The Russian Cultural Center (RCC) in Cairo organized a roundtable session under the theme of “Confronting Extremist Thought between the Egyptian Experience and Russian Religious Administrations.”
The sessions witnessed several activities such as a documentary film about Muslims’ life in Russia, in addition to several speeches by various officials such as Dr Magdy Ashour, Egyptian Grand Mufti’s advisor for academic affairs, Rawil Gaynutdin, the Grand Mufti of Moscow, and Dr Ruslan Sayyov, Vice President of the Bulgarian Islamic Academy.
The session kicked off after Sherif Gad, the director of the cultural activity at the centre, greeted the participants.
Next, Ashour praised the cooperation between Egypt and Russia in the spiritual and religious field, and the process of knowledge exchange through various workshops organized by Dar Al Iftaa.
He added that competing against extremist ideology is a global issue, therefore, Dar Al Eftaa’ established an observatory for confronting false and extremist ideas and material such as Islamophobia, in addition, this observatory succeeded in introducing an overview for several phenomena.
On his side, Gaynutdin hailed the strong relationship between religious institutions in Egypt and Russia, asserting that he is one of Islam’s minaret Al Azhar’s sons.
After that, he said that extremist ideology-related issues in Egypt are like those in Russia as the European country has more than 20 million Muslims. In addition, they represent various waves, trends, and sects.
Furthermore, Gaynutdin reviewed the methods Russian religious institutions follow to fight against terrorism and extremism such as printing several books about the reality of Islam and organizing several activities such as plays.
On his side, Sayyov reflected his country’s appreciation of Al Azhar due to its significant role in the lives of Muslims. He also pointed out to the newly inaugurated academy in Tatarstan, Bolgarskaya Islamskaya Akademiya, was funded by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The main missions of this academy are qualifying all Muslim religious scholars and mosques Imams in Russia, fighting against extreme thoughts, and creating a religious platform for spreading values as accepting people and respecting the other nations.
Contributed by: Rana Atef
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