{"id":647696,"date":"2017-05-17T03:44:30","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T03:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/"},"modified":"2017-05-17T03:44:30","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T03:44:30","slug":"public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/","title":{"rendered":"Public criticism of Al Azhar indicates rising tension with the regime"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Egyptian media\u2019s \u201cwave of highly unusual\u201d criticism of Al Azhar is indicative of <\/strong>friction between the religious institution and the state<\/strong>, Heba Saleh writes for the Financial Times<\/a>. \u201cThe tensions illustrate the complexity of the challenges facing the president as he tries to influence the religious sphere, while also fighting jihadis and cracking down on other opponents,\u201d Saleh says, noting President Abdel Fattah El Sisi\u2019s repeated attempts to push Al Azhar to reform itself and religious discourse as a whole. El Sisi\u2019s evident frustration with Al Azhar for \u201cturning a deaf ear\u201d has emboldened media figures and MPs alike, with one MP going so far as to propose a bill that would allow the president to sack the Grand Imam. On the flipside, some analysts say El Sisi\u2019s best bet is to support freedom of expression and political freedoms, which will yield a more tolerant society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Egyptian media\u2019s \u201cwave of highly unusual\u201d criticism of Al Azhar is indicative of friction between the religious institution and the state, Heba Saleh writes for the Financial Times. \u201cThe tensions illustrate the complexity of the challenges facing the president as he tries to influence the religious sphere, while also fighting jihadis and cracking down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7233],"tags":[2386,72],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-647696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egypt-in-the-news","tag-egypt-in-the-news","tag-enterpriseam","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"fe737bd1-cb46-4b93-aed0-e6c4f6ce96a9","order":"0","is_powered_by":true,"section_story_id":"860a8002-f900-45e9-83af-6c770c8f5b59","story_type":"1","photo_url":"","photo_position":"above","related_issue":[647677],"teaser":"","voice_url":""},"yoast_head":"\nPublic criticism of Al Azhar indicates rising tension with the regime - EnterpriseAM Egypt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Public criticism of Al Azhar indicates rising tension with the regime\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Egyptian media\u2019s \u201cwave of highly unusual\u201d criticism of Al Azhar is indicative of friction between the religious institution and the state, Heba Saleh writes for the Financial Times. \u201cThe tensions illustrate the complexity of the challenges facing the president as he tries to influence the religious sphere, while also fighting jihadis and cracking down […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EnterpriseAM Egypt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-17T03:44:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"Public criticism of Al Azhar indicates rising tension with the regime\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-17T03:44:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/\"},\"wordCount\":162,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Egypt in the News\",\"EnterpriseAM\"],\"articleSection\":[\"EGYPT IN THE NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/05\/17\/public-criticism-of-al-azhar-indicates-rising-tension-with-the-regime\/\",\"name\":\"Public criticism of Al Azhar indicates rising tension with the regime - 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