Mahmud Shaltut

Mahmūd Schaltūt (Arabic: محمود شلتوت, DMG Mahmoud Šaltūt; * 1893 in Minyat Bani Mansur in Lower Egypt, † 1963 in Cairo ) was an Egyptian Islamist mixer jurist, who held from 1959 to 1963 the office of Sheikh al -Azhar.

Appointment as Sheikh al -Azhar

On November 9, 1957 by a presidential decree Schaltūt Deputy Rector of the Azhar ( Wakil al -Azhar ) was appointed a year later, on 21 October 1958, he was appointed as Sheikh al -Azhar. Among his works are in addition to works on the Koran, including a commentary on the Koran, an open-minded as traditional contemporary introduction to Islam ( "Islam as a doctrine and law" ) and his fatwas significant.

The Shia Fatwa

Schaltūt promoted from time to time, the rapprochement between Sunnis and Shiites. In an interview in July 1959 said yes, and he approved the explicit possibility of an intra- Islamic conversion of the Sunnah for Shia and vice versa. During the interview, which was reprinted later, more often, he said: "For the purposes of the religious law of Islam it is allowed to perform the service according to the rite of the Dascha ʿ farīya, which is known as imamitische Shia, as well as according to all schools of Islam. " A little later he received the Iranian ambassador in Cairo for a conference, which focused on the pursuit of the Azhar for unity of Muslims. At the urging of the "Society for the Ännäherung (between the Islamic denominations )" ( ǧamā ʿ at at- Taqrib ) was Schaltūt in the fall of 1959 out this and other sentences of the July interview, which had caused quite a stir in the form of fatwas.

Schaltūts position met with Sunni opponents of rapprochement with the Shia a lot of criticism. Back in July 1959, turned ʿ Abd al- Rahmaan al - Wakil, head of "Society of Helpers Muhammadan Sunna " ( Ǧamā ʿ at Ansar al - Sunna al - Muhammadiyah ) with an open letter to him in which he referring to controversial topics such as tombs cult, falsification of the Koran text and sinlessness of the Imams against Schaltūts conciliatory tone protested. In September 1960 Schaltūt was attacked furiously in the appearing in Riyadh Wahhabi Journal of the publicist Ibrāhīm al - Dschabhān. In the wake of this criticism and the changed political conditions Schaltūt pursued the project of a Sunni- Shiite rapprochement no further.

Reform of the Azhar

Schaltūt promoted the modernization of the Azhar in accordance with the law on their development from 1961 and thereby contributed also to their increased international action. In his reform efforts, he was supported by Muhammad al- Bahi, director of the Al-Azhar University, and Sheikh Ahmad Hasan az- Zayyat, the managing editor of Al-Azhar magazine.

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