Today, in episode 19 of Grand Imam At-Tayyeb TV Talk broadcast for the fifth year on Egyptian and other Arab TV channels, His Eminence continued his talk about the issue of renewal. He commenced his talk by noting, “I am not claiming leadership or precedence in ‘renewing Islamic thought’ in general, or “juristic thought” in particular. I only maintain that, since an early stage of my educational life, I have been preoccupied with legal classification of new social and economic occurrences, and even with legacies that have nothing to do with religion or the Sharia and yet govern people’s lives, incurring much restriction and injustice. This particularly applies to issues about women, casteism, equality and sociology in general.”

The Grand Imam added, “This preoccupation persisted during social paradoxes that had no legal or humane justification. As a young student at Al-Azhar then, I never held the Sharia accountable for such paradoxes or bad habits. I was then thoroughly studying Jurisprudence, Exegesis and Hadith. I knew that such numerous inherited rulings were operative or dropped in favor of long-standing Pre-Islamic (Jahili) legacies. It was unfair to accuse the Sharia of such ignorance for that which it does not promote or instruct, even if it be prevalent among the Muslim practices in the East and the West.”

His Eminence also referred to renewal saying that “it has been recently raised in the media. Yet, media discussions only increased ambiguity about the topic since the discussants were not specialists. It seemed non-renewal (of heritage) was the source of all Arab world political and security crises. We even heard voices calling for total abolition of that heritage against others calling for literal and exclusive adherence to the heritage of the first three centuries of Islam. Some of those parties were dreaming of controlling Al-Azhar or rubbing out its history that dates back to over a thousand years.”

The Grand Imam noted that “to document our counterargument and before illustrating the efforts exerted by Al-Azhar in the field of renewal, let us get back to 20 years earlier, specifically in June 2001. Then, an international conference was held on renewal of Islamic thought by the Ministry of Endowments. The then Minister of Endowments, the late Professor Mahmoud Muhammad Zaqzouq, was the first to inaugurate the process of renewal building on the efforts of Sheikh Shaltout and Dr. Muhammad Al-Bahiy. Dr. Zaqzouq then held an international conference for that purpose, bringing together scholars from different countries of the Muslim world. I participated in that conference through a research paper titled, “The necessity of renewal.” In that paper, I was keen to diagnose the issue, highlight the obstacles on the path of renewal, and offer ways to overcome them. I have been thinking that the most dangerous of these obstacles are outdated fatwas that no longer benefit the Muslims today, as well as the promotion of unsolicited fatwas by ignorant or pseudo-scholars who either play a role in distorting Muslim sanctities or sell out their religion in return for mundane purposes.”

His Eminence the Grand Imam then added, “Then, I was predestined to assume the post of Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in March 2010. And within a few months, the Arab world plunged into a somewhat foggy zone, losing the ability to identity proper directions. Despite such bleak atmosphere, Al-Azhar was guided to undertake a nationalist role through rallying scholars, intellectuals, religious leaders and media figures to discuss the concerns of the country, and issue charters that helped officials in preserving the unity of the country and guarding it against slipping into devastating civil wars that ripped neighboring countries or entailed intervention of external powers.”

He thus pointed out, “The first document was about the future of Egypt, the second about sustaining the will of the Arab peoples, and the third about the set of the four basic freedoms of belief, scholarly research, opinion and expression, and literary and artistic creativity. Other documents were issued in the form of "statements by Al-Azhar”. As usual, I wonder: What do we call this leading nationalist role that Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif has played? Through this role, Al-Azhar has participated in the nation’s course of events and its protection from internal and external enemies? Would we call it then an achievement at the heart of the process of "renewal", or would we call it an "ISIS" activity, as alleged by ill-intended people!"

Then, at the conclusion of the episode, the Grand Imam recited some of the recommendations provided in these documents indicating Al-Azhar nationalist role in renewal under the witnessed critical circumstances, and these ran as follows,

- Supporting the establishment of a national, constitutional, democratic and modern state, founded on a constitution approved by the nation.

- Islam has never, throughout its legislations, civilization, and history, recognized what is known in other cultures as a religious or a theocratic state which oppressed its people.

- Upholding all basic freedoms of thought and opinion, with complete respect for human, women’s and children’s rights, emphasizing pluralism, respecting heavenly religions and considering citizenship as the basis of responsibility in the society.

- Full respect of the ethics of debate and dialogue, while avoiding accusations of apostasy and treason, exploitation of religion aimed to disunite citizens and pit them against each other, and considering acts of instigating sectarian strife or racial discrimination as crimes against the homeland.