Extremism has no religion: Egyptian Mufti

CAIRO - 11 July 2018: Mufti of the Republic Shawky Allam on Wednesday said that terrorism and extremism are not confined to a specific religion or country.

In his speech at an international conference on peace and security that is organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, he added terrorism is adopted by the terrorist groups who have a warped mind and distorted logic.

The international community should stand united in the face of this obnoxious phenomenon, he pointed out, adding that issuing religious opinions is one of the most important missions of official religious institutions to rectify wrong concepts about Islam and educate Muslims on the true principles of their religion.

One of the most important reasons for the spread of extremism is that ineligible people are issuing religious opinions while they are not fit for that mission as they lack religious education, he pointed out, noting that these people are misleading Muslims with a view to achieving political gains that have nothing to do with religion.

The Egyptian Darul Iftaa (House of Religious Opinion) is exerting arduous efforts to fight this chaos of issuing religious opinions through publishing books and articles along with participating in international conferences on fighting terrorism and extremism, he added.

The Egyptian Darul Iftaa has set up an observatory for refuting wrong religious opinions, he said, adding that the observatory has issued several opinions to explain the true and tolerant teachings of Islam.