HVK Archives: Egypt philosopher accused of defaming Islam
Egypt philosopher accused of defaming Islam - The Asian Age
DPA
()
3 May 1997
Title : Egypt philosopher accused of defaming Islam
Author : DPA
Publication : The Asian Age
Date : May 3, 1997
One of Egypt's elder philosophers has been accused of defaming Islam in a new
controversy which could trigger a collision between universities and clergymen and
worsen a split in the official religious establishment, Al Azhar.
The Al Azhar's ulemmas (theologians) front issued a statement denouncing Dr Hassan
Hanafi, chief of the philosophy department at Cairo University and chairman of
the- Egyptian Philosophy Society, for denying in his textbooks the proof of the
Holy Koran and seeking to destroy everything sacred to Muslims.
The front, which comprises a number of top theologians at Al Azhar, said that
Muslims throughout the world most rise to confront Dr Hanafi and that he should be
expelled from Cairo University where his destructive ideologies have hatched the
likes of the apostate Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid.
Mr Abu Zeid, a professor of theology and linguistics, has been in the Netherlands
since the Court of Cassations, Egypt's highest court, upheld two years ago a
verdict branding him as an apostate because of views regarded by old-guard
extremists an non-conformist and derisive of Islamic Sharia laws.
Dr Hanafi is regarded as something of an ideologue for the Egyptian Army
revolution of 1952. The attack on his textbooks - taught for decades at Cairo
University - was viewed by some observers as an indirect assault on the legitimacy
of the Egyptian government itself.
The Egyptian Organisation for human Rights urged authorities on Thursday to take
action to protect Dr Hanafi following what it is described as an open invitation
by the front to zealots to assassinate the professor.
It recalled the 1991 assassination of writer Farag Fouda and the 1995 attempt on
the life of Nobel laureate novelist Naguib Mahfouz.
Dr Hanafi is a frequent speaker on Cairo radio's Koran religious station. The
front's clergymen declined a recent invitation to an open debate with him at A]
Azhar University. The front played the leading role in canvassing against the 1994
UN Conference on Population and, Development in Cairo.
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