Hours after the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's statements about the seriousness of the population increase, Egyptians were bombarded with statements and statements issued by official religious institutions and prominent clerics regarding the issue of birth control.

And it seemed as if Sisi's statements - during the opening of a medical project on Tuesday - represented a green light for the Ministry of Endowments and the House of Ifta in particular, for both of them to start a kind of propaganda campaign aimed at convincing Egyptians of the need for birth control and its religious legitimacy.

The campaign was launched with a tweet that Dar Al Iftaa published on its Twitter account aimed at spreading a hashtag under the title "Birth control is permissible."

After that, the fatwa published several tweets under the hashtag "Birth control is permissible", to clarify the religious viewpoint on the matter and respond to the inquiries of its followers.

In one of the tweets, she said, "There is no objection to the state taking whatever means and measures it deems to regulate the birth process and encourage people to it."

Birth control is permissible

- The Egyptian Dar Al Iftaa (@EgyptDarAlIfta) February 17, 2021

It would be a mistake to infer the Almighty’s saying, “And do not kill your children for fear of being subjugated” as an argument against the prohibition of birth control. # Birth control is permissible

- The Egyptian Dar Al Iftaa (@EgyptDarAlIfta) February 18, 2021

The birth control organizer or his supporter is not interfering with or objecting to God’s destiny because it is a matter of adopting the reasons. # Birth control_ permissible

- The Egyptian Dar Al Iftaa (@EgyptDarAlIfta) February 17, 2021

Not a fad

Meanwhile, the Secretary of Fatwa at Dar Al Iftaa, Dr. Khaled Omran, went out on one of the channels supporting the authority, to comment on the label launched by Dar Al Ifta, stressing that birth control is not a heresy and does not contradict the law of God, but rather it is considered from Islam.

Imran added - through the "On My Responsibility" program broadcast on the Sada Al Balad channel on Wednesday evening - that the Prophet Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - did not direct us to the large number of people without awareness, so that we would not be like the scourge of the torrent, explaining that the Companions were "isolated" for many reasons;

Including care for the health of the mother and the quality of the offspring to keep them.

The Awqaf official criticized those he described as extremists who issue concepts of increasing childbearing, pointing to the role of the fatwa in facing the overpopulation by offering courses to those who are about to get married to raise awareness of family planning.

Around the time of Imran’s statements, the scientific advisor to the Mufti of the Republic, Dr. Magdi Ashour, participated in a telephone conversation with the "Public Opinion" program broadcast on the "Ten" channel (independent close to the authority) - and stressed the need for birth control for the sake of what he considered Comfort for all people.

He explained that the government calls for birth control and not preventing childbirth, adding, "No one can prevent the judgment of God, but adopting the causes is part of belief in God Almighty, and there was a regulation of births during the era of the Messenger of God."

Ashour played the same chord with Imran, criticizing what he described as the extremist currents that prohibit birth control, pointing to the contradiction in the statements of the leaders of those currents with their actions, saying, "They regulate births."

awareness Campaign

For its part, the Ministry of Endowments announced that the next Friday sermon, which will be delivered by Minister of Endowments, Muhammad Mukhtar Jumaa, will be the subject of "Birth Control, a case of taking legal reasons."

The Ministry also announced - through a statement issued yesterday, Wednesday - the launch of an awareness campaign on the issue of birth control, through a number of joint seminars with the National Media Authority and the National Press Authority, and a number of intensive training courses throughout the current year.

For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Endowments, Sabri Abada, accused what he described as deviant religious groups of fueling the overpopulation crisis by promoting misconceptions about reproduction, he said.

During a telephone interview on the "Echo of the Country" channel, he added, "I say to those who affirm Islam’s call for an overpopulation that is eating up the green and everything, that the hadiths that they refer to are not up to the correct one."

Did they follow up promoting the president's words about birth control?


Well, birth control is the responsibility of the family, but where is the state’s responsibility to raise the level of education and improve the economic situation before speaking about one child

- Rawya (@ RawyaOmar1) February 17, 2021

What Al-Nasaa’i, Abu Dawud and Imam Ahmad narrated in a wording on the authority of the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him: Marry the friendly and the child, for I will multiply with you all nations.

Including: Multiply, for I will be proud of you on the Day of Resurrection.

It is a true hadith narrated by Al-Shafi’i on the authority of Ibn Omar

- Ahmed Elhout (@ AhmedEl41736612) February 17, 2021

Imagine, believer, your honorable messenger, he says, "fight, multiply, for I will be proud of you on the Day of Resurrection, you are right, O Messenger of God, and the children of the ... ... they say to you. !!

- Safety well (@ m_ve80l) February 17, 2021

Public opinion position

But a look at social media and comments on what was published by religious authorities affiliated with the authority in Egypt;

She points out that the success of this campaign is not certain, as the cyberspace has been filled with tweets and publications critical of the government approach, and its official religious dimension on the issue of birth control.

In the face of the rejection expressed by many pioneers of social media, the advisor to the President of the Republic for Religious Affairs, Dr. Usama Al-Azhari, emphasized that the comments rejecting birth control indicated a lack of understanding, and revealed what he called the crisis of intellectual anarchism that exists now.

He said in an interview on "DMC" channel (dmc) that "the person in them imagines that he supports the noble hadith, and he does otherwise," explaining that the Fatwa House does not come to advance the fatwa out of passion, "but it is a summary of a deep and honest academic research by the hand of Competent experts who are trustees of religion. "

The Dean of the College of Islamic Studies at Al-Azhar University, Dr. Mabrouk Attia, warned against embarking on marriage without being able to spend on the wife and children, and added, "It is never reasonable to have children while you are unable to support them."

The highly popular academic, in a televised statement on MBC, called on Egypt to limit birth control, and said, "One child has a blessing that is better than 10, and there is no blessing for them," stressing that the saying "the family who gets his livelihood" contains great corruption. .