Preachers and Imāms pertaining to the Azhar have formed a committee to address the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces regarding the Azhar’s independence from the government and the election of its Shaykh instead of his appointment.

Some three thousand preachers and Imāms of the Azhar, headed by Jamāl Quṭb had yesterday marched from the Azhar to the Ministry of Defense, where they asked to meet a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to discuss their demands, which included the Azhar’s independence, financially and administratively, from the government, and that all leading positions, and especially the Azhar Shaykh, be filled by election by scholars, and not by appointment.