Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, the country's most senior Islamic legal official, has called for the modernising of Islamic fatwas and the correction of false religious concepts, as a key measure to eliminate extremist ideas.

The influential Muslim cleric made the remarks on Tuesday during a speech at the fourth international conference by Egypt's General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide on the renewal of fatwas (Islamic religious edicts).

Allam urged countries around the world to unite to confront terrorism, mainly through "renewing and correcting concepts produced by religious institutions", on top of which, he said, are Al-Azhar, Egypt's top Muslim institution, and Dar Al-Ifta, the authority that issues Islamic fatwas.

The three-day conference, which kicked off on Tuesday, brings together Muslim scholars and senior clerics from 73 countries.

Muftis from Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chad and Lebanon attended the inaugural session of the conference, state news agency MENA reported.

The gathering is part of the country's efforts to regulate and monitor the issuance of fatwas and empower scholars and clerics worldwide to combat extremist ideology, according to Allam.

He said fatwas should be developed to catch up with changes in cultures and societies, while stressing the need to develop a clear definition of what modernisation means and how it can be achieved.