During a ceremony held at Dār al-Iftā’ (Ifta House), in which Shawqī ‘Allām officially took the position of Muftī of the Republic, ‘Alām said he will not allow anyone to drag him into the battle of the political parties.

He also noted that the first job of Dār al-Iftā’ is to issue a legitimate rule in a disciplined way by limiting “abnormal” fatwas. This can be done in two ways: one, find a way to create awareness of the masses and trust in the referendum and two, work diligently towards rectifying wrong concepts that result from “abnormal” fatwas. He promised to work towards unifying a religious base in Egypt as one entity in the Azhar.

In another development, former Muftī of Egypt, Nasr Farīd Wāsil, said that if the crisis between political forces and the conflicts between different sectarian groups continue Egypt will head towards failure (Fātimah Khālid, al-Sabāh, March 4, p. 1). Read original text in Arabic.