Awqaf Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said President Abdel Fattah El Sisi significantly supports moderate thoughts and is keen to raise public awareness about religious and patriotic issues.
In an interview with MENA Editor-In-Chief and Board Chairman Ali Hassan, the minister reiterated that Sisi adopts policies on religious tolerance with deep keenness on spreading peace culture worldwide.
The minister extended thanks to president Sisi over his auspices of the 33rd international conference “ijtihad is necessity to age”, which will be organized by the ministry on September 24-25 with the participation of more than 100 scholars from over 60 countries to focus on the issue of ijtihad (independent judgment or opinion).
Gomaa pointed out that the conference will be a very important event with the participation of a host of scholars from Arab and Islamic countries to shed light on several religious issues.
Gomaa said the ministry currently aims to provide 100,000 families with monthly aid through launching different social protection initiatives and services in cooperation with the Social Solidarity Ministry for the neediest categories.
He pointed out that mosques have restored their important roles under the new republic through organizing the current activities of memorizing the Holy Quran for children in more than 7,000 mosques nationwide.
The Ministry of Awqaf exerts great efforts through launching cultural weeks to enhance its educational roles.
Under Sisi’s directives, the ministry also works on exerting social efforts to help the needy families through launching Adahi Sukuk and Feeding Sukuk initiatives to ensure that food is offered to the poor all year round nationwide.
More than 6.6 million families have benefited from Adahi Sukuk so far, as the needy families got many tons of Adahi meat, the minister stressed.
Gomaa said the Awqaf Ministry has positively responded to the directives of president Sisi to maximize its returns, making its highest rates of yearly yields in the Fiscal Year 2021/2022 with some EGP2.015 billion.
The ministry also exerts great efforts to train imams, scholars and female preachers and spread wise moderate thoughts in several countries worldwide, he added.
The Awqaf Ministry also provided training courses and initiatives for many imams and female preachers, in addition to awarding ICDL certificates for 1,013 trainees, Gomaa said.
The ministry also launched joint training courses through inking 24 protocols of cooperation with several universities, including Al Azhar University to train 4,100 imams and female preachers, according to him.
Gomaa stressed that the ministry worked on improving financial conditions for imams under president Sisi’s directives, as the imams’ salaries have increased.
He asserted that the ministry exerts great efforts to counter extremism and terrorism through preventing extremist and unqualified imams from delivering sermons and speeches in mosques.
The minister also shed light on fruitful cooperation with the Ministry of Culture through making different translation and cultural works.
He underlined the importance of the summer program carried out nationwide for children to educate and help them understand moderate Islam.
He added that the Awqaf Ministry is cooperating with its counterparts in the Arab and Islamic world, as it held 10 international conferences during the period from 2014 to 2022, in addition to organizing seven competitions on memorizing the Holy Quran during the period from 2015 to 2021.
Gomaa said the ministry made great efforts on renovating and opening new mosques nationwide at a cost of more than EGP4.130 billion.
The minister underscored the important the role played by female preachers to raise and spread religious awareness among Egyptian families.
He stressed that the ministry played a key role to contribute to carrying out development plans under the Presidential “Decent Life” initiative.
The ministry will also focus on environmental issues at the 33rd International Conference since Egypt is set to host the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in November in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh, Gomaa added.
Source: State Information Service Egypt