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From Egypt prez, a call for `reform in Islam'

Author: Agencies
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 9, 2015
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/From-Egypt-prez-a-call-for-reform-in-Islam/articleshow/45816917.cms

Egypt's president opened the new year with a call for a "revolution'' in Islam to reform interpretations of the faith entrenched for hundreds of years, which he said have made the Muslim world a source of "destruction'' and pitted it against the rest of the world. The speech was Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's boldest effort yet to position himself as a modernizer of Islam.

 His professed goal is to purge the religion of extremist ideas of intolerance and violence that fuel groups like al-Qaida and ISIS -and that appear to have motivated the attack in Paris. But those looking for the "Muslim Martin Luther'' bringing a radical Reformation of Islam may be overreaching -and making a false comparison to begin with. El-Sissi is clearly seeking to impose change through the state, using government religious institutions like the 1,000-year-old al-Azhar, one of the most eminent centres of Sunni Muslim thought and teaching.

 Al-Azhar's vision for change, however, is piecemeal, and conservative, focusing on messaging and outreach but wary of addressing more controversial issues. Al-Azhar officials tout a YouTube channel to reach out to the young, mimicking radicals' successful social media outreach. They proudly point out that clerics in the videos wear suits, not alAzhar's traditional robes and turbans, to be more accessible. In a more ambitious effort, religious school textbooks are under review. An al-Azhar official said texts outlining rules for slavery, for instance, have been removed.

US working with Muslim leaders to counter ISIS

    
The US is working closely with the Muslim leaders to try to counter ISIS's violent extremist ideology to radicalise individuals around the globe, the White House has said."We have enjoyed significant success in enlisting leaders in the Muslim community, both in the US and around the world to condemn that kind of messaging, to condemn those efforts to radicalise individuals, and to be clear about what the tenets of Islam actually are," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
 
 
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