116
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
WORLD OF THE KORAN
AFTER the king, the next most powerful figure in Egypt
was a solemn-faced, pious man in his seventies, his face distinguished but tired. His eyes, too, were tired, and his mouth
sagged with the weariness of age. But as the rector of El Azhar
University, Sheikh Mohammed Ma'moun el Shinawi provided
the sinews for the Holy War against Zionism, just as his predecessors had furnished fanatic leaders who fought the Crusaders. I met Sheikh el Shinawi with Aboul Saud, a pleasant,
English-speaking member of the Arab League Office. Every
year El Azhar graduated hundreds of missionaries who
preached its fanatic doctrine throughout Asia, Africa, and
the islands of the Pacific. Founded in 792, for more than a
thousand years El Azhar has been the academic shrine, as
Mecca is the religious shrine, of 240,000,000 Moslems of the
world.
Aboul and I walked to the university together. We found
it in an ancient part of Cairo, surrounded by bazaars and
native quarters. At the outer gate we left our shoes in charge
of a doorman, and put on loose oversized straw slippers. The
Koran requires that those entering a holy place must either
wash their feet or cover their shoes with undefiled footwear.
Stepping over a high wooden threshold, we entered one of the
courtyards that served the students as classrooms. Hundreds
of sheikhs-in-the-making were about, wearing the small red fez
and white turban, with ankle-length black robes over lighter
garments. They were sitting on the matted floors, legs crossed,
in socks or bare feet, studying, reciting loudly, swaying to the
rhythm of words, or else being tutored in small study groups
by the ulema, religious teachers. They were ardent, intense,
dark-skinned young men, completely absorbed in their labors.
I was with Aboul when classes were interrupted for prayers.
What should I do now? While Aboul went through the ritual