reform religious discourse in Egypt. The ministry is responsible for organizing religious discourse inside mosques, while Al-Azhar is responsible for Islamic outreach in the world.