EsinIslam Portal Media Network
09 February 2013
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
Friday prayers at the Sharbatli Mosque in Cairo have
become an interesting weekly story. Journalists lurk
in wait for President Mohammed Mursi as he attends
prayers in his local mosque. Last Friday, most
newspapers focused on the worshipers' complaints about
enhanced security checks given the president's
attendance, but the real story was in fact what the
imam said, which seemed to pass by unnoticed.
One worshiper told a journalist that he had refused to
be searched before entering the mosque, to which a
security officer replied: ?Go and pray elsewhere.?
Another man complained that these heightened security
measures meant that president's reign was a far cry
from that of Caliph Umar bin Al-Khattab, who was known
to have ruled with a strong sense of justice. Of
course, we cannot deny the danger of threats
surrounding the president. Security is a necessity
despite the severity of its measures, and mosques are
no longer safe houses. We should not forget that
Caliph Umar, peace be upon him, was reportedly
betrayed and assassinated in his mosque.
During Friday prayers it is normal for the president
to bow his head like all other worshipers and listen
to the imam's sermon inconspicuously. However, on this
occasion it seems that the imam would not have said
what he said if he did not know the president was
sitting in front of him. In fact, Mursi always
frequents the same mosque and listens to the same
imam. As a result, Friday sermons in Sharbatli Mosque
are not like they were before; repetitive religious
and moral teachings, as imams have now begun to
discuss political, economic and municipal issues, even
responding to what has been broadcast on television or
posted on Twitter and Facebook.
The imam's sermon was full of political remarks
directed towards the worshiper siting at the front;
the president. He called on Mursi to rein in the
media, which, as we know, has become a hot topic in
both religious and political circles. Most of the
imam's stances were to be expected, siding in support
of the president, but he adopted a strange and
extremist tone when he warned the worshipers in front
of him that religious convergence and rapprochement
was a bad idea. Had an imam in a mosque in Riyadh or
Benghazi said that, it would not have been appropriate
but at least understandable in a community where all
citizens follow the same religion. But Egypt has
always been, and still is, a multi-religious country
where people of mixed beliefs have co-existed for
7,000 years. Let us not forget that the prophet, peace
be upon him, married a Christian from Egypt. So how
can the imam give such strange advice in the presence
of the president, particularly as the latter is the
leader of all Egyptians, including about 10 million
Copts, which is twice the population of the whole of
neighboring Libya? The Copts have a significant role
to play in developing Egypt and its Arab culture, and
this is indisputable.
We cannot blame the imam if he does not know much
about the world outside his mosque's walls, and we
cannot blame President Mursi for what the imam said.
After all, the sermon was delivered in God's house and
not the presidential palace in Heliopolis. However, we
should be aware of the danger stemming from certain
mosque pulpits towards our religiously diverse
communities, as religious co-existence is a necessity,
not a cultural luxury. Unfortunately, certain mosque
pulpits now reflect the culture of the imam and his
personal reading of events, rather than the morals and
teachings of Islam. A culture of hatred cannot be
promoted simply by the man on the street or a
shopkeeper, but it can be entrenched by a university
professor or a mosque imam. It begins when an
influential religious figure, who should be aware of
the gravity of what he says, talks about concepts that
have no place in Islamic history and are purely
intended to incite strife.
Imams and sermons such as these are time bombs that
could lead to a civil war. Hatred transforms from mere
opinions into dangerous political actions when it is
fostered in mosques and churches. Hostilities among
Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites and Christians led to the
division of Sudan and the dispersal of Lebanon. These
hostilities now threaten Iraq and Syria and even the
small nation of Bahrain. It is difficult to change the
convictions of the people when they are listening to a
man who speaks in the name of religion.
Al
Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya
television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of
Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in
the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is
a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He
has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs.
He is currently based in Dubai.
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