Author: Assem Hefny

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The 28-year-old accused is led before the court just one day after the terror attacks on two mosques in Christchuch (photo: Mark Mitchell/SNPA/NewZealand Herald POOL/AAP/dpa)

Post-Christchurch debate on religion and terrorism

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Who is responsible for the violence?

The question of whether religious texts are interpreted in a tolerant or a hostile way is closely tied to the historical context in which the interpretation takes place. The responsibility for terrorism lies first and foremost with people and not with the religious texts themselves, says Assem Hefny, a lecturer at Al-Azhar UniversityMore

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Sunni clerics attend a ″Fighting Extremism and Terrorism″ conference at Al-Azhar in Cairo in 2014

Islam, Al-Azhar and the terrorists′ ideology

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If the cap fits

Whenever a country is the target of a terrorist attack, the issue of whether the perpetrators were linked to Islam rears its head. As Assem Hefny argues, questions regarding the relationship between Egypt′s Al-Azhar mosque and university, terrorism and ideological extremism – though hurtful – should not be dismissed out of handMore

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