Eurasia Press & News
Egypt’s Al-Azhar has published a book asserting Egypt’s rights to the Nile River waters based on Sharia law, raising questions about the role of religious institutions in the crisis over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Egypt’s Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy has published the first book on Egypt’s rights to the Nile waters from a Sharia point of view, in light of the ongoing dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The book, titled “The Noble Answer in the Sugar of the River and the Distribution of the Nile’s Water,” is displayed at Al-Azhar pavilion at the 53rd Cairo International Book Fair, which began on Jan. 26 and will run until Feb. 6.
In a press statement, Nazir Ayyad, the secretary-general of the Islamic Research Academy, said that the book confirms, based on Sharia, the just Egyptian position on the Nile water issue, and establishes the country’s historical and legal rights in it.
The publication comes amid the faltering negotiations on the GERD between Egypt and Ethiopia, with Cairo seeking a legally binding agreement for the filling and operation of the dam, while Addis Ababa continues to insist on completing construction and filling regardless of negotiations.
Al-Azhar is not the only religious institution that has intervened in the GERD issue.
Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta also touched on the dispute, with the country’s Grand Mufti, Shawki Allam, stressing on various occasions, his support for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in managing the GERD issue with “wisdom and power.”
Also, last year Pope Tawadros II stressed the Coptic Orthodox Church’s support for the “political leadership in its endeavors to find a comprehensive and just solution to the water problem that guarantees the rights of the Egyptian people and their Sudanese brothers to the life that God gave them.”
The pope pointed to other scenarios that the Egyptian state could follow if diplomatic efforts failed. “We pray that God will allow all good diplomatic and political efforts to succeed so that we do not resort to any other efforts,” he said.
The church has been playing a role to alleviate tensions in the negotiations given the historical ties between the countries, according to Anba Beyman, the Coptic coordinator of relations with Ethiopian churches.
These positions show that the religious discourse in Egypt is in line with the political one when it comes to the GERD crisis, which is normal, according to Tariq Fahmy, a political science professor at Cairo University who spoke to Al-Monitor.
“Religious institutions in Egypt should play a role in the GERD crisis, and this role should be linked to the nature of the crisis and its impact on Egyptian national security,” Fahmy said. “Religious institutions are not alien to the nation, and have a strong presence in Egypt and Africa.”
But he warned against turning the crisis into a religious issue, which would hurt Egypt’s interests. Al-Azhar’s book highlights Egypt’s rights from a religious perspective, he said, “which is something normal, provided that the religious aspect does not supersede the political side of the issue.”
Religious involvement in the GERD crisis led to a vigorous debate between Egyptian and Ethiopian clerics in March of last year, when Haji Omar Idris, head of the Ethiopian Federal Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, said that Ethiopians had more rights to the Nile water than the Sudanese and Egyptians.
Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb then responded in a televised statement that natural resources are not the property of one people, adding, “Whoever withholds water is unjust and aggressor. The concerned local and international authorities must prevent such perversion and corruption in the land.”
Idris, who is nicknamed the Mufti in Ethiopia, snapped back that Tayeb ought to retract his statement, adding that “Al-Azhar’s sheikh ought to have better insight on the Nile issue, and the Ethiopian government’s opinion in this regard is sound.”
This angered Ali Gomaa, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt and current head of the Religious Affairs Committee in the Egyptian parliament, who said, “Omar, fear God. Do not reverse the evidence and respond with false statements to the sheikh of Al-Azhar.”
Ammar Ali Hassan, a professor of political science at Cairo University, believes that the Nile water crisis is a political, economic and security issue, which requires a political solution, away from religion.
He added that the interference of Egyptian religious institutions may end up being counterproductive. “Issuing a fatwa or statement or publishing a book by Al-Azhar or the Egyptian Church would prompt Ethiopian religious institutions and clerics, be they Christians or Muslims, to respond, which would only further complicate the situation and confuse the public opinion,” he said.
“Religion could play a role if diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis fail and Egypt is forced to opt for a military solution. In this case, religion could be useful not in solving the problem but in mobilizing the public opinion around the political decision for a military intervention,” Hassan said. “Other than that, I don’t think that Al-Azhar’s book on Egypt’s rights in the Nile water would lead to a solution in the dispute between the two countries.”
