Leading Islamic scholars in Egypt are attempting to have it enshrined in law that violence in the name of religion is incompatible with Islam.
Scholars at the influential Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the world's leading centre of Islamic teaching in the Sunni tradition, have tabled a bill to the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi.
The bill affirms 'the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law'.
The aim is to counter violence and sectarian hate propaganda justified in the name of religion, according to Sheikh Ahmed al Tayyib, the Great Imam of Azhar.
According to Fides. the bill is endorsed by Islamic scholars at the university. It is aimed at reducing hate speech and intolerance and promoting 'fruitful coexistence' in Egypt among people of different faiths.
The draft was composed by a committee of five headed by Mohamed Abdel Salam, legal adviser for the Great Imam.
The committee incorporated elements from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Egyptian Constitution and criminal law.
Judges will be left free to determine the penalties for religious hate crimes.
The aim is to counter violence by extremists who cite the Quran to justify acts of hatred and terror.
As World Watch Monitor reports, the bill comes as a prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Salem Abdul Jalil, appeared in court on Saturday after calling Christians 'unbelievers' on his TV show. World Watch Monitor also reported Al-Azhar has distanced itself from claims that its teachings condone, or even encourage, acts of violence in the name of Islam.
Egypt has seen some terrible extremists atrocities, including repeated church suicide bombings resulting in the deaths of dozens, perpetrated against Christians, who consitute more than one in 10 of the population.
