From Egypt’s top cleric on India visit, advice to Muslims on religious fatwas

Any dialogue between different faiths has to embrace differences and diversity to build real bridges, and Muslims across the world, including in India, have to be discerning when it comes to religious fatwas that aren’t in consonance with contemporary realities, the Grand Mufti of Egypt has said.

Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, who is on a six-day visit to the country at the invitation of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), an autonomous body under the external affairs ministry, said Muslims who carry out terrorist attacks are part of a “fringe minority” that represents a sick mentality. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, an Islamic advisory body, is gathering like-minded scholars to stop this phenomenon, Shawki Allam said in an interview. Edited excerpts:

How do you view India and what are the sort of engagements you plan to have in the country?

It’s my second time in India and what I have personally noted is India has seen staggering development since I last visited New Delhi about five years ago. Any visitor to New Delhi would notice the successive developments in a great country like India. I personally feel the fragrance of the ancient vision of wisdom and knowledge of India mixed with new urban development undertaken by the government of India. Personally, I feel like the recent visit of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi [chief guest at Republic Day celebrations] has added a new flavor to the ever-growing and strong bilateral relationship between India and Egypt.

You have referred to the importance of messages by President Sisi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the need to build bridges in a challenging world. What will you do to help such bridges?

I think the starting point is to realise we are created by God in a diverse way, in terms of languages, ethnicities, religions, orientations and thinking. In Islam, this diversity is seen as a divine gift. We have to embrace it and move to the second step, which is to get to know each other, get rid of different barriers which we have built within ourselves that helps feed the hatred of others. Rather, we have to get to know each other. God, in one chapter of the Quran, says, ‘O people We have created you and made you into tribes and nations so that you get to know each other.’ So this is the purpose for which God created us. God did not say I have created you to kill each other or hate each. Rather, he underscored the purpose of getting to know each other. The third bridge builder is to move from getting to know each other to real partnerships and real cooperation. Because man cannot live by himself or herself. Rather, we have to engage, interact and cooperate on that which is good for ourselves and for humanity at large.

You have said any dialogue has to embrace the differences between Indian and Egyptian society and that people behind extremist views are a minority. How can this minority be countered and will you talk to people from different religious groups during this visit?

What I have personally found is that there is a crisis of religious authority all over the world. This crisis emerges especially when we try to answer the question: Who speaks for religion? I keep saying that unfortunately, there is a minority of self-proclaimed scholars who did not study Islam in credible institutions and do not know the higher values of Islam. Rather they reflect heartless opinions and misunderstanding of the religion and religious values. So, I think one step is to stop these self-proclaimed people from speaking in the name of Islam and in the name of Muslims. We have, as scholars, to try to build a coalition of credible scholars to engage and to fill the gap. Because these self-proclaimed people would not arise unless they found a gap. We are trying as credible, authoritative scholars to fill this gap. I feel there is also a big responsibility on the shoulders of the media, which should be very selective in giving its platform to credible, authoritative scholars. Unfortunately, especially the Western media, have succumbed to the fallacy of hosting pseudo or self-proclaimed scholars who give an unauthoritative picture of Islam.

I came to engage with people. I did not come just to visit monuments and sights. I started engaging [on Monday] and will continue to do so for the rest of the journey. I believe that engaging and carrying on a mature dialogue is the only solution that we have for a better future, for humanity and for our two great nations. I have been doing that throughout my international visits and will continue to do so because this is my mission statement. I believe that just engaging and starting a conversation melts the ice of hatred and ignorance. Once we sit together and start talking, one is inclined to feel the sentiments of other people and to share their concerns and problems, and this is a starting point towards a fruitful engagement and dialogue. I believe this is the only viable option. We cannot accept other options of clashes and hate speech. We have to believe that the only viable option left for humanity is to engage, reach out and start cooperating with one another.

You come from an organisation known for its scholarly and well-researched fatwas. There are sometimes problems over fatwas issued by obscure clerics who are not in sync with modern realities. How can this issue be addressed?

I totally agree with you that such people who haven’t understood modern realities fail to produce relevant fatwas that resolve people’s concerns and problems. I have been stressing the importance of understanding current realities and relating Islamic texts to current realities so that we can produce viable solutions for Muslims worldwide. Without this, fatwas would be flawed, full of errors, incorrect and irrelevant to the lives of Muslims. We have been issuing fatwas at Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta that meet these important criteria. Our higher goal is to accomplish societal peace locally, regionally and globally. We are seeing this phenomenon of self-proclaimed clerics who issue these fatwas which have nothing to do with the current realities of Muslims and therefore they give them wrong solutions for their problems that push them away from Islam, rather than making them abide by the values of Islam. We have a role to play in curbing this phenomenon, and that’s why we have created an umbrella body to bring all fatwa authorities worldwide on one platform, one common agenda to stop self-proclaimed people from hijacking the fatwa discourse. As I stressed before, the media have a role to play. The media should not go to such people and seek their opinion. I believe the common people have a role to play. Each Muslim has to be really careful in going to the wrong person because it is like a medical doctor. If you go to the wrong specialist, he will not be able to help you. The common man has a role to play by being very thorough in terms of reaching out to the good people, the certified and authoritative people who, besides understanding the religious text, they also understand the current realities of issues surrounding the fatwa.

You have criticised all kinds of terrorism, including attacks that targeted Christians in Egypt and the Shia minority in Pakistan. How can this problem be tackled and what can be done to address the negative connection between terrorism and people of the Islamic faith?

There is no association whatsoever between true religious values and resorting to violence, extremism and terrorism. We have to understand that terrorist attacks perpetrated by Muslims – they are a fringe minority. They do not represent Muslims. They represent themselves, they represent their sick minds and sick mentality. They resort to such violence because they haven’t understood religious values in a holistic, scholarly and authoritative way. Understanding Islam and all religions requires scholars who dedicate their entire life to the study of religion and to study the realities of the modern world and to be able to bridge religious values and cater them to the modern world so that Muslims or any faithful person would feel content and loyal to his or her religious values. I believe that again, it’s a shared responsibility. We have a role to play as scholars. Other players have a role to play to stop such sick minds and sick mentalities, who hijack the platform for producing these wrong opinions. As I mentioned, we are gathering like-minded scholars to be able to curb and stop this kind of phenomenon. This visit comes as a tool to reach out because dialogue is the only viable option. We have to reach out. We have to respect each other. We have to voice our concerns to each other in a tactful way, and our goal should be to accomplish societal cohesion and societal peace. This is the overriding purpose for all religions of the world – to live in peace with each other.