The Egyptian parliament's religious affairs committee on Thursday (May 4th) approved a draft law that limits the issuing of fatwas to licensed preachers, Egypt's Ahram Online reported.
The draft law stipulates that only clerics and scholars affiliated with Al-Azhar, Dar al-Ifta, the Complex of Islamic Research and the religious endowments ministry's General Directorate of Fatwas will be licensed to issue fatwas.
It stipulates that licensed preachers will be the only ones allowed to issue fatwas via mass media outlets such as television and radio, with violators facing a six-month prison sentence and a fine of up to 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($552).
According to Egyptian MP Omar Hamroush, the committee's secretary-general, the draft law is part of ongoing efforts to reform religious discourse and aims to crack down on all forms of radical agendas, particularly in the form of fatwas.
Religious Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa told lawmakers last week that only Al-Azhar-affiliated clerics will be allowed to deliver "night sermons" during Ramadan.
Gomaa said in a letter to parliament's religious affairs committee that "night prayers and sermons in all of Egypt's mosques during the coming Ramadan will be performed under the tight supervision of Al-Azhar imams and clerics who are licensed by the endowments ministry".
