Government-Appointed Sheikh of Al-Azhar Requests His Own Post be Put to Public Election

Back in March 2010, Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak named Ahmed el-Tayeb the new grand sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar University and Mosque, taking over from Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, who died of a heart attack after heading Al-Azhar for nearly 14 years.

The Sheik of Al-Azhar oversees an extensive network of Islamic schools, a university and religious institutes that open their doors to Muslims from around the world. The sheik also advises the state on religious matters.

The post has been appointed by presidential decree since 1961 and the institution receives most of its funding from the state, opening up the post to criticism of being too close to the government.

Now el-Tayeb has called upon a new constitution to be drafted which make the post of "sheikh of al-Azhar" an elected one with limited powers and duration.

He said: "There is no reason not to make the post an elected instead of an appointed one."

He added that making the post an elected position was one of the first priorities he had announced upon being appointed to the post last year. he had been waiting for the appropriate time to move, and now clearly that time has come.

He said that when the present constitution is replaced by a new one, he will insist that the "sheikh al-Azhar" is elected by the Higher Council of Islamic Scholars, and candidates nominated by Egypt's Islamic scholarly community.

He mentioned that before the al-Azhar reform law of 1961, the Higher Council of Islamic Scholars used to appoint the head of al-Azhar. Members of Egypt's parliament have sought from time to time to return the post to being an elected one, but their appeals were always ignored.

Educated in Egypt and France, el-Tayeb, 64, previously served as Egypt's Mufti, the nation's top religious law expert, for a brief stint before stepping down in 2003 to act as dean of Cairo's Al-Azhar University. He is an expert on religious philosophy and issues of faith, and has written books about science, Marxism, Islamic philosophy, and Islamic culture.

Crutics are divided on the reason for his move. Some applaud him for trying to restore the post to one of credibility and leadership in the Muslim world. Others regard it as a ploy for him to hold on to his position in an uncertain political future.