Truly, Al Azhar has been playing an important role, particularly abroad, to promote the correct teachings of Islam, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi acknowledged on Tuesday, but he still pressed for renewing the religious discourse altogether.
By changing the religious discourse, Sisi said he does not mean the Muslim faith.
He told a delegation of reporters before leaving Kuwait that his remarks during the Mawlid al Nabawi celebrations about changing the religious discourse were rather about the extremist discourse that brought about a generation of extremists who are now defaming Islam; a religion of tolerance and moderation.
He told the delegation that he had met with the awqaf minister and Al Azhar grand imam to study how to change the religious discourse, which he knows for sure will take time.
"We want to fix Al Azhar and not to destroy it," Sisi stressed.