April 12, 2019
Pursuing the strategy of cooperation with the African countries to promote sound teachings of Islam and moderate methodology of fatwa issuance, Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta celebrated—under the umbrella of the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide—the graduation of 17 Imams from the dark continent. The 17 graduates represented the first class of this training program, held from 31 March to 10 April 2019 at Dar al-Ifta premises.
“This training program differs from the previous ones and provides the African Imams, who represent the majority of the African countries, with new insights through its carefully prepared curricula to help them promote correct Islamic teachings and values, spread peace and combat extremist ideologies,” Egypt’s Grand Mufti stressed. He added that the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide is fully ready to provide Imams worldwide with the necessary legal support and benefit from their expertise in combating extremist groups and ideologies.
From his part, the Secretary-General of the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide, Dr. Ibrahim Negm, stated that this training program comes within the framework of the General Secretariat to exchange expertise and provide African Imams with the knowledge necessary for promoting sound moderate teaching of Islam. Dr. Negm added that the program included 17 participants representing the majority of African countries: Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Central African Republic, Chad, Togo, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon, Benin and Ethiopia.
The Participants expressed their appreciation for the religious expertise they gained from the training program that covered both religious and secular knowledge to perfectly serve the cause of learning while taking into account the endless changes of our modern world.