Egypt's Mufti: Egypt shoulders much responsibilities in view of historic, religious position

CAIRO - 15 October 2019: Egypt's Mufti Shawqi Allam on Tuesday asserted that Egypt has shouldered too many responsibilities in view of its historical and religious position as Cairo has never relinquished its role and missions worldwide.

Addressing the fifth international conference titled “Managing Juristic Differences: A Civilizational Approach" held under the auspices of President Abel Fattah El Sisi, Allam said the issue of this year's conference emanated from a real determination that is not limited to merely addressing intellectual and ethical issues related to juristic differences, but extends to an honest intention to utilize and manage juristic differences with insight and prudence.

The purpose is to render these differences an efficient instrument for promoting a system that allows Islamic jurisprudence and fatwa to contribute to the contemporary civilization on the levels of both the Islamic world and humanity in general, Allam added.

He highlighted efforts exerted by the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide to counter the extremist thoughts and terrorism as well as launching programs that fight the extremists' ideologies which have become a rising threat in the present and future of the Islamic nation.

He also underlined the importance of handling differences in the Islamic jurisprudence in order to avoid utilizing such differences by the terrorist groups to defame Islam and deceive citizens under the name of religion.

Earlier in the day, the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide launched the fifth international conference titled “Managing Juristic Differences: A Civilizational Approach”. The two-day conference, held under the auspices Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, is attended by leading delegates from 85 countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Tunisia, Palestine, Oman, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, Comoros, Burundi, Tanzania, Senegal, Malaysia, Thailand, United States, France, Russia, Greece, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Albania and other world countries.

A number of training and interactive workshops will be held on the margin of the conference sessions that will focus on mechanisms of treating Islamophobia issues, the announcement of the results of the Global Fatwa Index (GFI) and the Fatwa and Information Technology (IT).

The conference will unveil a number of initiatives and projects that serve Ifta’ research and enable researchers to manage juristic differences. Such initiatives include announcing the “Charter of Fatwa and Juristic Tolerance”, the international day of Ifta' and the Imam al-Qarafi Prize for distinction in Ifta'.