Ibrahim Negm, advisor to Egypt's Grand Mufti, denounced comments made by American satirist Bill Maher and his co-host Sam Harris, stressing that Maher's allegations of Islam being discriminatory of women and freedom of speech are untrue. The denunciation came in an official statement issued by Dar Al-Ifta Sunday. Maher and Harris commented on Islam during Maher's weekly TV show that it is "the mother lode of bad ideas". The presenter also said that the Muslim world is lacking "liberal principals like freedom of speech, freedom to practice any religion, equality for women and equality for minorities including homosexuals". Negm pointed out that Dar Al-Ifta has repeatedly rejected extremist practices and that they are far from the beliefs of Islam which guarantee the freedom of belief and women's rights. He added that those "ferocious campaigns" mainly aim to give a bad impression that the western media is hostile to Islam which spreads hatred among people in the world. Negm called for the need of an observatory to monitor the repeated insults on Islam and Muslims and respond to the suspicions and lies told about Islam.
