AFRICA/EGYPT - President al-Sisi: so far little has been done to renew "religious speech"

Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - In Egypt similar efforts to "renew religious speech" and therefore "dry up the sources" of extremism and terrorism, "are still not sufficient". This is what Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a speech broadcast on national television last night, Tuesday, May 12. In his speech, the Head of the Egyptian State again urged the Islamic University of al-Azhar and other national religious institutions, to lavish greater commitment in this field, since this could have a big impact in Egypt and in other Countries in the region. During his television appearance, al-Sisi also revealed that in April alone 600 people were arrested in the Country, who he defined as "terrorists", a number that "reflects the efforts that we are making and the magnitude of the challenge we are facing".
Already in his speech earlier this year to scholars and religious leaders at al-Azhar University - Sunni Islam's greatest theological center -, President al-Sisi had urged the religious leaders of Islam to promote "a religious revolution" in order to eradicate bigotry and replace it with a "more enlightened vision of the world". During that speech, immediately relaunched by Agenzia Fides (see Fides 02/01/2015), al-Sisi had reiterated that the Islamic world cannot be perceived as "a source of anxiety, danger, death and destruction" for the rest of humanity. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 13/05/2015)


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