Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi greeted on Thursday Egyptians and the Islamic and Arab nations on the anniversary of al Muled al Nabawi (Prophet Muhammad's birthday).

Addressing a celebration organized by Al Awqaf Ministry on that occasion, Sisi underlined the importance of renewing religious discourse based on the true understanding of Islam.

One of the main challenges facing us today is the deflection of the religious discourse from Islam, the President said.

President Sisi said we are in dire need of renewing the religious discourse and correcting mistaken religious concepts advocated by terrorists who believe they can intimidate innocent people and go unpunished. 

He called for exerting tireless efforts to renew religious interpretations which were done by our predecessors in order to achieve peace inside our country and to prove to the entire world that Islam is a great religion.

We are determined to continue this intellectual battle; the battle of correcting and renewing the religious discourse. And at the same time we will continue, with the same determination, our confrontation against terrorism by military and security means, Sisi said. Sacrifices of police and army men will always remain a source of admiration by every Egyptian and they will not go in vein as they help create a safe homeland in which all its sons live in dignity, he added.

President Sisi made it clear that renewing the religious discourse will not include Islamic principles. What we mean by renewing religious discourse is coping with terminology of our age. We need to benefit from the way our predecessors handled their own time' concerns and defended them based on the true understanding of Islam.

This is a serious issue we talk about here. That's why, I asked Awqaf Minister Mokhtar Gomaa to form a committee of top scholars and sociologists to discuss this issue as a whole and find points of weakness and strength in the Egyptian society in order to come up at the end with a roadmap.

We have 52 weeks in the entire year so we will put an agenda of the most important occasions and set Friday sermons based on this. By this way we are not underestimating the judgement of scholars but we are trying to re-shape a nation that lived for long years in a state of confusion that created the situation we are suffering from now.

The Egyptian president expressed regret over the misunderstanding of Islam, which makes some people justify killing in the name of religion.

Those people have been trying since July 3, 2013 to ruin the State. They are ready to intimidate children, youths and elderly people to defend certain ideas which God knows, have no real existence. They spend money to spread chaos and destruction, Sisi said.

July 3 is the date when millions of Egyptians took to streets to end the term of former president Mohamed Morsi.

Religion should not be introduced to people in a way that intimidates them or should not be taken as an excuse for  killing each other and depicting this destruction as a victory from God, the president said.

Those people were betting last month that Egypt is lost. For those people, I say we have never conspired against anyone nor we will...we never killed anyone nor we will kill...we never betrayed anyone nor we will. We will continue rebuilding Egypt, Sisi said. 

Speaking about the economic situation in Egypt, Sisi said that for decades, economists knew that our economy needed restructuring and we all know that reform decisions are not an easy task but a tough one.

By taking tough economic decisions, we are building the future for the coming generations and rescuing Egypt from a critical unsettled economic situation that could have ruined Egypt's future , the President said.

We are trying to make Egypt a developed state and secure a creative cooperation between the State and the private sector. At the same time, we are combating all forms of corruption and showing no leniency in questioning corrupt people held responsible.

He said he totally understands the woes born out of  economic reforms and that he is trying to alleviate the burden by realizing the social care programs.

Sisi said he knows that the economic situation in Egypt is very difficult and that prices are on the rise but he made it clear that these latest economic decisions came too late and that they should have been taken years ago.

Finally, Sisi stressed that Egypt will pursue the reform march to restore the safe and powerful Egypt.