Background:
Dr. Muḥammad Saʿīd al-ʿAshmāwī (1932 – 7.11.2013) was an Egyptian Supreme Court judge and former head of the Court of State Security. He was a specialist in comparative and Islamic Law at Cairo University and is often described as “one of the most influential liberal Islamic thinkers today”.
Side A:
Al-ʿAshmāwī says that through his published books, he offered a new integrated doctrine; one that is liberal and consists of new thoughts and political ideas. In January 1992 during the international book fair in Cairo, al-Azhar had allegedly sent two people from the civil service in order to ban five of al-ʿAshmāwī’s books which were being distributed at the fair. As a lawyer, al-ʿAshmāwī knows al-Azhar has no right to ban any published books, and asserts he had protested against the banning through challenging the-then Grand Shaykh Gād al-Ḥaq of al-Azhar. The Grand Shaykh had allegedly ignored his request to discuss the issue but al-ʿAshmāwī concludes that former president Mubārak had interfered and declined al-Azhar’s wish to ban the books.
In March 1995, Saudi Arabia’s committee of Qurʾān from the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs had allegedly attacked al-ʿAshmāwī’s books. Al-ʿAshmāwī states that he realized that Saudi Arabia was intentionally fighting a writer for the first time. “Thoughts can shake throwns”, says al-ʿAshmāwī and thus, it is not peculiar that many people tried to fight his books including Saudi Arabia, Al-Azhar and al-Shaʿb Newspaper. Al-ʿAshmāwī compares his situation to that of Najīb Maḥfūẓ’s 35 years ago (with respect to the time of the interview). Maḥfūẓ (11.12.1911 – 30.8.2006) was an Egyptian writer and one of the first modern writers of Arabic literature. There had been a fatwa issued against him because he had been accused of writing a book against Islam just like al-ʿAshmāwī. Al-ʿAshmāwī argues he is not against Islam, but against political Islam. He predicts that the same terrorist atrocities that took place in Algeria are coming to Egypt and believes that due to his liberal and reformist thoughts, he too is a target like Maḥfūẓ. He identifies himself as an Islamic reformer because he believes that Islam will die if it is not reformed. World-wide, there have been and still are confrontations between Muslims and Christians, and even between Muslims and Muslims. These Muslims are distorting the divine teachings of Islam says al-ʿAshmāwī. Most Muslims misunderstand Islam, and he believes that Western media plays a significant role in this fallacious reflection of Islam. Militant Islam is so prominent in Western media, but liberal Islam is almost always neglected says al-ʿAshmāwī, and liberal Islam is what he says he represents.
Al-ʿAshmāwī continuously stresses that he is not against Islam, but rather wants to reform it. He believes that many Islamic scholars are confused because there are no set definitions for many key words that have been mentioned in the Qurʾān, including terms such as Sharīʿah or jihād. Al-ʿAshmāwī does not agree with the literal interpretation of the Qurʾān and says the terms are based on jurisprudence not law; they are human-made. Every verse needs to be understood in its historical context as he believes every verse has been revealed for a purpose. In all his books, he says he has emphasised that no one will be able to reform Islam and offer the true, prestigious image of Islam unless one finds a scientific method to interpret the verses of the Qurʾān in their own historical contexts. With this argument, al-ʿAshmāwī believes that verses which attack infidels of Islam, for instance, were appropriate for the time they were revealed, but are no longer applicable today. He further contends that the genuine meaning of jihād is not ‘holy war’, but actually jihād means to refine oneself in terms of the conscience, the character, the mind and the faith. He adds that jihād is meant for self-defense solely, and anything more than that is mere aggression. He states that there should be no distinction between state and religion, but rather between politics and religion.
Following several comments al-ʿAshmāwī made regarding people who have allegedly verbally attacked him and his work, an argument emerges between al-ʿAshmāwī and Majdī Aḥmad Ḥussaīn, who had been present during the press conference. Ḥussaīn is known to be quite the controversial political figure in Egypt. He confronts al-ʿAshmāwī on the supposed death threats he has received and argues he is exaggerating. Ḥussaīn accuses al-ʿAshmāwī of being a hypocrite because he criticises other people’s work, but does not know how to take criticism from those same people. He argues that if al-ʿAshmāwī believes he has the right to speak his mind, then so do others. Al-ʿAshmāwī responds by saying that he is sorry that Ḥussaīn is disturbing what is meant to be a press conference and turning it into a lecture of imposing one’s political agenda. Al-ʿAshmāwī adds that it is well-known among Egyptians that he was a liberal judge and fought for freedom, and thus these death threats should not come as a surprise to him or anyone.
Side B:
Al-ʿAshmāwī goes into further detail regarding political Islam and advocates that Islamist militants are withholding the development of society by attacking touristic attractions which cause a huge blow to the Egyptian economy. They intimidate and encourage people to not take control of their family structure in terms of the number of children that is conceived and this only further complicates the family’s financial statuses, and in the long run all of Egypt’s population as well. These militants are allegedly creating hostile environments in which they can shake the government and society. These same strategies were used in the 1940s by the communists all over the world to create problems as well says al-ʿAshmāwī. He adds that the militant doctrine had been presented by al-Khawārij during Prophet Muḥammad’s era and it has been revived by the Iranians, Saudis, and the Muslim Brothers and thus the image of Islam is widely distorted.
The image of Islam has been so biased that all over the world Muslims are associated with terrorism. He mentions the Egyptian ʿUmar ʿAbd al-Raḥman (also known as ‘the Blind Shaykh’) who had allegedly been given a green card to travel to the US and fight communism in Afghanistan. He was given all the necessary facilities but afterwards the CIA had grasped that he had been plotting against them and he has been linked to the World Trade Center 1993 Bombings. Al-ʿAshmāwī says he would like to be convinced that the man is innocent because the image of Islam is only further deteriorating.
Furthermore al-ʿAshmāwī comments upon the relations between Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood which according to him are quite strong. He advocates that the two share a strong doctrine; al-Khawārij, as aforementioned. The Muslim Brothers had allegedly fled to Saudi Arabia under Jamāl ‘Abd al-Nāsir’s reign. The Saudis allegedly supported the movement in fighting Nāsir’s Arab-nationalism by means of their Islamic nationalism. Al-ʿAshmāwī argues Islam cannot even be considered as a nationalist phenomenon because it goes beyond nations. The relationship between the Saudis and Islamist militants had according to al-ʿAshmāwī been proven to have been mediated by the Muslim Brotherhood.
