CAIRO — This is not the first time that Saad Eddin El-Hilali, professor of comparative jurisprudence at Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University, has caused a stir with a fatwa.
In 2018, he had issued a fatwa (a ruling about Islamic law by a qualified jurist) during an appearance on the program “Al-Hekaya,” asserting that the Quranic verses stating “for the male is the equivalent of the portion of two females” are open to interpretation (ijtihad). El-Hilali then called for a public referendum to amend Egypt’s inheritance laws, which never happened but set off a heated national debate.
When he essentially renewed that fatwa last week about the discriminatory nature of inheritance, his own university went on the attack… Al-Azhar’s Global Center for Electronic Fatwas issued a statement that not only criticized El-Hilali’s remarks, but also clearly incited a movement of opposition against him.
Al-Azhar’s statement read: “Inheritance texts are definitive and not open to change or ijtihad. The call for creating a “personalized religiosity” is an encroachment on the Sharia, an encroachment on the authority of the ruler, a reproduction of deviant thought and an intellectual crime that threatens security and societal stability. Permitting the forbidden or forbidding the permissible with the intent of normalizing immoralities in society are intellectual and epistemological crimes whose perpetrators and advocates must be held accountable.”
We have perhaps never before seen such a strongly worded statement from Al-Azhar. This statement was not a response based on argument or “wisdom and good admonition,” but rather a threat to the personal safety of one of Al-Azhar’s scholars and an act of intimidation against interpretive thought, as if posting harsh gatekeepers to block those daring to question the “definitiveness” of Quranic texts.
Twice as much for him
This statement prompted a review of what the Al-Azhar Fatwa Center prioritizes in its issuance of current and past fatwas, having increasingly been limited to edicts about charity-giving, the etiquette of entering mosques and how to help those with shortness of breath. This, in a society where people panic daily over crimes and hardship more horrific than the last.
Inheritance in Egypt is no longer merely a matter of rightful distribution among heirs, but has become more complex, even extending to crimes of murder, orchestrated rape and stigmatization. Egyptians will not forget the case of the young man who tied up his sister and arranged for her to be raped to force her to forgo her inheritance. There was also the recent widely circulated social media incident where siblings assaulted their elderly brother simply because he had written over his property to his daughters before his death. Nor the numerous cases of girls being denied their inheritance in exchange for “staying in the family.”
Al-Azhar’s vigorous protection of the idea that inheritance should be unfairly divided, based on the logic that the male deserves twice as much as the female, is an affront to all Egyptian women. It also risks legitimizing crimes against and infringement on rights that are already diminished.
Either the people’s consciousness is liberated, or the turbaned elite continue their monopoly over our minds.
Yet what was striking in Al-Azhar’s Fatwa Center statement was that it provoked a response to what El-Hilali has long been proposing: the necessity of a public referendum. This suggests that the authority on such matters may not forever rest absolute with the religious men protected by Al-Azhar. A public referendum is the beginning of dismantling the single-opinion system and the totem of the religious establishment.
Banner of women’s rights?
The Fatwa Center’s statement reads: “Hiding behind the banner of women’s rights to undermine the rulings of religion and portraying it as an enemy of women is a malicious ploy aimed at sidelining religion and diminishing its role, calling for the importation of distorted Western ideas foreign to Arab and Islamic societies.”
Al-Azhar, as usual, returns to its usual discourse about conspiracies against Islam and Sharia whenever faced with issues such as women’s rights. “The constant claim that Sharia rulings are incompatible with the times and modern developments is a repugnant proposal intended only to isolate Islam from people’s lives,” it concludes.
WORLDCRUNCH EXTRA!
Know more • Al-Azhar is one of the oldest and most prestigious Islamic institutions in the world, established in Cairo, Egypt, more than 1,000 years ago . It began as a mosque and later evolved into a renowned center of Islamic learning, encompassing a university that offers education in religious and secular disciplines. As a leading authority in Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar issues fatwas (religious rulings), trains scholars and interprets Islamic law, holding a central role in shaping religious discourse within Egypt and across the broader Arab and Muslim world.
In Egypt, Al-Azhar wields significant social, political and cultural influence, as reported by Al Mesbar Studies and Research Centre. It is seen as the guardian of Islamic tradition and often works closely with the state, helping to define the boundaries of religious legitimacy.
Across the Middle East region, Al-Azhar’s authority extends beyond national borders — its scholars are widely respected and its rulings and interpretations are often referenced by governments, religious institutions and communities seeking guidance on Islamic law. This makes Al-Azhar a powerful force in shaping not only religious practices but also debates around education, social justice and modernity in the Arab and Islamic world. — Hagar Farouk (read more about the Worldcrunch method here)
There is a clear disconnect of the venerated Islamic institution from people’s everyday lives and struggles. When we see that the number of Egyptian women who support their families has reached 12 million, then what is the purpose of diminishing women’s inheritance rights and clinging to a patriarchal legacy that refuses to abandon “guardianship,” “oversight,” and “authority”? Article Two of the Egyptian Constitution stipulates that “Islam is the religion of the state, Arabic is its official language and the principles of Islamic Sharia are the main source of legislation.”
Quranic sciences
Within this corner of the Constitution is the black hole that swallows women’s rights and so much more that matters to ordinary citizens.
The controversy over inheritance applies to hundreds of other issues, and Dr. El-Hilali was not the first to face intimidation from Al-Azhar. Previously the Islamic University expelled Sheikh Ali Abdel Raziq from the Senior Scholars Committee because of his book Islam and the Foundations of Governance, in which he argued that Islam does not impose a specific political system and criticized the concept of the caliphate. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd also faced a court ruling of apostasy after pressure from clerics and was forced to leave Egypt due to his research in Quranic sciences and methods of interpretation.
There is a clear disconnect of the venerated Islamic institution from people’s everyday lives and struggles.
These are all steps backward on the path to real renewal and fair civil rights, especially with the collective mindset still tied to threads that Al-Azhar clutches onto so fiercely. This can at least be party explained by the fact that the institution’s very existence is threatened with any step that supports the use of reason in interpretation. There are two options: Either the people’s consciousness is liberated, or the turbaned elite continue their monopoly over our minds.
