Islamic State ideology dismantled: Observatory of Takfiri Fatwas

CAIRO – 19 December 2018: The Islamic State (IS) ideology has been dismantled, and its members are involved only in gang wars, according to a study issued by the monitoring unit of Dar al-Ifta's Observatory of Takfiri Fatwas and Extremist Views.

The unit analyzed the IS speeches in the past four years as part of its study to dismantle the ideology of terrorist groups.

The study referred that the IS speeches, delivered from 2014 to 2016 on jihad and expansion, have been greatly followed. These speeches have sought to show the growing strength of the military organization.

From 2017 to 2018, IS speeches focused on patience in times of war and discord, referring that its influence declined, according to the study.

The study showed that IS's 2017-2018 speeches forbade its groups from breaking away from the war instead of calling for fighting like in the 2014-2016 speeches.

As for IS attempts to regroup itself in Iraq, the observatory confirmed that its members are just involved in gang wars, and that it lost its members due to internal division, stressing that the IS is currently unable to recruit more members due to its weak media.

The study concluded that the number of IS defectors is expected to increase in the upcoming period, and the rest of the members will either join al-Qaeda or form separate extremist groups.

In the recent period, many efforts have been exerted to combat extremism and terrorist ideology in Egypt.

The Ministry of Awqaf is working at a steady pace to correct concepts and confront extremism, Chairman of the Values Committee at the Ministry of Awqaf, Sheikh JaberTaya, stated on Nov. 24.

He added that the ministry closed all parallel entities spreading the ideology of political Islam, pointing out that the ministry replaced these entities with Islamic cultural centers.

Taya referred that senior professors of Al-Azhar, who are known for their knowledge in Islamic sciences, are teaching in these centers, and that students must be university graduates with the desire and willingness to do Islamic studies.

The Ministry of Endowments launched an initiative to combat extremism and terrorism in Europe where hardliners are increasing.

The ministry will inaugurate soon an international academy for training clerics in foreign languages. These clerics will widen the ministry’s influence across the world.

Egypt is about to renew the religious discourse after all mosques have been placed under the Awqaf’s authority, according to Mohammad Mukhtar Jumaa, the minister of awqaf (endowments).

The religious discourse can often be brought up in public spheres of life with religious figures commenting on politics and the day-to-day happenings. Whilst this is common in every religion, in recent years, Egypt has been faced with a wave of terrorism and radical, extremist thought.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has repeatedly called for renewing the religious discourse as part of the war against terrorism. In order to curb extremist ideology that was often preached by extremist figures, mosques needed to be put under the Ministry of Awqaf’s jurisdiction.

Additional reporting by Ismail Refaat