CAIRO — The top religious scholars of Egypt’s Al-Azhar have rejected new government measures to standardize Friday sermons, saying such a step would “freeze” the development of religious discourse.
The Council of Senior Scholars of Al-Azhar, the Muslim world’s most prominent institution, said in a statement that giving clerics prewritten Friday sermons would eventually “superficialize” religious clerics’ thinking.
The statement claims that, “The Imam will find himself unable to discuss, debate, and respond to [extremist] ideas and warn people of them.”
The standardized sermon initiative was issued by Egypt’s Ministry of Religious Endowments.
According to the plan, a committee of state-hired scholars will write each week’s sermon for clerics to read word for word. Minister of Religious Endowments Mokhtar Gomaa said the government will prepare 54 sermons covering 52 weeks in addition to religious holidays, and that there was a long-term plan to write 270 sermons covering five years.