The term "renewal of the religious discourse" was originally coined by 'Adly Mansour, the former chief justice of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court who was appointed Egypt's interim president following the July 2013 ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood regime headed by president Muhammad Mursi. At a January 2014 Ministry of Religious Endowments ceremony marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, Mansour told an audience that included dozens of senior clerics: "Our society today is in dire need of a renewal of the religious discourse, a conscious and responsible renewal… that will deal with the problem of extremism and the mistaken or defective understanding of Islam…"
On the same occasion a year later, current Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi also took up the call for a renewal of the religious discourse, calling, on December 28, 2014, for a religious revolution.
Articlespublished in the Arab and Egyptian media on this issue in the wake of the recent terror attacks showed disagreement over whether such an approach, which stemmed from a different perception of the causes of terror, would prove effective.
Ibrahim 'Issa, editor of the Egyptian newspapers Al-Dustour Al-Aslyand Al-Maqal, argued that terrorism is not the result of economic, political or social factors, but of the religious discourse, and therefore the renewal of this discourse is the main approach to fighting the terrorism it engenders. Accordingly, he said, President Al-Sisi should devote most of his attention to it.
In contrast, Egyptian intellectual Dr. Mamoun Fandy, who writes a column for the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, opposed the idea of renewing the religious discourse, dismissing it as "nonsense" and "a failed attempt to revive backwardness" and calling for completely changing the discourse and basing it on scientific criteria.
Furthermore, Dr. Wahid 'Abd Al-Magid, political commentator and former member of the Egyptian People's Assembly, argued that it was the social environment that dictated the public discourse, and that therefore the first thing to do was to deal with the social environment.
Below are translated excerpts from these three articles:
Al-MaqalEditor: Terror Is Not Caused By Economic, Political Or Security Reasons; The President Should Focus On Ideologically Combating Terror
Ibrahim 'Issa, editor of the Egyptian newspapers Al-Dustour Al-Asly and Al-Maqal, believes that the renewal of the religious discourse is the main way to combat Islamic terror. He wrote bitterly in Al-Maqal, which he also owns, in criticism of President Al-Sisi, charging him with responsibility for the June 29 assassination of Egyptian prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat and for the deaths of many others from Islamic terrorism. This, he said, was due to the mistaken priorities that Al-Sisi is promoting. He urged the president to completely devote himself to combating terrorism on the ideological level, to be reflected in education, in the mosques, in the media, and in the culture, rather than focusing on other issues such as the war on poverty. 'Issa also attacked the president's decision to entrust the ideological struggle to Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayeb and Egyptian Mufti Muhammad Shawqi Al-'Alam because their own views are extremist. He wrote:"…The funeral yesterday of the shahid [martyr] counselor, Egyptian prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat, must be the last funeral [resulting from] mistaken priorities. Of course, we are all prepared to die, and none of us can interfere with his [own final] hour if that is Allah's will but in reality, there are mistaken priorities that are leading us to funerals.
"In his statements at the funeral, President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi requested sharply and clearly that we not waste time on the small necessities, and that we should be aware that a very large-scale campaign against terrorism is underway…This is a very important demand. If only the president would be the first to implement it, in his efforts and in his policy…
"I know that the president is concerned for his people, and believes that the fight against terrorism will succeed by [economic] development and by fighting poverty and unemployment. This is very nice but it is an absolute mistake. Mr. President, abandon this concept, because it hurts the country and delays our anti-terror campaign."
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