Modernizing the Mosque

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 17, 1998 | by Richard Engel

Many Muslims attending a summit in Egypt agreed they must reconcile their religion to the modern world, but they disagree on how to do it. Others see no need to adapt to changing times.

Muslim leaders attending a recent Islamic summit in Cairo struggled to find a proper response to advancing technology. But "modernizing" one of the world's largest faiths is proving difficult. Many Islamic leaders disagree on how to cope with information technology that puts Muslims in increasing contact with the West, whose culture Muslim conservatives find objectionable.

Most of the delegates to the 10th annual summit organized by the Cairo-based High Council for Islamic Affairs believe that Muslims must improve their knowledge of Western technology. "Muslims should learn to speak the language of the new times, the language of science of technology and of the soul-stirring revolution that occurred in the fields of information and communication so that the world shall hear their message," read a declaration signed by representatives from more than 50 countries and 10 international organizations

But huge rifts exist on how to do it. Some Western Muslims would like to see major reforms in Islamic education, with an increased focus on the sciences. They complain that the Arab world is resistant to change. "Arab Muslims are extremely defensive toward globalization" says Wilfred Hoffman, a delegate from the Central Council of Muslims in Germany. "While the Western Muslims see it as a chance, Arab Muslims see it as an evil scheme. To make Islam relevant for the next century would imply quite a few reforms in the Muslim world, but I don't see these coming."

Religious scholars in the Arab world are good at delivering sermons and professions of faith but are weak at analysis, according to Hoffman. It will be difficult for Arab Muslims to make the "dynamic impulses" in the next century because they believe "authority is everything and skepticism is shunned."

Some see no need to adapt. They argue that the Koran -- the holy book of Islam that Muslims believe contains the exact words of God -- is perfect and should remain the ideal guide. "Islam is a living religion that applies equally to all times and places," says Sheik Ekrima Sabri, the religious adviser, or mufti, of the Palestinian Authority.

In Egypt, however, the controversy has erupted into a fierce debate over the new law that changes the course of study at the Cairo-based Al Azhar, Islam's oldest and most renowned learning center. For more than 1,000 years, Al Azhar has run schools and universities that graduate the elite of Muslim scholars whose sermons are heard in mosques throughout the world. The new measure cuts a year of study from Al Azhar's programs, the source of education for more than 1 million students, and it strengthens the secular subjects introduced to Al Azhar schools in the 1960s.

Opponents of the law are outspoken about the change. "Since the old times, the enemies of Islam have always planned to destroy Al Azhar by making it just like a modern education," says Sheik Seyid Askar, deputy director of Al Azhar's Islamic Studies Center, who has accused the Egyptian government of trying to secularize one of Islam's holiest institutions.

Critics of the law claim Al Azhar has suffered since Egypt's 1952 revolution, which overthrew King Farouk and ushered in the largely secular and military-backed government. Since then, the state appoints the head of Al Azhar, considered by many to be the most authoritative figure in Sunni Islam.

The law has been adamantly opposed by Al Azhar's professors union as well, although such opposition could prove to be dangerous. The state-run Al Ahram newspaper announced in July that the governor of Cairo had disbanded the union.

But according to Religious Affairs Minister Hamdy Zakzouq, the government is trying to save Al Azhar because its outdated teaching methods and long course of study are driving students away. He claims 15,000 students a year transfer from Al Azhar schools to government schools that have a shorter course of study. He also insists that Al Azhar schools will teach a full 31 hours a week of religious material and only nine hours of secular content under the reduced curriculum.

Sheik Mohammed Ibrahim Khafagi, deputy director of Al Azhar schools, supports the strengthening of secular study. "We need Muslim doctors who know their work and also their religion so that they can go to other countries and speak to others with knowledge and give the right idea about Islam," he says.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Khatab, assistant secretary-general of the Indiana-based Islamic Society of North America, suggests that Muslims in the United States have a unique opportunity to carry Islam into the next century.

Their freedom in America allows them to succeed in the professional world without abandoning their faith.

"I believe as an American Muslim that in America we have a big potential and a unique chance because we are living in a free society," says Khatab. "In America, we have more than 300,000 Muslim engineers and scientists. So maybe from America we can bring that kind of change."