The confusion and division in Islam, created by ill-informed Islamic TV channels, was rightly condemned by Shaikh Dr Ahmad Al Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar Mosque. He took exception to the “downright weird fatwas” which all too many supposedly religious speakers on TV channels pump out, operating “without knowledge or education in Islamic theology”, as Al Tayeb put it.
The Grand Imam was a welcome voice when he spoke up for a more modern vision of Islam, in which he encouraged all Muslims to be more tolerant of each other. He also spoke sternly against the danger of encouraging divisions within Islam, criticising some of the stories that the TV preachers use as irrelevant to the modern day, even if valid as historical anecdotes.
He also urged all Arabs and Muslims to work to show the real picture of Islam and he condemned the “systematic distortion” of Islam, which is exploited by those who want to take advantage of a wrong and ill-favoured image of the religion.
Al Azhar Mosque is one of the leading institutions of Islamic scholarship and its Grand Imam is one of the most eminent scholars in Islam. It was important that such an influential figure chose to come to Dubai and attend the Arab Media Forum to speak to the assembled Arab media professionals, including many of the most prominent in their field, to promote his important message of nurturing a more inclusive Islam and working against division.
