The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb continued his talk about Al-Azhar efforts in renewing religious matters and serving the sublime objectives of its homeland and of the Arab and Muslim countries, as well a in advocating peace and human fraternity around the globe. He shed light on Al-Azhar International Conference on Renewal of Islamic Thought, held in January 2020, under the generous auspices of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, noting that the conference to which scholars, Muftis and thinkers form more than sixty countries were invited, uniquely addressed practical issues witnessed by the Muslims in Egypt and many other Muslim countries in a realistic manner. He also added, in episode 21 of Grand Imam At-Tayyeb TV Talk broadcast in Ramadan for the fifth year, that he focused in the above conference on “how the Muslim cultural scene lacks seriousness in terms of the responsibility towards our youth and our nation”. To HE, “There is a tacit condonement of the prevalent religious fanaticism at the levels of education and preaching. This phenomenon is coupled with the rise of modernizing and westernizing groups that dedicated their efforts to distorting the image of the Muslim figures, slandering them, and mocking their heritage. So, many Muslim youth are stuck between either exclusivist radicalism, hatred, violence, and rejection of the other, or loss in an abyss of civilizational suicide.”

The Grand Imam also pointed out that “the exclusivist current has subsided with the failure of its objective of driving the Muslims to turn their back on the Western civilization or stop the flow of Western culture. Thus, it has left our youth (culturally) defenseless due to their inability to encounter the sweeping foreign culture. On the other hand, however, the modernists and Westernizes have equally failed. They turned their back on heritage and even attacked and mocked it. They were singing a different tune in a way that added chaos to an already messy scene.”

The Grand Imam then confirmed that “the moderate reformist trend is alone entitled to undertake the mission of renewal; such renewal that neither cancels nor distorts religion, but rather derives guidance from its treasures and abandons its temporally-bound juristic rulings that no longer befit the current conditions. Such reformers then exercise individual reasoning towards reaching new rulings that go in line with the objectives of the religion.”

The Grand Imam then asserted that Al-Azhar managed to offer legal opinions in 29 articles in the conference final statement. These articles, which covered real life problems, were subject to investigation and scholarly discussions. The introduced opinions were endorsed by representative Muslim scholars.”

He then pointed out that “among the key points fully agreed upon by the participants were the following:

Extremist currents and groups of violence and terrorism are misleading in all their fatwas about Jihad, killing and bloodshed. The statements that they dress in jurisprudential garb are fallacious, especially those related to issues like political leadership, governance, takfir and hijrah, jihad, and the stance towards disbelievers in their doctrines, and the treatment of non-Muslims.

These groups largely participated in distorting the image of Islam and the Sharia among Westerners and Easterners alike. Perhaps they unwittingly spearheaded anti-Islam campaigns and stripped the Muslims of their vital power that sustain their existence.”

It is worth noting that Grand Imam At-Tayyeb TV Talk is broadcast for the fifth year on Egyptian and other Arab TV channels. In this year’s edition, the program, which was launched in Ramadan 2016, addresses the characteristics of Islam, moderation in Islam, principles relating to legal obligations, ease of the Sharia, sources of legislation, and debunking misconceptions about the Prophetic Sunnah and about Muslim tradition.