The head of the centuries-old Al-Azhar Islamic Center, Grand Imam El-Tayeb, blamed “corrupt interpretations of some texts in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah” for the spread of radical Islamist groups.
“The most striking reason, that I see, is the historical accumulation of extremist tendencies,” the country’s top Islamic cleric said, according to the Al Ahram newspaper.
Speaking at an anti-terrorism conference in Mecca on Sunday, El-Tayeb said it is essential to impose a “control” on the “chaos of fatwas (religious rulings) against other Muslims as infidels.”
Otherwise, he said, there will be “no hope” for the Islamic Ummah – the Islamic world – to retrieve its unity.
The Imam called for a conference of Muslim scholars, to create a set of common values, yet allow the people of each nation to follow their own set of agreed-upon unique teachings. Such a system would create “social stability,” he said.
El-Tayeb also called for the introduction of a special education curriculum to correct “false and ambiguous concepts.”
In addition, the Muslim leader underlined the importance of ‘tolerance’ in dialogue.