Grand imam combats extremism, promotes tolerance

CAIRO – 10 September 2017: The grand imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb delivered on Sunday a speech on inter-faith dialogue, combating extremism and promoting tolerance, calling for peaceful co-existence among the different religions and cultures in Germany's Munster.

Al-Tayyeb began his speech saying “there are countries and people that have been destroyed due to disputes and conflicts and this must stop.”

Calls for war in the Middle East benefit no one and the international community must solve these issues. None can stand before the Rohingyan Muslims’ brutal genocide without action, Al-Tayyeb said, adding that human conscience cannot accept tragedy whether it is in the east or in the west.

Al-Tayyeb stated that distinctions regarding poverty, wealth, race, color or religion is an inhuman act and is what is happening in the Rakhine state in Myanmar. “We pay the price of regional and international policies that destroyed people’s civilizations and led to brutal genocides and forced displacements.”

Furthermore Al-Tayyeb criticized the west, saying that the east had given a lot to western civilizations, and “lit the flames of science and culture worldwide to promote tolerance and peaceful co-existence, while the west insists to keep our region in continuous conflict through black terrorism.”

Al-Tayyeb concluded his speech by urging people to work together to promote lasting peace among all religions. “Peace will not prevail in the world unless it prevails among religions first. This is the ultimate aim of Al-Azhar and we are calling on other religion institutions to join us,” he said.