- MB News
- October 2, 2010
- 6 minutes read
Contradictory accounts over Al-Azhar’s ban on Muslim Brotherhood book
Recent Contradictory accounts have revealed that a recent book on the Muslim Brotherhood by author Ibrahim El-Kholany has been rejected by Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy based on orders from state security.
El-Kholany, had handed in two copies of his book to the academy’s research and translation department for consent since it contained verses of the Quran after he was asked to by the academy. He waited four months before he was given a reply denying him permission to publish.
In his book, El-Kholany fiercely condemned the Brotherhood arguing that the group declined following the death of its founder Hassan El-Banna
Diyaa Mohamed Abdel-Rabouh from the academy confirmed that the rejection of the book had nothing to do with the Brotherhood. Adding it only banned information they believed contradicted with the Islamic ideology or concepts.
A similar incident had resulted in Al-Azhar banning a few years ago a book by the late, Islamic scholar Ahmed Didat
Director of Arabic Network for human rights Information Gamal Eid, asserted that the Islamic Research Academy collaborates with state security when it comes to books on political Islam preventing them from being published and distributed. He remembered a similar incident in 1996 when a number of books were confiscated from the Cairo International Book Fair by the academy amid the presence of state security.