Report: What Egypt achieved regarding renewal of religious discourse

CAIRO - 2 October 2023: The “Story of a Homeland” report titled "vision and achievement" revealed that the state has made many achievements during the past 9 years with regard to the religious aspect.

 

In the below lines, et sheds the light on the efforts exerted by the state with regard developing the pattern of Islamic thought and its contemporary issues. 

 

 

Renewing religious discourse

 

Many new bodies and sectors have been created contributing to the renewal of the religious discourse, spreading the moderate understanding of Islam, and carrying out advocacy, awareness and educational campaigns published on social media sites.

 

These bodies aim to reduce the chaos of fatwas [religious edicts]; the most prominent of these entities are the Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism, and the Al-Azhar International Center for “Electronic Fatwas." The Bayan Unit affiliated with the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwas was also established to dismantle distorted ideas of the teachings of Islam, and to confront non-religious thought.

 

In a related context, the state was keen, during the conferences it organized, whether local or international, to renew religious thought and discourse by correcting misconceptions, spreading moderation, reducing extremist ideas, and condemning terrorism, most notably the Al-Azhar International Conference for Renewal, from which the “Renewal” document was issued.  

 

State's efforts:

 

The state’s role in renewing religious discourse was not limited to Al-Azhar only, but it was concerned with this through other entities, and at the forefront of these entities are the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments and the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services.

 

The state made a great effort to renew religious discourse in the entire world, through a wide translation movement into various languages of the world, as well as preparing its imams at a high level of culture through its continuous development of the Egyptian Endowments Academy.

 

Training imams and preachers came as part of the efforts as they are a major element in the process of renewing religious discourse and disseminating its concepts and aspects of its validity.

 

In the same context, the Ministry of Endowments implemented 220 rehabilitation and specialized training programs for 23,000 imams, male and female preachers, and administrators in 2022 alone.

 

Regarding the efforts made by the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services to spread enlightened thought and affirm the values and ethics called for by heavenly religions, the Commission has been renewing religious discourse and focusing on rejecting hatred and combating violence in all its forms, by launching a package of programs that will enhance the concept of citizenship and acceptance of others. 

 

In continuation of these efforts, a draft law was drafted to confront hate speech, and the National Council for Human Rights adopted this draft to be presented in its legislative session for adoption in this regard.