Sisi calls for renewing religious discourse based

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi greeted on Thursday Egyptians and the Islamic and Arab nations on the anniversary of al Muled al Nabawi (Prophet Muhammad's birthday).

Addressing a celebration organized by Al Awqaf Ministry on that occasion, Sisi underlined the importance of renewing religious discourse based on the true understanding of Islam.

One of the main challenges facing us today is the deflection of the religious discourse from Islam, the President said. 
President Sisi said we are in dire need of renewing the religious discourse and correcting mistaken religious concepts advocated by terrorists who believe they can intimidate innocent people and go unpunished. 

He called for exerting tireless efforts to renew religious interpretations which were done by our predecessors in order to achieve peace inside our country and to prove to the entire world that Islam is a great religion.

We are determined to continue this intellectual battle; the battle of correcting and renewing the religious discourse. And at the same time we will continue, with the same determination, our confrontation against terrorism by military and security means, Sisi said. Sacrifices of police and army men will always remain a source of admiration by every Egyptian and they will not go in vein as they help create a safe homeland in which all its sons live in dignity, he added. 
President Sisi made it clear that renewing the religious discourse will not include Islamic principles. What we mean by renewing religious discourse is coping with terminology of our age. We need to benefit from the way our predecessors handled their own time' concerns and defended them based on the true understanding of Islam.

This is a serious issue we talk about here. That's why, I asked Awqaf Minister Mokhtar Gomaa to form a committee of top scholars and sociologists to discuss this issue as a whole and find points of weakness and strength in the Egyptian society in order to come up at the end with a roadmap.

We have 52 weeks in the entire year so we will put an agenda of the most important occasions and set Friday sermons based on this. By this way we are not underestimating the judgement of scholars but we are trying to re-shape a nation that lived for long years in a state of confusion that created the situation we are suffering from now. 
The Egyptian president expressed regret over the misunderstanding of Islam which makes some people justify killing in the name of religion.

Those people have been trying since July 3, 2013 to ruin the State. They are ready to intimidate children, youths and elderly people to defend certain ideas, God knows, have no real existence. They are spending money to spread chaos and destruction, Sisi said.

July 3 is the date when millions of Egyptians took to streets to end the term of former president Mohamed Morsi.

Religion should not be introduced to people in a way that intimidates them or should not be taken as an excuse so that people could kill each other then come out depicting this destruction as a victory from God, the president said.

Those people were betting last month that Egypt is lost. For those people, I say we have never conspired against anyone nor we will...we never killed anyone nor we will be killed...we never betrayed anyone nor we will. We will continue rebuilding Egypt, Sisi said. 
Speaking about the economic situation in Egypt's, Sisi said for decades, economists know that our economy needs restructuring and we all know that reform decisions are not an easy task but a tough one.

By taking tough economic decisions, we are making the future for the generations to come and saving ourselves from a tough economic situation that if remained unsettled would ruin our future as well as the future of our sons, the President said.

We are leading a huge, well-studied transition that takes into consideration the circumstances of our economy at the present stage, he added.

We are trying to make Egypt a development state and secure a creative cooperation between the State and the private sector. And at the same time we are fighting all forms of corruption and showing no leniency in holding corrupt people accountable.

He said he totally understands the woes created by economic reforms and that he is trying to alleviate its effects by expanding the social care programs.

Sisi said he knows that the economic situation in the country is very difficult and that prices are on the rise but he made it clear that these latest economic decisions came too late and that they should have been taken years ago.

To make things more clear, the president said, for example, salaries of civil servants rose from 80 billion to 230 billion pounds, which means a 150-billion-pound increase. Can the state revenues cover this increase? Of course not. They are funded by loans amounting to 900 billion pounds in six years.

At the end, the president stressed that the state will continue the reform road it began till achieving its goal; a safe and strong Egypt.

Source: MENA