A CALM BUT weary smile gradually engulfs the face of Dr. Mahmoud Hamdy Zaqzouq, Egypt’s minister of awqaf (religious endowments) as the call to afternoon prayer resonates throughout his spacious office at the ministry’s headquarters in Bab El-Louk. In correct anticipation of the questions that he is about to be bombarded with, the soft-spoken Zaqzouq sighs deeply before launching into what is undoubtedly a well-rehearsed defense of his controversial proposal to unify the azan (call to prayer).

The “unified call to prayer” that first made headlines in late September was welcomed by some but discredited by others as a first step towards completely abolishing the azan and debated by most, who were confused as to the nature of a unified azan.

Three months and several bad press reports later, many are under the impression that the proposal has been squelched. “Absolutely not,” says a confident Zaqzouq. “We are currently in the implementation process.” He does not, however, offer a time frame for the implementation of the project. “This is a decision that is completely up to the awqaf. The mosques are under our jurisdiction,” he explains.

“We evaluated the matter from both a religious and technical perspective. We had to ascertain whether or not such a thing is permissible by Islam. Sheikh Al-Azhar, the Mufti and the prestigious 40-member Islamic Research Council have all agreed to its viability from a religious standpoint as long as the call to prayer can be heard by everyone,” says Zaqzouq.

“On the technical side, we have put together a committee of engineers and broadcasting specialists who have come up with a way to link the azan in Cairo’s 3,500 mosques with the radio’s Qu’ran Broadcasting Channel. We are not going to air a recording of the azan, as some people think. It will be a live broadcast five times a day from one location,” he adds.

The idea of ‘renewal in Islamic thought’ is nothing new. It is not a result of American directives. Everything that we do now has to be interpreted as following orders from America whether it is our debate on renewing the religious discourse or our proposal for the unity of azan.

Zaqzouq has already assembled a group of muezzinine with outstanding voices including the renowned Sheikh Ne’ena’, who will alternately perform the azan from some of Cairo’s larger mosques, such as Omar Makram or Al-Azhar. These mosques will be technologically equipped to broadcast throughout Cairo so that everyone hears the same thing at precisely the same time. Volume settings at the various mosques will also be adjusted so that the call to prayer is clear, resonant, static-free and audible without being annoyingly loud.

Mohsen Allam/Egypt Today

“Is there anything wrong with that?” asks a baffled Zaqzouq. “The purpose of azan is to make it known that it is time to pray. In many residential areas you have several mosques and zawaya (small mosques often located in the basements of apartment buildings, estimated to number about 2,500) clustered together. When the azan begins it sounds like a war of microphones. We want to return a sense of spirituality and honor to the azan so that when you hear it you feel compelled to go and pray.

“For thirteen and a half centuries Islam knew of no such thing as a microphone and we were fine. People still prayed. Now these microphones are being misused to an extent that can no longer be tolerated,” says Zaqzouq. As a young boy he recalls listening to microphone-free call to dawn prayer performed the old-fashioned way from atop a mazana (minaret). “It had a completely different spirituality.”

Technically, disturbing the peace with loud noises, be they music, honking horns or an unreasonably loud azan at the break of dawn is against environment law number 4 of 1994.

We cannot ignore that Islam has given us a special tool for renewal, ijtihad, which means using your mind and intellect to come up with answers to issues that are no longer clear in our body of religious doctrine.

“This is not a law that people generally abide by. It is constantly being violated, but I believe that the mosques need to set an example. How can I ask others to turn down the volume when my mosques are doing the opposite?” says Zaqzouq. “Abu Dhabi, Amman, Sannaa and Istanbul have all had a unified call to prayer for years. Sheikh Al-Azhar and I have visited some of these mosques and the system is working beautifully. If we want to improve the image of Islam outside we have to start by improving ourselves at home.”

The 69-year-old Zaqzouq has throughout his illustrious career as a scholar, professor, writer and public figure been a champion of a more moderate form of Islam that rarely gets airtime these days, when extremism is dominating the world agenda. A graduate of Al-Azhar University’s faculty of Arabic studies, Zaqzouq was awarded a postgraduate studies scholarship to the University of Munich in Germany in 1960.

After six years in Germany, Zaqzouq returned to Egypt with a German wife and a PhD thesis comparing Cartesian thought to the teachings of the 11th-century Islamic theologian Mohamed Al-Ghazali. His time abroad undoubtedly helped him to formulate a more global outlook than one generally finds in traditional Azharite scholars. Zaqzouq has authored over 25 books, many of which deal with the subject of “reforming the religious discourse in Islam” and the relationship between Islam and the West, subjects which have become increasingly focused on in the aftermath of 9/11.

Zaqzouq begins to pull out one book after another from his desk drawer. The majority of them are written in Arabic and German, with a few that have been translated into English. The English titles include Objectives of Islamic Shari’a and the Need for Renewal, Islamic Facts Refuting the Allegations Against Islam, and On Philosophy, Culture and Peace In Islam.

“The idea of ‘renewal in Islamic thought’ is nothing new. It is not a result of American directives. Everything that we do now has to be interpreted as following orders from America, whether it is our debate on renewing the religious discourse or our proposal for the unity of azan. I think the media just likes controversy. I have been here [Ministry of Awqaf] for nine years now and I have never received orders from America, or anyone else for that matter, to do anything,” says Zaqzouq as he begins to lose composure. The accusation that he is catering to American whims has clearly become tedious for him.

Zaqzouq recites a hadith in which the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) says “every 100 years God will send someone to the Ummah to renew the religion.” Zaqzouq continues, “Islam is a religion for life. That means it must evolve with the times. The Shariah must be able to accommodate the developments of each era. When Imam El-Shafie lived in Iraq, he had certain opinions that he changed when he came to Egypt. The different circumstances of the region required him to alter his outlook. All these examples confirm that there is an inherent flexibility in Islam. It is not a rigid religion as some people today are making it out to be.”

Zaqzouq, however, quickly points out that there are basics in any religion that cannot be changed. “ We cannot ignore that Islam has given us a special tool for renewal, ijtihad, which means using your mind and intellect to come up with answers to issues that are no longer clear in our body of religious doctrine.”

The minister of awqaf’s moderate outlook has made him a popular figure within certain academic circles in the West, particularly in Europe (he does not like lumping Europe and the United States into one entity because he regards the former as more enlightened). He has maintained close ties with Germany, where he is regularly invited to speak.

“The interest in Islam is now tremendous. There is a University in Stuttgart where I have given several talks. There are usually around 400 people who attend the lectures. The last one I gave (post 9/11), however, had to be held at a different venue to accommodate over 1,000 people who had requested to attend. I have just returned from Vienna, where again I spent three full days discussing Islam,” says Zaqzouq.

He admits that the attention is mainly due to negative factors. In fact, much of Zaqzouq’s time is spent trying to dispel a negative image that has become increasingly difficult to shed. As we spoke, Islamic militants were attacking the American Consulate in Jeddah and car bombs were exploding in Iraq.

“Terrorism, fundamentalism and extremism have no place in Islam. These phenomena exist in all religions and are not specific to ours. If people want to understand true Islam they have to look to the Qur’an and the Sunna, not to the news.

“Of course we are partly responsible for this negative image that is being projected. Our own understanding of Islam has become warped. We are obsessed with external symbols of piety while the real essence of our religion is being ignored. People are under the false impression that if they fast, pray, pay zakat (almsgiving) and go on pilgrimage they are guaranteed a place in Paradise. The purpose of performing these rituals is to create a better citizen. They are meant to enhance a person who can more effectively deal with his fellow citizens in a decent and responsible fashion so as to complete a sound and moral society.

“We have to take a good hard look at ourselves and ask, are we productive members of our community? Growing a beard and wearing a white galabeya and flip flops does not make a good Muslim,” says Zaqzouq. “A hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) says, ‘God does not look at your appearance but rather your heart and your deeds.’”

Adamant that the picture has to change, Zaqzouq is trying to send moderate scholars to Europe on a regular basis to try and fill the void left by an international media that focuses on the more sensationalist aspects of Islam. “I’m not denying that acts of terror are taking place, but this does not mean that we should just stand by and watch the events unfold. The moderates are the majority and we have to make our voices heard.”

When asked about claims that new converts to Islam are on the increase in the West despite all the prejudices and negative connotations, Zaqzouq is careful in his reply: “I don’t like to propagate the issue. But yes, there are converts in the West and there always have been. As for how many, we will never know the actual numbers. I will say this, however, that those who convert do so out of a real conviction for the message of Islam and not out of their admiration for Muslims.

“Self-criticism is a necessary step if we are to bring about any sort of change,” says Zaqzouq. His ministry is currently in the midst of training Imams that are affiliated with their 3,000 plus mosques. In recent months, the ministry has been criticized for trying to dictate to the Imams what they may and may not preach in their Friday sermons.

“I would just like to clarify that we are unifying the call to prayer, not the Friday sermons,” says Zaqzouq. “It is not possible that an Imam in Zamalek deliver the same sermon as an Imam in Upper Egypt. They have to tailor their message to the needs of their communities. But we are giving them guidelines. We tell them not to spend too much time speaking about the Afterlife and Judgment Day. We are in need of more practical sermons. Work ethic, time management and education are all very relevant topics that need to be addressed in our mosques. I want the Imams to give people a message of hope so that they may ultimately lead a better life and become more productive.”

Zaqzouq once again becomes pensive and cautious with his words when he is asked about the ever-popular sermons praying for the damnation of Israel. “Generally speaking, I don’t see the purpose in such sermons. Praying to God to ‘make their wives widows, their children orphans and annihilate them from the earth ...’ We have all unfortunately heard these strong words much too often. This type of prayer is not going to change anything, it is not going to make our lives any better or our country any more prosperous. We can only change our country for the better by working, learning and becoming more productive,” he says.

Disseminating an enlightened Islamic discourse and peaceful Islamic principles are goals that Zaqzouq has never lost sight of throughout his years at the helm of al-awqaf, a ministry that many have criticized for being archaic. The system of religious endowments that the ministry was originally set up to oversee has all but disintegrated. Prior to the 1952 revolution, the ministry used to pay for a number of educational, medical and social services.

Today, burdened with a huge bureaucracy and a massive number of mosques that it must maintain and oversee, there is very little in the way of funds that can go to finance new projects. Even though the ministry’s mission is changing, Zaqzouq remains an important voice to help counterbalance the more extremist elements in Islam both at home and abroad.  et