File- Egyptian Minister of Endowments Osama Al-Azhari - press photo
CAIRO – 5 September 2025: Egyptian Minister of Awqaf [Charitable Endowments], Osama El-Azhari, strongly criticized contemporary Muslim scholars and jurists for failing to uphold the true Islamic principles of ethics and justice, the principles that, he emphasized, categorically reject the ongoing Israeli genocidal war in the Gaza Strip.
“In affirmation of our belief in the values of justice and our rejection of tyranny and aggression, we—Egyptians under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi—exert every effort to extinguish the flames of war in Gaza and in the West Bank,” said El-Azhari in his speech during the celebration of the Blessed Prophet’s Birthday on Wednesday.
He voiced his categorically rejection to the displacement of Palestinian from their land, saying “We call upon them to hold fast, with unwavering resolve, to the soil of their homeland—whatever the heavy sacrifices may be. For there can be no solution to this crisis other than the establishment of the Palestinian State upon the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
El-Azhari also emphasized the importance of renewing religious discourse, highlighting the core Islamic values of morality and ihsan (excellence and beneficence).
Here is the full text of Minister of Charitable Endowments Osama El-Azhari's speech:
In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds; and may blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, the master of the first and the last, and upon his family, his Companions, and those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.
Your Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic — may Allah save you,
Your Eminence the Grand Imam — may Allah save you,
Honored guests,
It is my great honor to extend to you all, to the noble people of Egypt, the Arab and Islamic nations, and indeed all humanity, my heartfelt congratulations on the blessed occasion of the Prophet’s noble birthday. I pray that Almighty Allah may return it upon us and upon you with goodness, prosperity, and joy.
I kindly ask Your Excellency, Mr. President, to devote my words to several key issues.
The First Issue
Our celebration today of the Blessed Prophet’s Birthday carries a distinctive significance that sets it apart from our customary annual commemorations as this year’s celebration of the noble birth, in the year 1447 AH, coincides with the completion of one thousand and five hundred years since his blessed birth.
Thus, we are gathered on an occasion that comes at the turn of a century — an event that recurs only once every hundred years. Standing today at the threshold of a new century, we are immediately reminded of the noble saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
“Indeed, Allah will send to this nation, at the head of every hundred years, one who will renew for it its religion.”
Following decades of suffering from the ideology of terrorism — which has laid waste to nations and wearied minds — perhaps Allah Almighty has willed goodness for us, that we should now witness a Muhammadan centennial, which we hope will herald a renewal of religion: one that extinguishes the flames of extremism and unveils the essence and beauty of faith.
As Professor Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra so aptly said:
“Renewal means that religion is restored to its true luster, that the delusions which have clung to it are removed, and that it is presented to the people pure as its essence and pristine as its origin.”
For many years I have devoted myself to studying the works that addressed the question of renewal. Among them are: Tuhfat al-Muhtadin bi-Akhbar al-Mujaddidin by Imam al-Suyuti; al-Tanbi’ah biman Yab‘athuhu Allah ‘ala Ra’s Kulli Mi’ah; Bughyat al-Mujtahidin fi Ma‘rifat al-Mujaddidin by the great scholar Muhammad Hamid al-Maraghi al-Jurjawi; and later works such as al-Mujaddidun fi al-Islam by Professor Amin al-Khouli, al-Mujaddidun fi al-Islam by Professor ‘Abd al-Muta‘al al-Sa‘idi, and Tabaqat al-Mujtahidin by Muhammad Abi al-Mazaya al-Kattani.
In these works, scholars discuss whether the “century” should be counted from the Prophet’s birth, his mission, or his migration, and whether the renewal is marked at the beginning of the century or its end. Yet, in reflecting upon this discourse, we seek any glimmer of insight that may open before us a door of hope and renewed resolve.
From this long study, I have reached two observations:
The First Observation
That the majority of those who have been described as reformers and renewers were Egyptians. Among them were ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, Imam al-Layth ibn Saʿd, Imam al-Shafiʿi, Imam al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salam, Imam Ibn Daqiq al-ʿId, Imam Taqei al-Din al-Subki and his son Imam Taj al-Din, Imam al-Suyuti, and dozens of others.
Al-Hafiz al-Suyuti himself spoke of them in his book Husn al-Muhadara, where he arrived at a profound conclusion, saying: “Of the remarkable signs is that most of those so divinely sent [for the faith renewing mission] at the turn of the centuries were Egyptians”, concluding: “And perhaps the one so divinely sent at the head of the ninth century will be from the people of Egypt.” And indeed, Allah did not disappoint his hope, for al-Suyuti himself became the renewer of his age.
Today, we likewise beseech the vast bounty of Allah that the process of renewal may spring forth once again from the land of Egypt — the Gift of the Nile — offered as a blessing to her brethren and to all the world.
The Second Observation
There is a difference between speaking about renewal and speaking within renewal. Speaking about it is what prevails among people: they say, “Where is the efforct for renewal? We want renewal; it ought to be; it must be.” They engage in lengthy discussions about it, its necessity, its importance, our loss in its absence, and the negative consequences of failing to realize it. All of this remains mere discourse about renewal.
But speaking within renewal is a weighty craft. It calls for those who roll up their sleeves and design programs of education and training—programs that teach the integrated sciences of the Shari‘ah in their fullness, the sciences of reality in their entirety, and the disciplines that interconnect the two. From this may arise generations deeply grounded in all these fields of knowledge, profoundly aware of the contemporary world, and skilled in weaving the bond between them both.
Then, by Allah’s grace, such efforts may be crowned with illumination, insight, discernment, and success. And this educational endeavor may, in turn, give rise to minds capable of generating answers to the questions, crises, challenges, and perplexities of our age—after grasping its complexities, balances, and interrelations. In this, the true craft of renewal will stand revealed in its clearest form.
The Second Issue
Allah Almighty has made morality the supreme hallmark of this noble religion, and He has declared the greatest distinction of His exalted Prophet ﷺ to be his moral character. For He, Most Exalted, says: “And indeed, you are upon an exalted standard of character.”
We then set out to examine and enumerate every noble Hadith comprehensively—gathering from all his sayings, deeds, attributes, and stances ﷺ, while excluding repetitions. We have been wondering: how many distinct Hadiths would remain? Thereupon we found that the foremost authority among the Hadith scholars, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, remarked: “Were they to be gathered from the Musnads, the Jami‘ collections, the Sunan, the Ajza’, and others—without repetition—they would not exceed fifty thousand.”
Thus we have, in sum, fifty thousand Hadiths comprising the entirety of the noble Prophetic guidance. Of these, those that pertain to rituals, acts of worship, obligations, and legal rulings do not exceed five thousand, as Imam al-Ghazali has indicated. When these are set aside, there remain forty-five thousand Hadiths—all of which are devoted to ethics, manners, virtues, noble traits, spiritual refinement, courtesy, and elevated conduct in every aspect of human life, both outward and inward.
The essence of the guidance of our Master Muhammad ﷺ, then, is a vast and boundless ocean of morality and refined comportment that pervades every affair of life—by which light flows into both devotion and civilization alike.
Moreover, ethics and values are of two kinds: values of survival and values of advancement. The values of survival are those which safeguard the continuity and endurance of both individuals and societies—such as patience, forbearance, forgiveness, the restraining of anger, filial piety, and the like.
As for the values of advancement, they are those which move societies toward prosperity, civilization, development, the building of institutions, and the making of civilization itself—and this stands among the greatest objectives of the Shari‘ah.
These values include: aspiration, creativity, excellence, reflection, openness, progress, sustainability, labor, achievement, beauty beloved by Allah, healthy competition, selflessness and sincerity, the discovery of talents and the cultivation of minds, the exaltation of knowledge, innovation, and the perpetual ascent toward all that is higher, finer, more beautiful, and perfect; the striving to attain the loftiest summits in every field; the building of civilization; and the dialogue of civilizations.
For each of these values, there can be cited tens, even hundreds, of noble Hadiths. When such values take root, nations are built and fortified; their civilization and economy are established upon firm foundations; and they are able to defend their vision, their voice, and their sovereign decisions.
Where, then, are you with respect to these values, O Muslims? Where are you with respect to them, O scholars and jurists? Where are you with respect to them, O preachers and callers to Allah? Is this not at the very heart of the guidance of your Prophet ﷺ? Will he not come on the Day of Resurrection to say to us: “You have fallen short in conveying my guidance and my preaching in its fullness”? And what shall we answer on that most momentous of days—while today, we are still granted the chance to make amends and to act?
And in affirmation of our belief in the values of justice and our rejection of tyranny and aggression, we—Egyptians under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi—exert every effort to extinguish the flames of war in Gaza and in the West Bank.
As leadership and people alike, we categorically reject the displacement of our Palestinian brethren from their land. We call upon them to hold fast, with unwavering resolve, to the soil of their homeland—whatever the heavy sacrifices may be. For there can be no solution to this crisis other than the establishment of the Palestinian State upon the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Third Issue
Nearly eight centuries ago, here upon the soil of Egypt, our master and teacher—the foremost of the renewers, Imam al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abd al-Salam—declared: “If the objectives of the noble Shari‘ah were to be gathered into a single word, what would that word be?” And he answered: “It is the word Ihsan—excellence and beneficence.”
From this wise utterance I set forth to contemplate the Ever-Glorious Qur’an, and I found therein three words which Allah has taught us to bind to everything: Ihsan (excellence and beneficence), Itqan (perfection and mastery), and Rahmah (mercy).
The Almighty says: “He who excellently and beneficially perfected all things He created”; “The work of Allah, who perfected all things”; and “My mercy encompasses all things.” Thus He perfected all, mastered all, and showed mercy to all. It is as though the Most High is teaching us: Excellently and benefically perfect everything; master everything; and show mercy to everything.
I then pondered: what is the difference between Ihsan and Itqan? And it became clear to me that Ihsan is a higher degree than Itqan—it is the very summit of mastery. For Itqan means to perform what is required as it ought to be performed. But Ihsan is Itqan suffused with love. One may achieve mastery while burdened, resentful, or weary—and such mastery is limited, partial, and barren. But when love is joined to mastery, artistry is born; creativity flourishes; refinement, innovation, and excellence multiply; and mastery reaches its completion. Thus Ihsan is the very pinnacle of the mountain named Itqan.
In conclusion, I have addressed today three words: renewal, morality, and Ihsan. Such is our Master Muhammad ﷺ, on the occasion of fifteen centuries since his blessed birth—this is his way, and this is his true tradition.
And this, indeed, is our mission in the Ministry of Charitable Endowments, and in every Islamic religious institution across the world: to safeguard and to serve the legacies of Prophethood, and to present them—faithfully and honorably—to the Muslims and to all humanity.
So may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon His mercy to all the worlds—the most generous of men in giving, the broadest of them in heart, the truest of them in speech, the most faithful in covenant, the gentlest in nature, and the noblest in companionship. Whoever beheld him in an instant was struck with awe, and whoever knew him in closeness was filled with love for him. His describer once said: “I saw none before him, nor after him, his equal.”
From childhood he was drawn to worship, devotion, and retreat—
thus are the noble ones shaped from their earliest years.
When guidance settles in a heart,
the limbs themselves awaken to worship.
He encompassed the worlds in knowledge and forbearance,
an ocean unwearied by burdens.
Wondrous in word and deed,
generous in character and nature, just and ever-giving.
The master whose laughter was but a gentle smile,
whose walk was measured, whose sleep was but a light repose.
All mercy he was, yet firmness and resolve;
dignity, protection, and modesty adorned him.
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