Egypt's Dar Al-Ifta, the body responsible for issuing religious edicts, announced on Thursday the launch of the World Fatwa Index to regulate the issuance of Islamic religious edicts (fatwas).

The announcement was made by Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawki Allam during the fourth international conference by Egypt's General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide, which was held in Egypt to discuss the modernisation of Islamic fatwas. 

The index, which will be prepared by Egypt's Dar Al-Ifta (the House of Fatwas) and then proposed to conference members, aims to regulate the issuance of fatwas and combat radical discourse.

It also offers regulations to guide those working in issuing Islamic legal advice.

The three-day conference, which was held under the title: The renewal in Fatwas - Theory and Practice, brought together Muslim scholars and senior clerics from 73 countries. 

Allam also announced the launch of a global charter of fatwas, which offers a comprehensive code of ethics and defines criteria for the issuance of fatwas. The charter, which will also offer content for reference by scholars in this regard, will be available in several languages.

The move is designed to "face chaos in the field of fatwas and Islamic discourse in general," Allam said.

Allam called on Wednesday for the modernising of Islamic fatwas and the correction of false religious concepts as key to eliminating extremist ideas.

At the closing ceremony, Allam introduced a list of recommendations produced by participating countries including: modernising fatwas to fight radical calls by extremists, using social networking tools to disseminate accurate fatwas, consulting with economic, political social and medical experts in producing well-founded fatwas, as well as urging scholars and students to study the modernisation of fatwas.

The conference also called for launching the first observatory to map the future course of ifta.