Dr. Mohie Ed-Deen Afifi , the Secretary-General of the Al-Azhar Al-Sharif Islamic Research Academy (AIRA), participated in the Conference of the Development in Fiqh Science in terms of contemporary fiqh, renewal of religious and fiqh discourse in Sultanate of Oman held by the Ministry of Islamic Endowment and Religious Affairs. In the framework of Al-Azhar efforts to renew religious discourse, the AIRA Secretary- General presented a paper named "the New Ijtihad Approach by Sheikh Shaltout".
Afifi asserted in his paper that sheikh Shaltout exerted great efforts to fight tradition and rigidity. He made up an approach based on legitimate references and evidence and renouncing intellectual looseness. He found that old rulings are rigid and doesn't conform to contemporary issues; therefore they are not sufficient. Lying our judicial dependency on old rulings made in different times and circumstances contradicts with the nature of the universe where change and renewal are the only constant factors. The Secretary-General also pointed out how Sheikh Shaltout rejected sectarianism & dogmatism clarifying that when the notion of sectarianism had grip on late scholars; they made rulings and fatwas to abstain their followers from giving up on their approach. The schools of thought turned from intellectual platforms where ideas, concepts and rulings are subject for discussion, filtering and rejection to religious obligations that are no longer open for discussion, alteration or renunciation by those who embrace it.
The Secretary-General discussed in his paper the role of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in spreading moderate schools of thought through Ijtihad and discourse renewal which is considered a contemporary demand as to the rise of new issues and problems that need to be adapted in Islamic context suitable for current circumstances in order to face extremism and terrorism that deforms the image of religion.