Cairo: An Egyptian private TV station has stopped a controversial programme that criticised early Muslim scholars after a protest by Al Azhar, the influential institution of Sunni Islam.
The broadcaster, Al Qahera Wal Nas, took the programme off the air, saying on Thursday that the move was meant to “give precedence to national interests”.
Al Azhar has accused the host of the programme, Islam Al Behery, of stirring up sedition and raising doubts about basic tenets of Islam. The Cairo-based prestigious Islamic institution has also lodged a legal complaint with the country’s chief prosecutor against Al Behery, who is a Muslim researcher.
“We do not encourage debates or programmes, which cause inter-Muslim disunity and lead to more tensions at a time when the nation should seek building and unity,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
“This is to give precedence to national interests, show respect for a large category of the Egyptian people and respond to call of the Grand Imam, the Shaikh of Holy Al Azhar, for exercising rationality when media deals with religious issues.”
The step was taken days after the governmental Investment Authority, responsible for licensing private satellite TV stations in Egypt, issued a warning to the broadcaster over Al Behery’s show.
Al Behery confirmed that his programme has been halted.
“The programme has been stopped due to differences between me and the channel, which I won’t discuss now,” he posted on his Facebook page.
“I can’t tell how much horrors and farces I’ve seen. We are going back very fast. What lies ahead is far worse than any one can imagine.”
In his weekly programme, Al Behery questioned the credibility of sources of the Prophet Mohammad’s [PBUH] sayings, a major reference to Islamic jurisprudence.
Al Azhar also accused Al Behery of insulting venerated heads of the Islamic schools of thought.
Al Behery, casting himself as a reformist, has repeatedly said that his aim is to spread religious enlightenment by providing a modern interpretation of writings by early Muslim scholars without taking their legacy for granted.
The researcher, in his mid-thirties, has lashed back at Al Azhar.
“Al Azhar has no sacred status and has no right to judge my work,” he said.
“Al Azhar’s request to stop my programme represents a setback to the eras of the Inquisition,” he added on recent TV remarks. “Who has given Al Azhar the authority to prohibit ideas? This did not succeed even in the Dark Ages.”
Several lawyers have filed lawsuits against Al Behery for alleged defamation of Islam.
An Egyptian court is due next month to start hearing one such case against Al Behery.
Earlier this year, President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, a self-styled pious Muslim, called for a “religious revolution” in the mostly Muslim country to help root our violent militancy.
