A declaration by El-Sisi in January about the need for a "religious revolution" against religious extremism made headlines, some going as far as to call him the possible Martin Luther of Islam.
In Sunday's interview, El-Sisi called again for a revolution in religious views, saying the Islamic world needs to rethink and revolt "for religion and not against it."
Echoing previous statements, he said that religious values of toleration in Islam must be promoted and that extremists and terrorists use religion for goals that are unrelated to the faith.
Egypt is engaged in a war in areas of North Sinai with Islamist militants, some of whom have declared allegiance with the Islamic State militant group which is based in parts of Iraq and Syria.
Militant attacks have also occurred in other parts of Egypt, including its capital Cairo, where dozens of bombs – mostly improvised and causing limited damage – have been detonated during the past several months.
Twenty Egyptian Copts were beheaded in Libya by the Islamic State group in February, which led Egypt to retaliate by conducting air strikes in coordination with the internationally recognised Libyan government, on what they said were the group's locations in Libya's Sirte.
Following El-Sisi's call for change in January, Egypt's Al-Azhar institution – the world's foremost authority on Sunni Islam – and the religious endowments ministry, which controls religious sermons and lecturing in public places, have said reforms are being carried out to counter the thoughts of militant Islamist groups.
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