Azhar Sheikh calls clerics to follow their conscience

CAIRO – 17 October 2017: Egypt’s Grand Imam and head of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed El Tayeb, said that when he was first appointed to his previous post as a mufti he had been very conscious when issuing fatwas out of his fear of prohibiting halal matters or validating haram matters.

Tayeb’s comments were made during his speech in the opening of the International Conference for Ifta held in Cairo on Tuesday. He warned against individuals who feign religious knowledge and their dependency on mistakes in the interpretations of the Quran and Sunna.

Tayeb added that throughout his one and a half years as a mufti, he had been working freely with no pressures or instructions. “I was told to just follow my conscience,” he added.

The conference is taking place over the next three days under the auspices of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and is attended by muftis from 63 Muslim-majority countries to discuss the topic “The Role of Fatwa in Social Stability”