The Press: Closing the Gap

The week's big news from the Moslem world: serious efforts are being made to heal a schism that has divided Islam for more than 1,000 years.

The bitterly opposed sects are the Shiites and Sunnis, each claiming the true faith and branding the others as heretics. The Shiites acknowledge as their leaders the direct descendants of Ali, Mohammed's son-in-law, consider these imams incorruptible, infallible and immortal; since the disappearance of the last known successor of the house of Ali in 878, the Shiites wait for the "Hidden Imam" to make his earthly return. The Sunnis, on the other hand, refuse to accept divine inspiration by inheritance, recognize first the caliph as the "commander of the community," then turn to the "consensus," made up of the learned and the wise.

The theological split has long kept Shiite Iraq, Iran and Yemen apart from the rest of the Moslem world, which generally adheres to Sunnite doctrine. Last week Sheik Mahmoud Chaltout, 66, Nasser-appointed rector of Cairo's revered al-Azhar University (TIME, May 11), was dramatically pressing a drive to reconcile the two sects. Sheik Chaltout years ago began wooing ulamas (Koranic scholars) of both sides with learned societies and a liberal theological monthly that is still going strong. Striking now with Nasser's support at the very root of the schism—the university itself, which for centuries condemned Shiite doctrine as heresy—the rector has ordered his staff to stop favoring Sunnis, start teaching courses in Shiite beliefs. "This will have far-reaching effects in realizing Moslem brotherhood," said Sheik Mohamed Medani, dean of the university's theological faculty. Addressing Shiites over the Nasser radio, he added: "Allah is yours as well as ours. There is no argument between us."