Egypt confronts pro-Brotherhood fatwas in media
To confront the proliferation of fatwas in the media, Dar al-Ifta has established an observational body for monitoring and responding to them.
Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah, the Egyptian religious edict council, has decided to establish a body within the council for monitoring and responding to the fatwas in all TV, print and electronic media.
The move is a response to the fatwas on takfir (regarding other Muslims as non-Muslims) that are being issued for political purposes. The most recent was issued Jan. 5 by prominent Kuwaiti Islamic scholar Sheikh Ajeel al-Nashmi to kill Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Other fatwas have prohibited participating in the constitutional referendum.
In a Jan. 14 interview with Al-Watan, Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam said that in the first weeks of its work, Dar al-Ifta gathered nearly 320 anomalous and takfiri fatwas to refute and respond to in a methodical manner to correct religious misconceptions. Allam stressed that those fatwas are misguided and a danger to society, and must be confronted. He added that Dar al-Ifta should make its rulings known to the public at home and abroad.
“Fatwas are being regularly monitored through websites and the Internet. We then analyze them, deconstruct them and issue a true opinion to respond to them because they are distorting the image of Islam, which has nothing to do with them. … What’s dangerous in these misleading fatwas is the issue of bombings, martyrdom operations and the liberalization of the concept of jihad. We have responded to that, and we said that jihad must be under the banner of the state and with the consent of the [religious leadership], because there are groups calling for jihad and carrying out bombings and suicide operations and covering them with religion, which has nothing to do with them,” Allam added.
