Islam al-Behairy

Islam Behairy (Arabic: إسلام البحيري; born 1974 in Siflaq, Sohag Governorate), is an Egyptian writer and the host of With Islam on Al-Kahera Wel Nas. On November 5, 2018, he began a new program, "Islam Hurr" on Alhurra.

In April 2015, Behairy used his program to call for reforming Islam, sharply criticizing many prominent Islamic scholars and saying that many fatwas were wrong and people shouldn't take fatwas from scholars and should go directly to the Qur’an. Al-Azhar University has condemned his philosophy as an insult to Islam. Al Kahera suspended his program indefinitely. In 2015, Behairy was arrested, charged with insulting Islam, convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison. Behairy appealed the sentence but a court rejected his appeal. However, in December of 2015, a court reduced his sentence to one year in jail, and he was later pardoned by the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.