During the celebration of the Prophet's birthday, the president called on Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Sheikh of Al-Azhar, saying, "You and preachers are responsible before God for the renewal of religious discourse."
"There cannot be a religion that collides with the whole world and the problem is not the religion, but the ideology, which requires great efforts by Azhar's scholars," the president added.
The University of Al-Azhar, based in Cairo with branches across Egypt, is the largest Arab Islamic university in the Middle East.
Dr. Khaled Montasser, Egyptian intellectual and political writer, wrote in an article in Al-Watan earlier that the Islamic State base their crimes on the books of Al-Azhar.
"Those young people who carry out acts irresponsibly and kill judges and police members in Egypt did not read Shiite books, but they all read Sunni extremist books and interpretations upon which the members of the Islamic State (IS) depend in killing, booby-trapping and burning. These books are put in Azhar libraries and are taught by its scholars," Montasser wrote. He called on Al-Azhar Sheikh to stop the tide of the Islamic State by purifying Al-Azhar curricula first.
Egyptian media professional Ibrahim Issa said the students in the Azhar first secondary grade are taught that music is forbidden and who listens to music shall be punishable by flogging. In his TV show, Issa said that if this is the religious renewal according to Azhar scholars, then all Muslims are encouraged to join the Islamic State, which is believed to be a true representative of religion.
Dr. Tarek Haggi, a leading secularist intellectual and political writer, said the education curricula at Al-Azhar have graduated supporters of the Islamic State, which means Azhar needs to review why its graduates ideas similar to the ideology of jihadist groups.
Sayed Qimni, a prominent researcher in the affairs of political Islam, said that everything taught by Al-Azhar asserts that Al-Azhar is the "most moderate" in its terrorism.
For his part, Ahmed Abdo, an Islamic researcher, said the textbooks of the Ministry of Education contributes to teaching children the ideology of the IS.
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Edited from: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=65455#.VoPLGzZOJSU