Egypt mulls granting president right to appoint Grand Mufti

Egyptian parliament is mulling a bill that aims at granting the country’s president the right to appoint Grand Mufti, local media reported yesterday.

The parliament’s religious and endowment affairs committee head, Osama Al-Abd, along with 60 other lawmakers recently submitted a draft law on the country’s “Al-Azhar Fatwa Global Centre,” which aimed at “granting the President of the Republic of Egypt to choose the country’s Grand Mufti among from three pre-nominated by the Al-Azhar’s senior scholars two months ahead.” The Egyptian Grand Mufti is usually being internally elected in a ballot during a meeting by the Al-Azhar Council of Senior Scholars.

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“The Fatwa house is a religious entity, with a legal personality, affiliated with the Ministry of Justice, and represented in virtue of the Grand Mufti, and it is based on the Islamic Shari’a. The centre must have a high-ranking secretary-general appointed by the current Mufti,” the bill stipulated, according to local media.

“The mufti position could be replaced after reaching the legal age for retirement,” the draft law added, noting that the mufti was being treated “as ministers.”