Cairo, Egypt — The American University in Cairo (AUC) has said that Egyptian religious authorities have banned a book on the Wahabi sect.
The university had participated in the publication of the book, and the authorities cited blasphemy as the cause of the ban.
Tim Sullivan, AUC Dean, said Al Azhar’s decision to ban the book titled Wahabi Islam — From Revival and Reforms to Global Jihad ’ was a violation of academic freedom. “They just say it is blasphemous to Islam, they said ‘no’, but they did not give a reason for that or go into details,” Sullivan said. An Egyptian Arabic daily, Al Jumhour quoted an Al Azhar official as saying that the “book is full of errors, promotes hatred against Islam and criticises the Holy Quran.”
Sullivan said official monitoring agencies referred the issue to Al Azhar, which condemned the book for talking unfavourably about Islam. The book is an analysis of the books written by Mohammed bin Abdul Wahab, who founded in the 18th century the Wahabi sect in the Arabian peninsula.
Sullivan said the book focuses mainly on the assertion that the ‘Jihadists’ have ‘hijacked’ the Wahabi principles, adding that specialist references on the issue had recommended strongly that he publish the book. He pointed out that the AUC was taking part in the publishing of the book at the regional level, in collaboration with Oxford University Publishing House.
He said the book had been distributed in other countries, adding that the Egyptian authorities had seized about 1,000 copies imported for sale in Egypt. “It seems Al Azhar monitoring authority reviewed the book twice and concluded that the book should not be allowed into the country,” Sullivan said.