Date of source: Tuesday, May 25, 1999
The Grand Sheikh recently clashed with those more politically minded when he refused to lead a prayer for the martyrs of Kosovo. Explaining that it was unlawful according the Muslim Shari’a, he suggested that those who wished to pray for martyrs do so at home or at mosques affiliated to the...
Date of source: Thursday, May 13, 1999 to Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Al-Azhar pronounces ’urfi marriages - legal but often temporary unions - criminal.
Date of source: Friday, April 30, 1999
The statement lately released by the Islamic Center of Al-Azhar concerning the Prayer for the Absentee has caused a crisis especially after the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Dr. Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi refused to perform the Prayer for the Absentee for Muslim martyrs of Kosovo, after last Friday’s prayer.
Date of source: Thursday, April 8, 1999 to Wednesday, April 14, 1999
The Prince of Egypt is a Biblical epic about the Exodus in which God casts his wrath on Egypt, and Moses takes his Israelite people out of bondage to the Promised Land. The producers claim they consulted 700 Biblical scholars, Egyptologists, and religious leaders to ensure that the story would not...
Date of source: Saturday, March 20, 1999
The Minister of Education Dr. Hussein Bahaa’ Al-Din insists that the existing educational syllabuses are against extremism, addiction and ethnic discrimination, and teach tolerance and that while there is a deficiency in some syllabuses he has charged d the Higher Committee for History with the...
Date of source: Monday, March 8, 1999
The fate of the new Personal Status Law depended over the last few days on the juridical approval of Sheikh Al-Azhar, Dr. Mohammed Sayed Tantawi. The law was amended in a series of meetings of the Jurisprudence Research Committee affiliated to Mogamma` Al-Buhouth Al-Islameyya (Islamic Research...
Date of source: Monday, October 19, 1998
The inheritors, considering acting to be a sin, have burned all of Hussein Sedki’s films. The issue is whether acting is forbidden or not. Sedki was a veteran Egyptian actor.
Date of source: Friday, August 21, 1998
The author asks the editor of al-Shaab not to attack important institutions of Islam such as the sheikh of the Azhar since this harms Islam.
Date of source: Friday, August 14, 1998
A heated confrontation took place between the Sheikh of the Azhar and Dr. Mustafa Imam, professor in the Faculty of Arabic Language at the Azhar University, during a press conference held by the Sheikh last Tuesday.
Date of source: Monday, June 15, 1998
The author is upset about discrimination of a Cairo-University lecturer in dentistry and calls what happened "absurdities".
The article explains the background behind the commotion about someone becoming a lecturer. Some people who oppose her say she is Bahai while the person herself says she is...