CAIRO — Al-Azhar Mosque and the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) have been at odds over which institution should determine the content of Friday sermons. Now the tension is growing, as the ministry has officially declared itself in charge.

Without consulting the mosque, on Jan. 10 the ministry officially declared that, beginning in March, it will be determining Friday sermon scripts for the next five years as part of its plan to reform religious discourse in Egypt. The ministry is responsible for organizing religious discourse inside mosques, while Al-Azhar is responsible for Islamic outreach in the world.

According to the ministry's official statement, the new initiative aims to develop awareness of the different issues in Egyptian society, consolidate a national sense of belonging, correct misconceptions, uphold and consolidate moral values, ​​and build decent and conscious personalities capable of achieving peaceful coexistence with others.

Minister of Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa stressed that the outreach plan is based on diversity and imposes topics in advance. According to Gomaa, the imposed topics are more general than those currently addressed in sermons and are designed to develop positive awareness of public issues. He urged scholars, imams and other interested parties to keep an open mind while considering the plan.