UN hosts MWL conference on encountering extremist thoughts

CAIRO – 19 February 2020: Muslim World League (MWL) Secretary-General Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa launched Friday an initiative to “immunize youth against the ideas of extremism and violence.”

During an international conference held at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in Geneva, with the participation of delegations representing different governments and parliaments, UN ambassadors and senior religious leaders, Issa said that this kind of initiative aims to immunize young people against extremist ideas and violence.



Issa called on all the concerned authorities around the world to find effective programs to enhance the role of the family in shaping a healthy mentality for children and young people, along with finding ways to cooperate with religious and cultural institutes in that regard.

He stressed that religious and cultural institutions must shoulder the responsibility towards countering extremism, violence, and terrorism.

“It is important to prevent fatwas (religious decrees) or religious ideas from being used outside their circumstances or context. Religious awareness is flexible, and takes into account the change of religious fatwas and sermons according to the time, place and conditions,” Issa said.

On February 16, Awqaf Minister Mohamed Mukhtar Gomaa headed to Geneva to attend the International Conference at the UN.

Egypt’s religious institutes have been moving towards reforming the religious discourse.

In January 2020, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyeb, urged the renewal of religious discourse, calling it a “pure Quranic law.” Prominent scholars saw this renewal as necessary to cope with political and social developments.




Tayyeb’s remarks echo President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s calls for the renovation of Islamic thought since he took the post in 2014 as president, amid a resurgence in terrorist attacks in the name of Islam.

The situation of Muslims, without renovation, will inevitably see a rapid deterioration and a change toward the worse in the various fields of life, Tayyeb, who has served as the Grand Imam for 10 years, said during his speech at a conference for Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top religious authority.