Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta 3rd int’l conference in brief: vision, themes, goals and participants

In a news statement issued on Saturday, Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta announced that its 3rd international conference titled “The Role of Fatwa in Creating a Stable Society” has been launched on Tuesday, October 17, 2017. The three-day conference will be held under the auspices of Egypt’s President, his Excellency Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, through the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide. The conference will cover the following themes and goals:

Conference Vision:
Emerging extremist groups have audaciously issued fatwas that cause destruction and create havoc in society based on deviant extremist ideologies to achieve their evil goals. They have exploited such aberrant fatwas to destroy and plunder the resources of various communities all over the world. These heinous frequent terrorist actions have resulted an increase in hate crimes committed against Muslims and defaming the image of Islam worldwide (Islamophobia).
Therefore, the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide has found it incumbent on specialized Muslim religious scholars and muftis all over the globe to meet in Cairo to discuss and investigate the matter of fatwa issuance at Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta headquarters.

Conference Themes
The conference focuses on three main themes:

1. The role of fatwa in stabilizing societies. 
2. The role of fatwa in combating corruption and destruction. 
3. The role of fatwa in enhancing development and prosperity. 

Four workshops will be held in the margin of the conference that will discuss the following:
1. Extremist fatwas and hyperspace. 
2. Chaos of issuing fatwas and mass media.
3. The role of fatwa in stabilizing the family.
4. Presenting the experiences of fatwa institutions in combating aberrant fatwas.

 
Conference Goals
1. Identifying the most important problems related to contemporary fatwa issuance including aberrant fatwas that seek to spread chaos and destabilize societal peace and working at creating effective solutions. 
2. Highlighting the roles that contemporary fatwa issuance can play in resolving the problem.
3. Formulating a fatwa-media charter to control fatwa chaos in the media and cyberspace.
4. Promoting family stability by renewing fatwas relative to family affairs on the level of issues as well as on the means.
5. Trying to present non-traditional solutions to address the debate on institutionalizing and codifying fatwa issuance. 

Participants
The conference comprises multi-regional delegations and representatives from 60 countries worldwide who will exchange and discuss the craft of issuing fatwa through the moderate lens of Shari’ah. The delegations include muftis and scholars from Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Yemen, Lebanon, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Uganda, Cameroon, Zambia, Kenya, Djibouti, America, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Japan, China, France, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and other countries worldwide.

Inauguration session

The opening session will be held on Tuesday, October 17, 2017 at 10:00 am CLT
Speakers include:
– The Grand Imam of Azhar, Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb, will deliver the conference’s key speech.
– The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Shawki Allam, will deliver the conference’s opening statement.
– Grand Mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Abdul Latif Deryan.
– The Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Dr. Muhammad ibn Abdul Karim Issa.

Closing Session
The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Shawki Allam will deliver the conference’s closing statement on Thursday, October 19, 2017, at 12:00 pm CLT.