Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb met with the Minister of Religious Endowments and Grand Mufti Shawqy Allam to discuss the latest developments in religious discourse on Wednesday.

They discussed efforts exerted to enhance the image of and correct misconceptions about Islam abroad, as well as how to activate the role of religious scholars in this regard.

Other officials from Al-Azhar also attended the meeting.

The discussion occurred a few hours after Al-Tayeb had met with president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to deliberate on how “to rectify the image of Islam” and eliminate misconceptions about the religion.

Both meetings came after a dispute between Al-Azhar and the ministry over written, unified Friday sermons. However, it is unknown whether the issue was discussed during the meetings.

The decision to standardise Friday sermons follows a string of other measures that the Ministry of Religious Endowments has undertaken over the past three years to tighten its grip on religious discourse in Egypt, in an attempt to regulate it.