Let us now consider the reaction of Al-Azhar towards Hilālī’s statements on inheritance and the headscarf problems. On the question of inheritance, al-Azhar University disavowed the arguments made by Hilālī. Thus, Al-Azhar University spokesman, Aḥmad Zarʿ said to Egyptian media in November 2018, that “Hilālī’s opinion does not represent the position of Al-Azhar University in any sense, but rather represents only his person”.1 Zarʿ reiterated that “Al-Azhar University Council is looking into taking legal action against the statements made by Hilālī. His views do not represent Al-Azhar University and will be answered since what he said contradicts the text of the Qur’an and the approach of Al-Azhar”.2 Additionally, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars in Al-Azhar (who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed) said that “Hilālī decided to be the spearhead of an attack on Al-Azhar in the ongoing conflict (of religious discourse), claiming to be a model of openness and change while the rest of the scholars who adhere to Al-Azhar approach would be rigid because they reject untraditional exegesis and innovation”.3 This member of the Council of Senior Scholars hopes that “Hilālī will remove the Sharia of God from political battles, and not try to win political loyalties and proximity ties to the rulers at the expense of legal rulings and established jurisprudential norms”.4 The same Azhari scholar concluded that “there are parties in the Egyptian state that are hostile to the sheikhs of Al-Azhar, because the latter refused to issue statements and publish positions that contradict religious traditions to please the state”.5