Ancient mosque is at heart of fears that Egypt is turning toward theocracy.
Al-Azhar leaders say they didn't want the role but were pressured to accept it by adherents to a puritanical, Saudi-influenced school of Islam known as Salafism, whose clout has surged in Egypt's newly democratic era.
"The Salafis want to make Azhar a part of the political system, which we are against," said Abdel Dayem-Nossair, an adviser to al-Azhar's grand sheikh and a member of the assembly that wrote the new constitution. "We don't like to put the law in terms of a religious dogma that says 'this is right' or 'this is wrong.' "
But under the new constitution, that is exactly what the millennium-old mosque and university complex will soon be doing. Dayem-Nossair said he believes the Salafis insisted on the provision because "they think they'll take over al-Azhar."
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