Thursday, September 21, 2017

In pursuit of its leading global role in combating extremism, promoting correct teachings of Islam and eradicating Islamophobia, the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide celebrated the graduation of 16 British Imams of UK Islamic centers who have been studying Islamic Jurisprudence at Egypt's Dar al-Ifta.  The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Shawki Allam and the British ambassador to Cairo, John Casson attended the graduation ceremony.

The graduation of the British Imams comes as the first step on the path of implementing the recommendations agreed upon by the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide conference held last October in Cairo. The recommendations aim at regaining Egypt's leading global religious role and enhancing mutual cooperation with Western Muslim communities to achieve global peace.     

“Imams and preachers in the West are the nucleus of promoting correct Islamic teachings and values, spreading peace and correcting misconceptions. Providing Imams with the necessary religious training is a very important step in the system of renewing the religious discourse. It is important that the Imams and preachers be trained to deal with the Shari'ah texts in light of the reality of time, and possess the tools to address the moderate religious discourse and its correct methods without either underestimation or overestimation,” Dr. Allam stressed. He added that the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide is fully ready to provide Imams worldwide with the necessary legal support and benefit from their expertise in combating extremist groups and ideologies.  

From his part, the Secretary-General of the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide, Dr. Ibrahim Negm, stated that it is the duty of Muslim authorized Imams and Scholars to eradicate extremist discourse that exists in Western communities through promoting moderate true religious teachings. This helps Muslims living in non-Muslim communities to fully and positively integrate with their societies and achieve peaceful coexistence.

The head of the British delegation, Dr. Musharraf Hussien expressed his appreciation for the religious expertise the Imams gained from the training program that will benefit British as well as all Muslims worldwide. "These days, we frequently hear about religion as a source of problems in the world. But in British and Egyptian societies, faith is a vital source of solutions. Faith provides rich resources of ethics, solidarity and deeply rooted solutions. That is why it is so important to support future leaders, built on deep international relations and invest in the efforts exerted by the General Secretariat for Fatwa authorities Worldwide to achieve these goals," the British ambassador, John Casson said.