Sayyid Al-Qemany is an Egyptian writer and intellectual whose work emphasises the importance of secular critical thinking. He believes, for instance, that the Koran should be subject to scholarly study as a historical document.
In 2009 he received Egypt’s highest cultural award, the State Award of Merit Prize for achievement in the field of the social sciences - a decision which didn't go down too well with the Muslim establishment:
"Just imagine a religion that a thousand years ago stopped adding anything, stopped changing, stopped renewing itself. Therefore the way Muslims think is at complete odds with our times, because they think according to the logic of a thousand years ago. Mankind has evolved and the sciences have progressed in a way that no one could have anticipated. The Muslims find it impossible to grasp and understand this great progress. [...]
"Al-Azhar refused to accuse ISIS of heresy for a very simple reason. If it had done so, ISIS would have said: "Everything we know we learned from you"....
"It is the source of terrorism. Al-Azhar is the enemy of all that is modern." [Mick Hartley] Read more
