Al-Liwā’ al-Islāmī

The article represents the opinions of Muslim scholars about the Tunisian researcher’s book ‘Tarīkhyyat al-Da‘wah al-Muhammadīyah’ [The History of the Muhammadan Call].

Responding to Dr. ‘Aṣfūr’s ’The Perils of a Religious State,’ a number of Muslim scholars and intellectuals try to refute ‘Aṣfūr’s argument. The following lines present responses of the Grand Imām of Azhar Dr. Muḥammad Sayyid Ṭanṭāwī, Dr. Muḥammad ‘Amārah, and Dr. Ṭāriq al-Bishrī on the issue.

For the third week in a row, Wafā’ Costantine still dominates the scene in Egypt. Her story has become a burning issue, even more compelling than the Palestinian issue. [Editor: for a background of this issue see AWR, 2004, week 51, art. 13]

The idea proposed by the Minster of Awqaf [Religious Endowment] Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq inspired wide-scale reactions among Muslim scholars and the public.
Many conservative Muslims did not like the idea of unifying the Azan, likely because it is so radically different from what people are used to. Some people even argued that unifying the Azan is a prelude for abolishing it totally.

Many Arab authors and thinkers highlighted the necessity of using the Arab participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair as ''guest of honor'' to mirror a positive image of Arabs and Muslims to the West. The fair administration dedicated about 1260 m2 for the Arab publishing houses, the biggest space Arabs have ever obtained since the first fair in 1948.

On August 26, Al-Liwaa Al-Islami published an article on its front page by the Minister of Information Dr. Mamdouh Al-Beltagi, who signed the article in his capacity as the head of the media secretariat of the National Democratic Party.


"It is not possible to deal lightly with the evils of Nazism and the tragedies of World War II suffered by Jews and the whole world. What Dr. Rifa'at Sayyed Ahmed wrote in Al-Liwaa Al-Islami about "The lie of the burning of Jews" is in no way expressing the views of Egyptians or the ideology and the policies of the National Democratic Party," Al-Liwaa Al-Islami printed.

The Muslim preacher Shaykh Youssef Qaradawi arrived in London on July 5 for a week-long stay in a response to the invitation he received from a Muslim Association in UK The visit of al-Qaradawi triggered much debate that reached the House of Commons as the leader of the opposition, Michael Howard, questioned the Prime Minister for giving a visa to the Shaykh who is not allowed to enter the United States.


The Egyptian Shaykh, who lives in Qatar, was accused of making anti-Semitic remarks and supporting martyrdom operations.

More than twenty-five articles in the Arabic newspapers are dedicated to the issue of eliminating religious signs in French schools and its relationship to secularism. President Jacques Chirac?s speech on this issue has provoked contradictory reactions, not only inside the French community, but outside it as well, especially in Muslim societies.

Different Egyptian authors ponder about how to build bridges between the

Islamic world and the West.

Full Text

For three consecutive issues, Rose al-Youssef devoted a special file for comments on the Egyptian identity under a general title ?Egypt is First and Before All.? Part of the file is three interviews with poet and writer Ahmed Abdel-Mo’ti Hegazi. Among his comments on the effects of Arab nationalism and the concept of the Islamic nation on the Egyptian identity, he stated that the Arab conquest of Egypt was simply an invasion. Historians and Muslim scholars criticized his statement and responded to it in al-Wafd and al-Liwa al-Islami