Al-Azhar has opened booths in Cairo metro stations to offer guidance and counter extremism. Egyptians have welcomed the presence of the renowned Sunni Islam institution, though some are uncomfortable, reports Mat Nashed.
Imam Sayed Amr, an elderly man with a large white hat with a red top, was issuing religious edicts inside a crowded metro station in downtown Cairo. He was among several pious leaders from Al-Azhar – one of Sunni Islam’s most renowned institutions – soliciting questions and concerns from Egyptians in transit.
“We have come here to answer people’s religious related questions,” Imam Amr told DW. “But we are also here to redirect young people who are on the wrong path.”
Last Thursday, Al-Azhar opened several small booths in Cairo metro stations to offer religious guidance to those who seek it. But their main motivation, they say, is to condemn terrorism and to correct misinterpretations in Islam.
The move comes as the Egyptian military continues to wage a bloody counter-terrorism campaign in the Sinai against the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) -affiliated militants. Human Rights Watch has criticized the military and insurgents for committing grave abuses.
However, the mass destruction in the north hasn’t stopped terrorist attacks from striking elsewhere in the country. More than 100 Coptic Christians have been killed from four church bombings, and more than 28 members of state security have died in the Sinai since July. The ongoing crisis is now compelling Al-Azhar to reach out to Egyptians as they transit through Cairo.
http://www.dw.com/en/in-egypt-islamic-clerics-give-out-edicts-in-the-metro/a-39829063
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