United Group

El-Borai had started taking formal steps in the war against the fads that some people attach to Islam. The Legal Unit at the United Group has started to prepare for filing a lawsuit against Sheikh of Al-Azahar in his capacity as the Head of the Islamic Research Academy and the publisher of the book "Al-Tabakat Al-Kobra."

Reactions towards El-Borai's statements are still ongoing as Al-Youm Al-Saba news website published three articles on the subject. This raised many reactions as the Islamic Publishing houses considered El-Borai's statements valueless and impossible to implement. Adel Sedik, director of an Islamic Publishing house, said that El-Borai's statements about the Islamic books is not true, as these books do not offend Islam and are approved by Al-Azhar and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, therefore they are not harmful.

While Muhammad Al-Khatib, the director of another Islamic publishing house, said that there must be a specific case and that religious books in Egypt do not call for extremism and do not contain myths. The books that contain myths can't be called religious books and religions in general, especially the Islam, called for freedom of opinion and not extremism. He added that extremism lies in the minds of those who promote it, and those who exploit the provisions of law in prosecuting intellectuals, which is unacceptable whether against Islamists or others.

Furthermore, El-Borai's statements raised controversy within the Islamic Research Academy, as a number of its members agreed that its role is to preserve the role of Islamic culture, and it is not a confiscation body. It is not within the jurisdiction of the Academy to inspect scientific research, but it gives its opinion in publications that are presented to it through the official channels, said Dr. Muhammad El-Shahat who described El-Borai's statement as polemic.

Mr. Said Shoayb wrote an article entitled "Negad against Extremism" on Al-Youm Al-Saba news website to support El-Borai's intention, "the importance of this initiative is that it will terminate the abduction of Islam by many institutions, groups and individuals in our country and returns it to its first form, as there is no priesthood in this great religion," Said wrote. He added that "El-Borai's decision is courageous and an individual initiative that I wish it would expand and gain supporters who would do the same, he is a human rights activist who dedicated his life to establishing a culture of human rights. The essence of the initiative is to give up passiveness and get engaged in peacefully combating the ideas and concepts of extremism that want to destroy the present and the future."

Readers' comments varied between attacking and supporting El-Borai's initiative. He responded by saying: "those who have been demanding the confiscation of the freedom of thought and expression under the pretext that it violates religion refuse to deal with books that despise religion in the name of religion only because these books are of the Islamic heritage."

To review Mr. Shoayb's article click here.

To review the views of the owners of publishing houses click here.

To review the views of the Islamic Research Academy scientists click here.