Egypt: President El-Sisi Meets the Prime Minister and the Minister of Religious Endowments

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Prime Minister, Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, and Minister of Religious Endowments, Dr. Osama Al-Azhari.

Spokesman for the Presidency, Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy, said the meeting discussed key areas of the Ministry of Endowments’ work and initiatives. Dr. Al-Azhari reviewed progress in the “Correct Your Concepts” awareness initiative, which was recently launched by the ministry. He noted that this initiative is a cornerstone of the ministry’s strategy to build enlightened religious and societal awareness by rectifying misconceptions and countering forms of non-religious extremism that contribute to the decline of values and ethics in society. The initiative also plays a pivotal role in restoring the balanced religious and national character of the Egyptians. President El-Sisi underscored the necessity of persistent follow-up on the initiative’s implementation mechanisms to ensure achieving its national objectives, in coordination with state institutions and civil society.

During the meeting, the President was updated on efforts to formulate a strategic vision for renewing religious discourse. The Minister of Religious Endowments noted that the relevant strategy comprises four main pillars. The first pillar focuses on confronting religious extremism in all its forms and the second addresses all forms of non-religious extremism, including the decline of values and negative behaviors. The third pillar concerns human development, while the fourth one is related to civilization building. Dr. Al-Azhari offered on overview of the “Renewing Religious Discourse” document, which outlines the executive procedures for all the aforementioned pillars in order to achieve the objective of formulating a rational religious discourse that promotes and solidifies values of peace, security, tolerance, and other noble principles for all humanity.

Dr. Al-Azhari outlined the latest developments in the ministry’s new digital platform. He emphasized that the platform is part of ongoing efforts to formulate a rational religious discourse that counters extremist ideologies, safeguards the nation, and enhances public awareness. The Minister of Religious Endowments added that it also encompasses several sections covering various aspects of Islamic and encyclopedic sciences. This is in addition to initiatives to rationalize behavior and address negative phenomena in society such as bullying, harming individuals with special needs, drug abuse, vandalizing public property, and disrespect for road manners. The Minister also discussed future plans to develop the platform and transform its content into visual and audio formats for dissemination across social media, while harnessing Artificial Intelligence technologies.

The meeting also discussed the latest developments in the implementation of the “Voices” competition, which seeks to discover the best voices in the recitation of the Holy Quran, religious invocations, and chanting, thus reflecting Egypt’s leadership in this field and its commitment to identifying outstanding talents. The President gave directives to strengthen coordination among the relevant authorities so as to enhance the capabilities of Imams and qualify distinguished cadres capable of addressing challenges, elevating the standard of religious discourse, and developing communication mechanisms, particularly in combating extremist ideologies and solidifying awareness and understanding of contemporary issues.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.