[Al Ahram] Despite strong objections from al-Azhar, on 19 July parliament provisionally approved a law regulating religious fatwas. Drafted by Osama al-Abd, the head of parliament’s Religious Endowments Committee, and other MPs, the law regulates the selection and performance of the grand mufti and his aides. "It also seeks to grant Dar al-Iftaa, the Egyptian House of Fatwa, financial, technical and administrative independence," said al-Abd. al-Abd explained that the law will stem the tide of bizarre fatwas. "Many people who like to describe themselves as religious scholars and holy mans issue fatwas on controversial and sensitive issues that might spark sectarian strife or cause social unrest," said al-Abd. Egypt’s grand mufti, Shawki Allam, told MPs that "we have seen a kind of fatwa chaos recently, with people without any religious academic experience issuing fatwas through TV channels or via social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube."
"As religious scholars and MPs, we decided that there should be a law that ends this chaos by entrusting Dar al-Iftaa with the exclusive prerogative to issue fatwas," he said.