The Salafi Dawah, a board of Islamic Salafi scholars, has approved teaching passages from the Bible at schools, provided that the process abides by restrictions of Islamic Sharia.
A religious decree issued on Tuesday by Sheikh Yasser Borhamy of the Salafi Dawah said that the Bible and other Abrahamic books can be taught at schools as long as they are in line with the Quran and Prophet Mohamed's traditions.
"And unto thee [O Prophet] have We vouchsafed this divine writ, setting forth the truth, confirming the truth of whatever there still remains of earlier revelations and determining what is true therein," Borhamy said in his fatwa, quoting a Quranic verse supporting his argument.
Egyptian educational authorities have recently, for the first time ever, approved adding texts from the Bible to syllabuses in government secondary schools.
Borhamy, however, said that those texts should not be handled equally with the Quran "regarding [concepts that have] been distorted as mentioned in the Quran and prophetic traditions.”
"It is unacceptable to teach some Bible teachings that are at odds with Islam, such as prohibiting divorce and polygamy," Borhami said, adding that Muslims should not rely on religious books other than the Quran as a reference.
