Al-Azhar and the ministry of endowments launched on Monday an Islamic forum at Al-Hussein Mosque on the occasion of the start of Ramadan, with the participation of top scholars and clerics of both entities.
The forum aims to combat extremist and erroneous religious views, and to promote tolerance and Islamic teachings which forbid terrorising people.
Similar forums were launched too at 1,000 mosques nationwide with the participation of religious scholars and clerics.
The ministry of endowments decided to close small mosques (Zawyas) during Ramadan in order to prevent extremists from exploiting them to spread their views. The ministry also set conditions for going into Ramadan’s Itikaf (where Muslims go into seclusion during the last 10 nights of the holy month).
In a recent interview conducted by Al-Akhbar newspaper with the Minister of Endowments, Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, he asserted that such forums include lectures and seminars during the holy month to spread moderate thoughts and prevent extremists and radicals from dominating society.
Meanwhile, Gomaa also revealed that the ministry’s clerics will be supervising Itikafs inside mosques, and will allocate a cleric for each mosque.
