- Title: Train station religious kiosks offer guidance to Cairo's commuters
- Date: 27th July 2017
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (JULY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF METRO STATION VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING PAST RELIGIOUS BOOTH IN TRAIN STATION RELIGIOUS BOOTH SIGN READING (Arabic): 'FATWA COMMITTEE' VARIOUS OF DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL AT AL-AZHAR'S FATWA DEPARTMENT, SAEED AMER, SEATED WITH CLERIC AND TALKING TO COMMUTERS IN BOOTH NOTEBOOK ON TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL AT AL-AZHAR'S FATWA DEPARTMENT, SAEED AMER, SAYING: "The first thing is the influential and accessible nature of it (booths) for people. We do not annoy them by forcing them to go to a location that is far away that may cost them money and time. So, we are saving them energy, time and work by placing this booth in this blessed place that is the greatest meeting point for the Egyptian population." VARIOUS OF TRAIN APPROACHING STATION PLATFORM VARIOUS OF AMER TALKING TO COMMUTERS IN RELIGIOUS BOOTH GENERAL COORDINATOR FOR ELECTRONIC FATWA AT AL-AZHAR, TAMER MATTAR, AND ANOTHER CLERIC TALKING TO COMMUTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GENERAL COORDINATOR FOR ELECTRONIC FATWA IN AL-AZHAR, TAMER MATTAR, SAYING: "The fatwa committee that is here in the metro is part of the full strategy of Al-Azhar to fight extremism and incorrect fatwas. Of course, as you know in this last period, there were stolen fatwas mainly in Egypt which were meant to create severe polarisation between Egyptians, especially with the youth who comprise 60% of the Egyptian population and fatwas are very influential." COMMUTERS WALKING THROUGH TURNSTILES BOOKS ON DISPLAY AT STATION BOOK COVER READING (Arabic): 'TERRORISM AND THE DANGER IT POSES TO GLOBAL PEACE' BOOK COVER READING (Arabic): 'CORRECTION OF UNDERSTANDINGS' (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) COMMUTER, MONA EL BEHEERY, SAYING: "With regards to the fatwa committee, all those who are opposing it are mercenaries, receive money or are the elite, but they are not elite or anything. They are the ones who say kiosks, of course they are not kiosks. The ones who criticise it by saying that it is like getting a takeaway, are you going to pay for the cost of the fatwa for it to qualify as takeaway?" TRAIN LEAVING PLATFORM CAIRO, EGYPT (JULY 25, 2017) (REUTERS) MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, MOHAMED ABUHAMED, SEATED (SOUNBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, MOHAMED ABUHAMED, SAYING: "It is clear that they are disconnected from reality and I am shocked that after almost four years of requests from the highest power of the nation, the president and passing through all levels of society to make amends to religious rhetoric, they have only come up with this idea." ABUHAMED SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, MOHAMED ABUHAMED, SAYING: "Why don't you use the resources you have? If your only aim is to reach people, then why don't you go to every area and find the most famous mosque there and announce that you will set up a fatwa committee there. But certainly, it should not have been done in this way. Either way, I will not respect what they are doing in this domain until they practically do what is demanded of them, which is the development and revision of the context (of religious rhetoric) and that is the core problem." CAIRO, EGYPT (JULY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COMMUTERS AT STATION
- Embargoed: 10th August 2017 14:37
- Keywords: Egypt's Al-Azhar university Cairo metro Egyptian commuters free religious advice religious booths train stations
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- City: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0016RHQ82D
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Egyptian sheikhs have set up shop at a kiosk in one of Cairo's busiest underground stations, ready to dole out religious advice to commuters queuing outside.
It is the latest attempt by Al-Azhar university, Egypt's highest religious authority and one of the world's most eminent seats of Sunni Muslim learning, to touch base with the wider public and counter the appeal of militant Islam.
"We are saving them energy, time and work by placing this booth in this blessed place that is the greatest meeting point for the Egyptian population," said Saeed Amer, deputy secretary general of the Al-Azhar department in charge of issuing religious edicts and one of the clerics in the kiosk.
Almost 2,000 people have come to seek 'fatwas' (religious advice) since the initiative began two weeks ago in the Shohadaa subway station. Many questions to the clerics have touched on issues of Islamic prayer rituals, inheritance, marriage and divorce.
Commuters appeared to welcome the initiative, with some even calling for more kiosks to pop up at other stations across the capital. But others have not been impressed.
"It is clear that they are disconnected from reality and I am shocked that after almost four years of requests from the highest power of the nation, the president and passing through all levels of society to make amends to religious rhetoric, they have only come up with this idea," parliamentarian Mohamed Abu Hamed said.
The 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar has come under fire from parliament and local media who accuse its clerics of failing to modernize their religious discourse to better counter the lure of militancy among disaffected, marginalized young people.
Islamist militants are waging an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula and have killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police in clashes since 2013. Jihadist attacks have increasingly spilled into the mainland, killing Christians and tourists.
In 2015, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Al-Azhar to update their Islamic teachings to better engage youth and steer them away from violent jihadism.
The Azhar Observatory was subsequently launched. Operating in 10 languages, the Observatory tracks social media where militants spread their rhetoric so as to counter and refute it in timely fashion.
The university has also published several books about terrorism as a threat to international peace and stressed the need to correct jihadist interpretations of Islam. The books are displayed for sale on shelves outside the kiosk.
The kiosk advice project will last until the beginning of September, Transport Minister Hisham Arafat said, but he added that the government is open to repeating the experiment if there was enough public demand. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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