An Egyptian journalist has written an article on Sunday, February 26, entitled "Calling ISIS infidel is a matter of national security"! in which she talked about killing Copts in Arish. However, she called Al-Azhar to call ISIS infidels instead of calling police and army to protect the Copts as Egyptian citizens.
The writer thinks that facing ISIS as political, social, economic and military phenomenon is limited to “calling it infidel”. She believes that Al-Azhar has a magical ability to cope with ISIS only by calling it infidel.
The political struggle with a suspect organization created by western intelligence agencies is taken by the writer as religious conflict. We hate what is done by ISIS even if they are believers! In fact, the battle with ISIS should depend on exposing its bad ideology and criminal record.
Calling any group of people infidel is not the job of humans, but should be limited to God who has the sole right to grant or prevent heaven. Accepting that Al-Azhar has this weapon of calling people infidel allows Al-Azhar to use it against other people and organizations just like it was used against writers and intellectuals like Naguib Mahfouz, Farag Foda and Nasr Abu Zeid.
We refuse this concept in general and refuse to give such right to any person or organization, and if we accept this, we should accept it when it is used against us.
The struggle with ISIS is not because their Islamic believes, but because of its agenda not because Daesh believer or unbeliever, but because it is the agent of Israel that carried out a plot to divide the Arab nations. Some people may argue that the religious authorities already have the power to call certain people or organizations infidels. However, we should reject using such weapon in the first place.
Such articles aim to steal the show or to flatter the Copts or Al-Azhar. Yet, they change the conflict from political to religious conflict. Intellectuals can’t accept to grant any organization such right to call others infidels as it has always been a weapon of dark ages and retardation.
