The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and the Minister of Awqaf (Endowments) Usama Al-Sayyid Al-Azhari have held a meeting on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of a cooperation protocol between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and the Ministry of Endowments at the latter’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital. During the meeting, they discussed shared interests and potential collaborations between the two ministries.
During the meeting, the ICT Minister stated that numerous joint projects between the two ministries aim to provide technological support to the Ministry of Endowments. This support is intended to enhance the Ministry’s crucial role in Da’wah (preaching) and administrative-economic aspects.
The two sides agreed to explore new avenues for cooperation through several projects. Notably, one project involves developing an interactive digital platform featuring Islamic content, such as sermons, books, and other forms of media. This platform is designed to benefit citizens, especially the youth, by serving as an enlightening, moderate destination that merges religious knowledge with technology.
Talaat added that a mobile application will be developed, and the content will be shared in clips on social media to improve accessibility for citizens. The platform will feature an AI-enabled search engine as well. He mentioned that a protocol will be signed by the two ministries to facilitate cooperation in creating this platform.
The ICT Minister highlighted that the heritage of Al-Azhar Institution and the Ministry of Endowments is a significant source of Egypt’s soft power. He referred to potential cooperation between the two ministries to implement an AI-powered translation project aimed at translating the Ministry of Endowments’ content from Arabic into various languages. This initiative seeks to make knowledge accessible and spread it globally, thereby reinforcing Egypt’s soft power. Talaat further explained that the two ministries plan to collaborate on a project utilizing optical character recognition (OCR) for handwritten documents.
Talaat mentioned several joint projects aimed at empowering the Ministry of Endowments to achieve digital transformation. These projects include digitizing the process of receiving instruments of sacrifice donations and digitizing the Atlas of the Ministry of Endowments. Additionally, the ministries will collaborate on a project to inventory and manage state properties and assets, enabling the Ministry of Endowments and the Egyptian Endowments Authority to manage their properties more efficiently.
Moreover, the ICT Minister noted that there is ongoing cooperation between the two ministries to implement a project aimed at automating the services offered by the Ministry of Endowments and making them available on the Digital Egypt platform. This effort is part of MCIT broader cooperation with all state sectors to enhance the efficiency of government services through IT and to provide digital government services to citizens.
Within the project’s first phase, several digitization efforts have been completed, including donation services, the publications of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, venue reservation for events (memorial services or marriage ceremonies) in mosques, and enrollment in cultural centers. Talaat mentioned that work is underway to implement the project’s second phase, which includes digitizing additional services such as reservation services for event halls, Qardh al-Hasan (benevolent lending), and electronic payment for venue bookings.
In addition, the ICT Minister highlighted the cooperation between the two ministries in making the cultural content of the Ministry of Endowments available on Egypt’s digital heritage platform. This initiative is part of MCIT efforts to create and manage a platform for Egyptian cultural content, through which all types of cultural content are made accessible. The goal is to sustain Egypt’s cultural leadership and preserve its national identity.
For his part, the Minister of Endowments confirmed that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has directed the development of an electronic platform for the Ministry of Endowments. He noted that work on this initiative began during the term of Prof. Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa. Al-Azhari added that the Ministry of Endowments aims to introduce a new strategy for this platform, encompassing four main pillars to renew religious discourse, a goal he announced after taking the oath of office as Minister of Endowments.
The first pillar, which is of utmost importance to the Ministry, focuses on serving the nation and extinguishing the flames of strife through serious intellectual confrontation of extremist thought. This includes continuing efforts to combat terrorism and extremism.
The second pillar is confronting non-religious extremism, which is represented by a decline in values and morals. This includes combating issues such as addiction, suicide, harassment, overpopulation, and loss of confidence. It involves a comprehensive confrontation of all manifestations of moral and ethical decline by spreading awareness among Egyptians of the tolerance and values of Islam. This task falls on the shoulders of preachers and Imams, both inside and outside Egypt. Sermons and religious lessons should, therefore, contain a strong emphasis on values to address social crises and any deviant moral behavior, noted the Endowments Minister.
Al-Azhari highlighted that the third pillar focuses on shaping the Egyptian personality. He revealed that he compiled what was written about it in a book titled “The Egyptian Character: Steps on the Path to Rebuilding Trust.” He emphasized his efforts to make it one of the most important concerns of preachers to address Egyptians in a way that consolidates, strengthens, and confirms the essence of the Egyptian personality. This includes fostering self-confidence, a passion for knowledge and construction, broad-mindedness, and loyalty to the homeland.
The fourth pillar revolves around the industry of civilization, encompassing everything in the history of Muslims, including creativity, invention, and discoveries in fields such as medicine, astronomy, anatomy, horticultural sciences, gardening, life sciences, and civilizational sciences. Notable works like “1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World” and “Giants of Applied Sciences and Their Scientific Achievements in Islamic Civilization” underscore these achievements. Al-Azhari expressed his hope that Egyptians would read the Holy Qur’an and be inspired to pursue patents, unlock their innovation potential, or contribute to building civilization.
The Minister of Endowments expressed his anticipation for the platform to achieve the Ministry’s four strategic goals. He envisioned it as a professional, interactive digital platform that serves the four pillars, addressing people in a language and manner relevant to contemporary times. The platform would feature a wealth of documents and facilitate direct interaction, including the publication of significant scholarly works such as master’s theses and doctoral dissertations by Imams. It would also introduce Egypt’s ancient mosques and highlight the achievements of past Ministers of Endowments.
Al-Azhari emphasized his hope that the platform would integrate views and interfaces across all social media networks. He pointed out that social media is where minds can be influenced negatively, leading to pessimism and frustration among Egyptians. He expressed a desire for games promoting values of compassion, tolerance, and creativity to replace those that potentially foster violence. He underscored that these four pillars would form distinct sections of the digital platform, each focusing on one of the ministry’s core scopes.
At the end of the meeting, a cooperation protocol was signed regarding Egypt’s Digital Heritage Platform. This platform currently includes 94 publications by the Ministry of Endowments, with the aim of preserving social cohesion and upholding good values, customs, and traditions. The goal is to promote a contemporary and balanced religious discourse that effectively conveys the message and goals, free from intolerance and hatred.
The protocol was signed by the Vice ICT Minister for Infrastructure and Digital Transformation Raafat Hindy and the Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Endowments Amr Farouk Shokry.
From MCIT, the meeting was attended by Hindy, the Advisor to the ICT Minister on Technological Talents Hoda Baraka, Advisor to the ICT Minister on Digital Transformation Affairs Mahmoud Badawi, Advisor to the ICT Minister on Media Mohamed Hanafy, Director of the Minister’s Office Sector Moataz Taha, Head of the Digital Heritage pillar Hisham El-Deeb, and Head of the Central Department for Automated Projects Mahmoud Fakhr El-Din.
From the Ministry of Endowments, the meeting was attended by Shokry, Director of Egyptian Endowments Authority Ahmed Attia, Head of the religious sector Hisham Abdel Aziz, Assistant Minister for Follow-up Affairs Abdullah Hassan Abdel Qawi, Head of the Central Department for Da’wa Affairs Ayman Abu Omar, Head of the Central Department for Information Systems and Digital Transformation Randa Salah, Director of the Media Department Mohamed El-Shahat Abu Steit, Director of the Information Center at the Egyptian Endowments Authority Amr Abdel Naby, and Advisor to the Minister on Media Affairs Mahmoud El-Jallad.
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