The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, stated that Al-Azhar International Conference on Renewal of Islamic Thought, held in January 2020, followed a year-long of preparation and discussions of themes and concepts by the Council of Senior Scholars. Yet, Al-Azhar’s contribution to religious renewal was not limited to that conference, as it had been preceded by other boundless efforts. Indeed, Al-Azhar has always been the “seat of Ijtihad and renewal” in Islam along the history of the Muslims, following the era of the four major jurists and other considerable schools of jurisprudence. Here, I would like to draw attention to an acknowledged historical fact. The Muslim heritage was on the verge of extinction at the hands of the conquerors in Andalusia, in the West, and of the Tartars – who burned it – in the East. Were it not for the efforts of Al-Azhar and of Egypt in the first four Gregorian centuries, 12th to 15th, there would have been no Arab-Islamic heritage.” His Eminence also pointed out in episode 29 of his TV Talk that Al-Azhar scholars dedicated considerable efforts to the study of the Prophet’s (pbuh) Hadith, “Allah will raise for this nation at the end of every 100 years  one who will renovate its religion for it,” including the work of Imam As-Suyuti (d. 911 AH), who was a true Azharite and who wrote a book on the topic titled, Informing of that Who is Raised at the Beginning of Every Hundred Years,  and another titled Responding to Those Who Do Not Know that Ijtihad in Every Era is a Must, as well as his treatise, “Advising the well-guided to support the Mujtahids”. He confirmed that his speech about the grandeur of our predecessors is meant to defend them against being maligned by daring and unknowing persons. Those persons are tempted by a shallow influx of thoughts from lands whose inhabitants knew no Lord. He then added that our solace under such affliction is a wisdom penned by a superb writer, Abbas Al-Aqqad, who once noted, “What is the worth of a human who views other humans as worthless. If a great person is slighted in a community, then common people would go unnoticed there.”

Indeed, said the Grand Imam, Al-Azhar – represented in the majority of the nation’s scholars, the Council of Senior Scholars, and the Islamic Research Academy in Egypt – has issued a final word on it. It maintains that renewal does not apply to conclusive religious texts, as it applies only to non-conclusive texts, where Ijtihad and renewal are applicable. We knew that conclusive texts relate mostly to worship acts and the like, while non-conclusive texts address transactions. Hence, no scholar can dare to introduce novel views regarding the obligation of prayer or any other worship act, or on the prohibition of adultery, theft, alcohols, gambling, usury, or usurpation. No scholar can claim that inflicting harm on others is not forbidden. No scholar can introduce new shares in inheritance since inheritance shares are conclusively set in the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah, especially regarding inheritance among siblings. Almighty Allah says, “Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male goes what is equal to the share of two females.” (Qur’an, 4: 11)

The Grand Imam then pointed out that such a ruling is now subject to desperate attempts to change it, by assigning both male and female siblings equal shares, through European Arabic-speaking satellite channels. Through these channels, Muslim men and women keep claiming that such a divine rule stated in the Glorious Qur’an should be changed in line with Western inheritance laws. HE thus indicated that he is asking those people to consider the Words of Almighty Allah, since they are not good listeners. He would rather remind the Muslims who are misled by such fallacious arguments that inheritance laws are provided at the beginning of Surat An-Nisāˀ. Such are the limits set by Allah regarding the set inheritance shares. These shares are set as binding by Almighty Allah.

It is worth noting that Grand Imam At-Tayyeb TV Talk is broadcast for the fifth year on Egyptian and other Arab TV channels. In this year’s edition, the program, which was launched in Ramadan 2016, addresses the characteristics of Islam, moderation in Islam, principles relating to legal obligations, ease of the Sharia, sources of legislation, and debunking misconceptions about the Prophetic Sunnah and about the Muslim tradition.