If not for the Egyptian public witnessing the hidden conflict between President ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Sīsī and Grand Imām of al-Azhar Aḥmad al-Ṭayyib, the law regulating the Dār al-Iftāʾ, which the Egyptian parliament passed on June 19, would have passed without controversy.  This conflict has entered a new phase with the new Dār al-Iftāʾ law, which attempts to neutralize al-Azhar and Shaykh al-Ṭayyib, who has been accused by the president’s supporters of obstructing the state’s efforts to renew religious discourse and “modernize” Islamic discourse.  Meanwhile, al- Sīsī’s opponents view al-Ṭayyib as the only obstacle to al-Sīsī achieving absolute power.