Sisi, Azhar Grand Imam review efforts against extremism

CAIRO23 August 2017:President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met with Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb Tuesday to review the continuous efforts of Al-Azhar members to renew religious discourse and purify it from wrong beliefs, said presidential spokesman Alaa Yousef.

Moderation, intellectuality and logic will always remain the main features of Al-Azhar's message, which represents the right form of Islam, said Al-Tayeb.

Al-Tayeb indicated connections with various global intellectual and religious organizations to face extremism and violence. Cooperation with these organizations aims to underscore the significance of respecting pluralism of religion and ideologies, Al-Tayeb added.

Sisi asserted the role of Al-Azhar as a guide to religious moderation, and he praised the institution’s constructive efforts to spread the true Islamic message and counter wrong beliefs.

The president also addressed the topic of altering religious discourse, asserting that misinterpreting religious texts and rhetoric fuels the spread of terrorism through the rise of extremist ideologies.

Accordingly, the Fatwa Observatory, which is a part of Dar Al-Ifta — a religious institution in Egypt founded to become the international flagship for Islamic research and to review religious edicts in light of contemporary life — aims to address the phenomenon of “takfiri fatwas” (unrecognized edicts often issued by extremist groups) and to monitor local and international media outlets.