NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10 – Muslim clerics in the country have been urged to take the lead in advocating for peace and religious tolerance in the wake of the geopolitical shifts across the globe.
Sheikh Gaber Taie Youssef, the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowments) in Egypt, who visited the country on Thursday challenged the religious leaders and scholars to use religion to push for peaceful co-existence among people from different denominations.
Sheikh Gaber added that some radical groups have used a lack of adequate religious knowledge to misrepresent Islamic teachings in order to sow discord among the people.
“These radical groups take advantage of the socio-economic and/or political situation to mislead the people. You will not see anyone who is well versed with the religious teachings associating himself with these kinds of extremist groups,” Sheikh Gaber said.
The Ministry of Awqaf of Egypt is one of the ministries in the Egyptian government that is in charge of religious endowments.
The Egyptian Awqaf minister made the remarks when he met at least 50 Muslim clerics in Nairobi to sensitize them on preaching and advocacy skills as part of an effort to counter misinterpretation of religious teachings by groups with ill motives including extremist groups.
The sensitization exercise which was conducted by the Egyptian Embassy in Kenya in collaboration with Generations of Peace in Kenya, a Non-Governmental Organization was aimed at improving preachers’ ability to deliver accurate teachings to their congregation in the wake of the rising threat of violent extremism across the globe.
He went on to say that extremist groups usually come in the name of rescuing people from poverty, or political challenges calling on the religious leaders to step up their game in countering their misleading narratives.
On his part, Sheikh Mustafa Mohamoud, the Chairperson of the Generations for Peace in Kenya said that the sensitization exercise will equip the religious leaders with crucial skills in relaying religious teachings in the country.
