The fundamental traditional Islam spread in Egypt not only among followers of Islamist political movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis, but also among the ordinary segments of the population, and after decades of abortions of any attempt to renew the religious discourse.

A year has passed since the "massacre of al-Rawḍa," when gunmen affiliated to Dāʿish stormed the "Bilāl mosque" in the al-Rawḍa village in northern Sinai, targeting worshipers during performing their Friday prayers, killing 311 people, including 27 children.

A year has passed and Egyptians still debate over whether or not the religious discourse renewal is needed to fight terrorism and radicalism. A few days before the commemoration of the victims of this massacre, the Egyptians celebrated the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad. The official celebration witnessed an aired controversy on the subject. While the Minister of Endowments [Awqāf], Dr. Muḥammad Mukhtār Jumʿah, thanked President al-Sīsī, for his call to renew the religious discourse, the speech of Dr. Aḥmad al-Ṭayyib, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, was completely different. The Grand Imam avoided to talk of discourse renewal, and instead focused on the importance of the Sunnah staying next to the Qurʾān side by side. “Otherwise, three quarters of the religion [of Islam] would be lost,” he said.

It is as if the Grand Imam considers the Quran, the word of God Almighty is not more worth than a quarter of the entire faith.