Egyptian President discusses modernizing religious discourse, human rights in phone-in

CAIRO – 16 September 2021: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi made a phone-in Wednesday evening addressing a number of awareness-related matters.

"Reforming people's understanding of religion teachings will not be achieved in a few years regardless the means used to accomplish that mission and their aptitude. That is because we are dealing with adults and not children so it is hard to change their mindset. It is not just objectivity and reason that control the path of awareness change," the president explained.

"The size of terrorism and extremism ensued from 2011 revolution taught Egyptians to not blindly embrace the religious interpretations put forward by some…Another reason behind that new orientation is that Egyptians sensed existential danger to their country," President Sisi added.

'We have to resolve our current issues by coming up with new ideas rather than depending on a literature that existed 500 or 700 years ago," the president noted saying, "many religion scholars of the present only count on religious literature of the past, in endorsing teachings, and that does not suit our current reality. They have to be aware of other disciplines and sciences as well as the actualities of life." Sisi further stipulated that "modernizing religious discourse is a continuous process because humanity evolves."

The president highlighted that awareness is shaped by schools, mosques, media, and the family. Hence, he suggested that good education is one that teaches you critical thinking and how to think. "The new curricula delivered in schools aim for teaching students who they are," the Egyptian president underscored.

In another context, the president pointed out that practices undermining the fulfillment of human rights in Egypt, such as sexual harassment, are intertwined with the existing culture. Hence, awareness enhancement is pivotal to eliminate many negative phenomena in the society, including the mistreatment of citizens by some public employees, the president said.

The head of state added that extremists who were ousted by the 30th of June 2013 Revolution have not learnt the lesson as they refuse to absorb the size of achievements accomplished and keep doubting any measures taken to improve the quality of life of citizens.

The Egyptian president concluded by revealing that the government has begun building a number of modern well-equipped prisons in order to better rehabilitate convicts, so they would easily get reintegrated in society after serving their sentences.

The president pointed out that adults aged below 45 and whose number is more than six million must work harder to contribute to the growth and development of the country as well as the betterment of their living conditions.