How did the 1961 Al-Azhar law change the Muslim world's biggest Islamic institution?

1. How the Al-Azhar law
changed the institution
PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

2. Before the 1961 law:
PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Al-Azhar operated as an educational and religious
institution, playing a political role only to oppose the
monarchy and British occupation. The institution had
no direct relationship with the state, and the Egyptian
state exercised neither financial nor regulatory control
over it.

3. Before the 1961 law:
PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Al-Azhar benefited from endowed lands, which ensured
its financial independence. But the state’s attempts to
control Al-Azhar increased during the rule of Mohamed
Ali Pasha, who introduced secular courts in parallel
with Sharia courts run by clerical judges.
Ali also controlled a portion of Al-Azhar’s
endowments. Several legal amendments were made to
earlier decrees issued in 1896, 1911 and 1930 to
organize the institution and to control the choice of Al-
Azhar’s grand sheikh.

4. Issuing the law:
PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Former President Gamal Abdel Nasser worked to
completely control the institution. Agricultural reform
laws allowed the government to seize all of Al-Azhar’s
endowments, ending the institutions financial
independence.
Nasser introduced the Al-Azhar Affairs Ministry – since
integrated into the prime minister’s portfolio – that
imposed executive control over Al-Azhar and abolished
Sharia courts.

5. Issuing the law:
PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The law abolished the Council of Senior Scholars,
while the Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh was directly
appointed by the president. This further expanded the
presidency’s control over the institution.
It also stipulated the formation of the “Supreme Council
of Al-Azhar,” which included a number of non-clerical
members. The change aimed to inject secular elements
into Al-Azhar leadership’s decision making process.

6. 2012 Amendments:
PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Two days before the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled
Parliament convened in 2012, the Supreme Council of
the Armed Forces amended the 1961 law. The changes
included the reinstatement of the Council of Senior
Scholars, who choose Al-Azhar’s grand sheikh,
partially ending executive control over the institution.