Feature: Egypt's Al-Azhar intensifies efforts to correct Islam image in face of terrorism

"All the world people are equal in enjoying humanity, everyone has the right to live in safety, security and peace," Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyib said during the meeting of the Muslim Council of Elders on Saturday in Cairo.

The council will dispatch 16 peace convoys on Sunday to the worldwide countries to spread the culture of peace and correct the mistaken concepts about Islam, especially in areas devastated by sectarian conflicts worldwide.

"The convoys are tasked with venting religious tension and promoting social peace in Africa, Asia, Europe and America," the deputy to Azhar, Abbas Shoman said.

Acts of violence have escalated against Muslims in some western countries after the recent terrorist attacks in France killed at least 129 civilians.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

"Such deviant factions should be disassociated from moderate and tolerant principals of Islam," Shoman told Xinhua.

The IS deviated quotations of the Prophet and verses of Quran to spread extremism for political gains, which complicates Al-Azhar task in defending Islam, Shoman said.

Egypt has been suffering growing terrorist attacks since the army-led ouster of the Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013. The Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and vowed loyalty to the IS, has claimed responsibility for most f the terrorist acts.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has urged Al-Azhar on several occasions to renew the religious speech to eradicate roots of extremism.

Shoman said that Al-Azhar institution has held conferences on a regular basis to reform the religious concepts which are misused by fanatic people to impact illiterate youth to join their lines.

"We have to know that terrorism is thought and belief, and a philosophy of life for the terrorists, a philosophy that makes death and committing suicide a matter of confidence for its adherent," he added .

Al-Azhar also established an observation center with 10 languages working around the day to monitor any strange, hardline, fanatic or extremist fatwa (Arabic word for the legal opinion or learned interpretation of a qualified jurist or mufti pertaining to the Islamic law) and correct it.

Also the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE), consisting of Muslim scholars, experts and dignitaries known for their wisdom, sense of justice, independence and moderateness, was established in 2014 to promote peace not only in Muslim countries, but in the whole world.

"The main task for establishing the MCE was to eliminate the disputes and struggles before turning into violence and destruction, and also to get rid of the violence effects, in case the attacks occurred, likewise what happened in some countries of Iraq, Yemen and Syria and some of the African countries like Mali," Shoman said.

Correcting the image of Islam that has been hurt due to the terrorist acts by some Muslims is our main objective, Shoman reiterated. "We have to differentiate between Islam and the terrorists."

Terrorism has neither religion nor identity, he added, "Muslims themselves had suffered most from the catastrophe of terrorism."

"Those who have burned Korans or houses of God (mosques) in the West should know that these acts are also terrorism by any standard," Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyib said at a meeting of senior Muslim clerics.

"So don't respond to terrorism with terrorism," he said in a speech.

"As we offer our condolences for the victims, We expect from all -- especially intellectuals and men of religion -- not to be swayed by the might of these shocks from the obligation of putting things in their context regarding the complete separation of Islam ... and a small minority that does not constitute a fraction of Muslims," Tayyib added.

"The black terrorism has reached Lebanon, the place of Arabism and coexistence, and the French capital of Paris, the city of culture. When we just start to wake up from that nightmare, another terrorist catastrophe in Mali happened, and God knows where the near future of humanity is headed, with those death squads and brokers of evil," Egypt's top cleric said.

Shoman urged for international cooperation as the task of eliminating violence and hatred became tougher.

"By support here I mean facilitation of procedures of communication, in the conflict areas in Yemen, Syria and some African countries, and providing intelligence about the locations of the warring faction to meet with them and reach peaceful solution," he said.

"The IS seeks sedition between Muslims and others and among the Muslims themselves, Shiite and Sunni. Seatrain strife is our main concern, because it is the fastest road for firing hatred, the nucleus for violence and terrorism," he concluded. Endit