Al-Azhar Shia Fatwa

{{Infobox document | document_name =Al-Azhar Shia Fatwa | image =فتوی تاریخی شیخ محمود شلتوت.png | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | orig_lang_code = | title_orig = | date_created =17 Rabiʽ al-Awwal 1378 H (1959 M) | date_presented = | date_ratified = | date_effective = | date_repeal = | location_of_document = | commissioned = | writer =Mahmud Shaltut | signers = | media_type = | subject =practicing Shia jurisprudence is permissible, as is practicing the jurisprudence of the four Sunni mazhab. | purpose = }}

The Al-Azhar Shia Fatwa was 1959 {{Transliteration|ar|fatwa}} issued on the topic of Shia–Sunni relations by Mahmud Shaltut, the grand imam of al-Azhar. Under Shaltut, Shia–Sunni ecumenical activities would reach their zenith.{{cite book|author1=Rainer Brünner|title=Islamic Ecumenism In The 20th Century: The Azhar And Shiism Between Rapprochement And Restraint|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicecumenism00brun|url-access=limited|date=2004|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004125483|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicecumenism00brun/page/n371 360]|edition=revised}}

The {{Transliteration|ar|fatwa}} is the fruit of a decade-long collaborative effort between a group of Sunni and Shia scholars at the {{Transliteration|ar|Dar al-Taqrib al-Madhahib al-Islamiyya}} ("center for bringing together the various Islamic schools of thought") theological center at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. The aim of the effort is to bridge the gap between the various Islamic schools of thought, and to foster mutual respect, understanding and appreciation of each school's contributions to the development of Islamic jurisprudence.{{cite web|url=http://www.al-islam.org/encyclopedia/chapter1b/14.html|title=al-Azhar Verdict on the Shia|publisher=www.al-islam.org|accessdate=2009-05-05| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090613065916/http://www.al-islam.org/encyclopedia/chapter1b/14.html| archivedate= 13 June 2009 | url-status= live}} However, despite the ecumenical fatwa, while Shaltut was Grand Imam of Al-Azhar he refused to establish an independent Shia chair at the University, which was one of the greatest aspirations, especially, of the Shia members of the Dar al-Taqreeb.{{cite book|author1=Rainer Brünner|title=Islamic Ecumenism In The 20th Century: The Azhar And Shiism Between Rapprochement And Restraint|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicecumenism00brun|url-access=limited|date=2004|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004125483|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicecumenism00brun/page/n312 301]|edition=revised}} On the other hand, the fatwa was opposed by a number of Al-Azhar scholars, such as: Sheikh Muhammad Hassanein Makhlouf, Sheikh Abdul Latif Al-Subki, head of the Fatwa Committee, and Sheikh of the Hanbalis at Al-Azhar, and Sheikh Muhammad Arafa, and it was also opposed by other scholars from outside Al-Azhar.{{cite web |title=موسوعة مصطلحات الشيعة (17) |url=http://alrased.org/main/articles.aspx?selected_article_no=3487 |access-date=25 January 2025 |date=21 October 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021152731/http://alrased.org/main/articles.aspx?selected_article_no=3487 | archive-date=21 October 2013 }}

It is claimed that this fatwa, which admits Twelver Shias and Zaydi Shias who had been considered heretics and idolaters for hundreds of years, into mainstream Islam, was inspired by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.{{cite book|last=Aburish|first=Saïd K.|title=Nasser: the last Arab|date=2004|publisher=Duckworth|isbn=9780715633007|pages=200–201|edition=illustrated|quote=But perhaps the most far reaching change [initiated by Nasser’s guidance] was the fatwa commanding the readmission to mainstream Islam of the Shi'as. They had been considered heretics and idolaters for hundreds of years, but Nasser put an end to this for once and for all. While endearing himself to the majority Shia of Iraq and undermining Kassem [the communist ruler of Iraq at the time] might have played a part in that decision, there is no doubting the liberalism of the man in this regard.}} Nasser saw it as a tool to spread his appeal and influence across the entire Arab world.{{cite book|last=Keddie|first=Nikki R|title=Iran and the Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics|date=2002|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=9780295982069|page=306|edition=illustrated|author2=Rudolph P Matthee}}

In 2012, due to drift towards Islamism in Al-Azhar, and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood into leadership, the dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Al-Azhar issued a {{Transliteration|ar|fatwa}} strongly opposed to the 1959 {{Transliteration|ar|fatwa}}. It forbade worship according to the Shia tradition and condemned as heretics anyone who insulted the wives or companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Al-Azhar also published a book condemning the Shia.{{cite web|last=Al-Araby|first=Mohamed|title=Identity politics, Egypt and the Shia|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/2376/21/Identity-politics,-Egypt-and-the-Shia.aspx|work=Al-Ahram Weekly|accessdate=20 April 2014|date=25 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421092900/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/2376/21/Identity-politics,-Egypt-and-the-Shia.aspx|archive-date=21 April 2014|url-status=dead}}