Egypt’s Al-Azhar is scheduled to hold an international conference on reforming religious discourse next January, according to a statement on Tuesday.
This came following a call made by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi last week during the Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday celebration to launch a conference to discuss combating extremism and renewal of religious discourse.
Al-Sisi will attend the conference along with high Islamic clerics and top state figures. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb, thanked Al-Sisi for his support of the conference, to be called “Al-Azhar’s International Forum to Renew Islamic Thoughts and Studies.”
Al-Azhar, the country’s leading Sunni institution, has already held a number of workshops including representatives from various institutions, adding that it would continue talks with various factions in society on challenges in revamping religious discourse.
El-Tayyeb said the conference will help achieve the institution’s message in demonstrating the tolerance of Islam and renouncing extremism.
Al-Sisi has repeatedly stressed the importance of having balanced religious discourse to confront extremism and radical ideology, and often calling on Islamic clerics to reform their religious speech to confront extremist ideology.
Following the president’s calls, Clerics, intellectuals, MPs urge state to finalise the renewal of religious discourse. Over the year, the Egyptian government has been experiencing calls for renewing religious discourse as a result of misconceptions in Islam and Christianity that has lead to the emergence of terrorism.
