Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and several others, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58. The movement pioneered education in religious sciences through the Dars-i-Nizami associated with the Lucknow-based ulema of Firangi Mahal with the goal of preserving Islamic teachings under colonial rule. The Deobandi movement's political wing, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was founded in 1919 and played a major role in the Indian independence movement through its propagation of the doctrine of composite nationalism.
In Islam, the ulama are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam, including Islamic doctrine and law.
The Al-Azhar University is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is renowned as the most prestigious university for Islamic learning. In addition to higher education, Al-Azhar oversees a national network of schools with approximately two million students. As of 1996, over 4,000 teaching institutes in Egypt were affiliated with the university.
The Salafi movement or Salafism is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors", the first three generations of Muslims, who are believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam. Those generations include the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions, whom he himself taught ; their successors ; and the successors of the successors. In practice, Salafis maintain that Muslims ought to rely on the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the 'Ijma (consensus) of the salaf, giving these writings precedence over later religious interpretations. The Salafi movement aimed to achieve a renewal of Muslim life and had a major influence on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world. Since its inception, Salafism has been evolving through the efforts of numerous Islamic reformers, whose interpretations have spread within various regions.
Islam is the dominant religion in Egypt with around an estimated 90.3% of the population. Almost the entirety of Egypt's Muslims are Sunnis, with a very small minority of Shia.Islam has been recognized as the state religion since 1980. Since there has been no religious census, the actual percentage of Muslims is not known: the percentage of Christians are estimated to be between 5 and 15%.
Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat or Sunni Barelvi is a Sunni revivalist movement following the Hanafi and Shafi school of jurisprudence, with strong Sufi influences and with over 200 million followers in South Asia and in parts of Europe, America and Africa. It is a broad Sufi-oriented movement that encompasses a variety of Sufi orders, including the Chistis, Qadiris, Soharwardis and Naqshbandis.
Islamic religious leaders have traditionally been people who, as part of the clerisy, mosque, or government, performed a prominent role within their community or nation. However, in the modern contexts of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries as well as secularised Muslim states like Turkey, and Bangladesh, the religious leadership may take a variety of non-formal shapes.
Al-Ahbash, also known as the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects is a neo-traditionalist Sufi religious movement which was founded in the mid-1980s. The group follow the teachings of Ethiopian scholar Abdullah al-Harari. Due to the group's origins and activity in Lebanon, the Ahbash have been described as the "activist expression of Lebanese Sufism."
Ali Gomaa is an Egyptian Islamic scholar, Jurist, and public figure who has taken a number of controversial political stances. He specializes in Islamic Legal Theory. He follows the Shafi`i school of Islamic jurisprudence and the Ash'ari school of tenets of faith. Gomaa is a Sufi. Gomaa is also a supporter of the 2013 Military Coup.
The Al-Azhar Shia Fatwa, known in Arabic as The Shaltoot Fatwa, is an Islamic fatwa issued in 1959 on the topic of Shi'a–Sunni relations by Sunni scholar Shaikh Mahmood Shaltoot. Under Shaltut, Sunni-Shia ecumenical activities would reach their zenith.
Shaykh al-Islām was used in the classical era as an honorific title for outstanding scholars of the Islamic sciences. It first emerged in Khurasan towards the end of the 4th Islamic century. In the central and western lands of Islam, it was an informal title given to jurists whose fatwas were particularly influential, while in the east it came to be conferred by rulers to ulama who played various official roles but were not generally muftis. Sometimes, as in the case of Ibn Taymiyyah, the use of the title was subject to controversy. In the Ottoman Empire, starting from the early modern era, the title came to designate the chief mufti, who oversaw a hierarchy of state-appointed ulama. The Ottoman Sheikh al-Islam performed a number of functions, including advising the sultan on religious matters, legitimizing government policies, and appointing judges.
Egypt's Dar al-Ifta is an Egyptian Islamic advisory, justiciary and governmental body established as a centre for Islam and Islamic legal research in Egypt in 1313 AH / 1895 CE. It offers Muslims religious guidance and advice through the issuing of fatwas on everyday and contemporary issues.
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God (Allah) and that Muhammad is His last Messenger.
Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb is an Egyptian Islamic scholar and the current Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Al-Azhar Al Sharif and former president of al-Azhar University. He was appointed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, following the death of Mohamed Sayed Tantawy in 2010. He is from Kurna, Luxor Governorate in Upper Egypt, and he belongs to a Sunni Muslim family.
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar, also known as Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, currently Ahmed el-Tayeb, is a prestigious and a prominent official title in Egypt. He is considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority in Sunni Islamic thought and Islamic jurisprudence and holds great influence on followers of the theological Ash'ari and Maturidi traditions worldwide. The Grand Imam heads the Al-Azhar Al Sharif, al-Azhar Mosque, and by extension al-Azhar University, and is responsible for official religious matters along with the Grand Mufti of Egypt.
Since the classical era, traditional Islamic religious culture was divided between two main theological schools, Sufi-Ash'arism represented by Ghazzali (1058-1111) and Salafism represented by Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328). The dispute between these two schools of thought dominated the Sunni world, splitting their influence across religious communities and cultures, with each school competing for scholarly authority via official and unofficial religious institutions. The relationship between Salafism and Sufism – two movements of Islam with different interpretations of Islam – is historically diverse and reflects some of the changes and conflicts in the Muslim world today.
Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam is the 19th and current Grand Mufti of Egypt through Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah, succeeding Ali Gomaa.
Muhammad 'Ilish, more commonly referred to in Muslim works simply as 'Ilish or Sheikh 'Ilish, was a 19th-century CE Egyptian Muslim jurist of Tripolitanian origin. 'Illish was an important late scholar of the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). He is perhaps the last of a line of widely read and respected sources of traditional fatwas of the late Maliki school from an Azharite scholar. 'Ilish was an extremely popular teacher at Al-Azhar. His lectures were regularly attended by audiences of over 200 students. In July 1854, 'Ilish was appointed the Maliki Mufti of Al-Azhar. By the time of his death in 1882, 'Ilish was one of the premier leaders of Egyptian scholarly society. His Manh al-Jalil as well as his Fatawa are widely used today among traditional Malikis for fatwa positions of the school.
The 2016 conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny was convened to define the term "Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah", i.e. who are "the people of Sunnah and majority Muslim community", and oppose Takfiri groups. The conference was held in the Chechen Republic capital of Grozny from 25 to 27 August 2016, sponsored by the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and attended by approximately 200 Muslim scholars from 30 countries, especially from Russia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Kuwait, Sudan, Jordan, etc. at the invitation of Yemeni Sufi preacher, Ali al-Jifri.
Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i was the Grand Mufti of Egypt, judge in the Shari'a Courts, rector of al-Azhar, and one of the leading Hanafi-Maturidi scholars of his time. He was educated at al-Azhar and was teaching in this university for several years. In 1914 he was appointed mufti, a title he held for seven years. He was known as the bitterest foe of the Islamic Reform movement led by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad 'Abduh. He was also known as a devout scholar who chose to lose his position as mufti rather than bow to government pressure to issue a particular fatwa.
