Prof. Ibrahim al-Hudhud, Academic Advisor of the World Organization for al-Azhar Graduates and Former President of al-Azhar University, said that some people think that adhering to the surface meanings of religious texts is an increase in piety and they wrongly see those who disagree with them as innovators. They also believe themselves to be more adherent to Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and more keen on following Sunnah than those who disagree with them. This major error led to the emergence of extremist groups that declare anyone who disagrees with them as kafir.
In addition, he emphasized that scholars must understand the underlying reasons for religious rulings, which requires possessing the tools of knowledge to achieve a correct understanding of religion. He explained that one of the reasons for promoting misconceptions is the presence of those who lack knowledge of these sciences and understand the surface meaning of religious texts, interpreting them incorrectly. These people began to declare others as innovators and kufar while claiming to adhere to the Quran and Sunnah. This was mentioned during a lecture entitled “Correcting Misconceptions” for the imams of Somalia, during the course “Dismantling Extremist Thought”, held at the headquarters of the World Organization for al-Azhar Graduates in Cairo, in cooperation with al-Azhar International Academy for Training Imams, Preachers, and Fatwa Researchers.
During the lecture, prof. al-Hudhud reviewed examples of misunderstanding and misinterpreting texts due to ignorance, narrow-mindedness, lack of language proficiency and other reasons. He explained that those who stop at the literal meaning without understanding and researching linguistic implications and meanings went astray and made mistakes, leading to extremism and misunderstanding. Mastery of the Arabic language is one of the tools for correct understanding.
In conclusion, he urged the trainees to be fully cautious of these false claimants who want to spread their destructive ideology, which makes way for spreading division and discord among the people of the same nation.
