Muftī

Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti of 25 years is dead, but his Islamic missionary efforts will continue via his extensive writings and an Internet web page.

It is certain that there will be fewer marriage proposals made by rapists to their victims, now that the People’s Assembly has approved the annulment of clause 291 of the Penal Code, which waives aside criminal charges against a rapist if he offers to marry his victim. The removal of the clause is intended to discourage would-be rapists from committing the crime, believing that they can get away with it.

An interview between Rafa’t Al-Sa’id of the Tagammu’ Party (who is fiercely critical of the Muslim Brotherhood), and Saleem ’Azouz (the interviewer). He says: "A religious [political] party will start or directly lead to terrorism. I tell you frankly that politicization of religion or religionization of politics will lead to emergence of a political party that claims it represents the religion. If this happens, those who will oppose will be [labeled] ’unbelievers’... "

Sheikh Nasr Farid Wasel, the Grand Mufti of the Republic, took parliamentarians by surprise last week when he objected to a government-sponsored draft law imposing an entrance tax on a wide range of places of entertainment.

Dr. Nasr Farid Wasel, the Grand Mufti, demanded that the Islamic world support Muslims of Kosovo as it is obligatory for all Muslims. This, he said, can only be achieved by unifying our efforts and words.

Egypt’s mufti Nasr Farid Wasel is a staunch critic of the theories proposed to update the principles of the old schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). He is particularly opposed to the leaders of this campaign, Professor Abdel Mo’ti Bayoumi and writer Gamal Al-Banna.

The fatwa of Dr. Nasr Farid Wasel, the Grand Mufti, published lately in one of the papers stating that pilgrimage of actresses is not halal (not religiously permissible) caused a big fuss and much ado. Then the Grand Mufti denied that he released such a fatwa. Dr. Wasel wanted to stop the media frenzy caused by his fatwa, but instead he simply provoked more questions about actresses’ and belly dancers’ money.

Over the past few years, Al-Azhar has been the venue of very serious confrontations between hard-liner and moderate sheikhs and scholars. This confrontation reached a peak during a seminar where professor Abdel Mo’ti Bayoumi, Dean of the School of Theology at Al-Azhar, presented his new theory of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) which caused quite a stir among the attendants.

Dr. Nasr Farid Wassel, the mufti of Egypt, confirmed that the marriage of the rapist with his victim should not prevent him from being punished.

Under the existing law, a rapist has the choice of either facing criminal charges or marrying his victim. Article 290 of the Penal Code stipulates that rape is punishable by death, but Article 291 states that if a rapist offers to marry his victim and she agrees, criminal charges are dropped and he is set free.