The Speech of H.E. the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar at the Second Meeting of the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE) and the World Council of Churches (WCC)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Praise be to Allah. Allah's peace and blessings be upon our Master Prophet Muḩammad and upon his Family, Companions, and those who follow in his footsteps until the Last Day.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As-Salāmu ‛Alaykum wa Raḩmatu Allahi wa Barakatuh
We are pleased to welcome you to the prestigious institution of Al-Azhar at the kind invitation of the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE). We welcome the dear guests and the honorable delegation of the World Council of Churches (WWC) representing all the Christian denominations worldwide. Our thanks especially go to Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, the General-Secretary of the WCC. Since the first moment we met Dr. Olav in Geneva, the MCE felt that he was a man with a truthful and sincere heart full of goodness and kindness to the entire humanity, and determined to help all people enjoy the noblest form of peace and happiness. His lofty personality reflects his deep spiritual peace and clear conscience, the case which actually embodies the heavenly-revealed messages. This is the core of religious faiths and, then, various divine laws and guidance follow, such as doctrines, acts of worship, financial transactions, and ethics.
Let me start my word with reminding of the conclusion reached at our first meeting in Geneva last year, held in Oct. 2016 CE. We agreed to “do our utmost in order to overcome all the obstacles that hinder the way to promote peace, justice, and love among the entire humanity in the east and the west alike. We agreed then to hold the following meeting, the current one, at Al-Azhar Headquarters in Cairo.” Our frequent bilateral correspondences chose the theme of “The role of religious leaders in activating citizenship and coexistence initiatives.”
I may be wrong, but I think that this issue would most likely capture the attention of religious leaders in the oriental Arab and the Muslim world. This is the greatest challenge in the face of calls to terrorism and terroristic postulates, which attempt to lead young people astray east and west and inculcate false notions and wrong conceptions about the idea of “Islamic State” in their minds. They endeavor to restore traditional concepts and terms, such as ᾿ahlu ȥimmah (non-Muslims living in the Muslim states); jizyah (a per capita yearly tax levied by the Islamic state on certain non-Muslim subjects); and sabiy, (prisoners of war). Muslim jurisprudence and laws have surpassed these concepts since the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924. The past political system of Islamic caliphate employed some legislative rules in conformity with ancient times concerning the rights of non-Muslims. It is logical, pursuant to the Islamic jurisprudence itself—in the aftermath of changing the political system—to change some legislative rules concerned with the relationship with non-Muslims in the Muslim state.
In the mid of these challenges, which forcibly attempt to drive contemporary ruling systems in Muslim states back to some imaginary systems in their mentalities without any link whatsoever between them and the Sharia and its laws. Indeed, they are completely far from the Sharia and its eternal texts. Here, we have perceived the grave dangers that can result from misunderstandings and fake religiosities. This form of misconception confuses the impeccable values of religion recorded in the Glorious Qur᾿ān and the Sunnah with the reason-based juristic conclusions made under certain exigent circumstances in the past times.
Given the great differences in circumstances, contexts and time exigencies, the issue of citizenship has become the first and foremost issue worthy of the interest and discussion of religious leaders. It constitutes the practical reply to the delusions that have met somewhat material and moral support so much so that those deceived by delusions thought that working on achieving them is a form of jihad in the cause of Allah and a way to restore the golden ages of Muslim glories.
The citizenship system had been changed in the aftermath of Muslim widespread conquests. The Muslim relationship with non-Muslims in the new territories had developed. It was necessary to define the relation of non-Muslims with a clearly announced Muslim State. The term ᾿ahlu ȥimmah thus appeared. It meant that a Christian or a Jew citizen enjoys the protection (ȥimmah) guaranteed by Allah and His Messenger in terms of their rights and obligations which are equal to those of the Muslim citizens. I have no doubt that citizenship is the best guarantee for the enforcement of the juristic maxim governing the relations with non-Muslims “They have rights and duties equal to our rights and duties.” To use the modern expressions, all the citizens are completely and absolutely equal in rights and duties.
It pleases me to say that Al-Azhar, in cooperation with the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE) held a conference last February entitled, Freedom and Citizenship: Diversity and Integration. It declared for the first time in our modern history that citizenship is a purely Islamic system applied by the Prophet (pbuh) in the first Muslim state, the State of Medina. When it comes to the west, this call may—I hope I am wrong—lose much of its brilliance because citizenship is no longer a challenge to these actively citizenship-based communities in which citizenship and equality of rights and duties are already in force.
Perhaps the most persistent challenge is to fight the phenomenon of Islamophobia. It is a very dangerous phenomenon, if left rolling like a ball of snow without decisive explanations about the facts and philosophies of religions and their ultimate ends to achieve human happiness and help human spiritual, mental, and moral progress. I am extremely worried that the phenomenon of Islamophobia may someday in the near future turn into a phenomenon of religious phobia.
The world horizons are replete with confusing anti-religion ideas which deny religions in general and the world two greatest religions, Christianity and Islam, in particular. For the callers of atheism, Christianity launched the Crusades in the east and the religious wars in the west, whereas Islam, to them, spread terrorism and destruction, bombing of the innocent civilians and turning the human life into an unbearable misery of terrors and fears. For the atheists, there is no way out of this except to eradicate these two religions completely from the human life, if humans really desire to achieve peace, security and honorable life. Those atheists do not tell us about the outcomes of wars in which religion had nothing whatsoever to do with. Indeed, atheists and deniers of religions initiated many of these wars, whereas religions had no hand whatever in them. Review the victims of social dogmas of modern times to see what the numbers tell us. Victims of religious conflicts throughout ages, since the ancient times until contemporary ages, are not even one tenth when compared to the millions of victims killed, exiled, or tortured for the sake of false prophecies of atheists that no one of them ever came true. After paying this very heavy toll, all such vicious prophecies remained dead delusions, impossible to carry out.
Excuse me for expatiating on this point. I am deeply worried for the future of religion and for achieving the religious message entrusted to clergymen, scholars, and religious guides. We all know the immoral arrangements made in preparation for destroying religion and vitiating its contents. Protected by laws, justified by communities, and promoted by globalization, these fallacies find their way to the minds of young people day after another. All these preliminary steps will finally lead to a fierce conflict between the believers and the atheists.
The current problem of heavenly religions cannot be solved through religious conflicts. Indeed, the first step toward a solution is to remove tensions among religions. Moreover, we should renounce negative historical legacies whose bad influences should be avoided. It is very deniable to recall them in such a critical timing while anticipating long wars against the fierce enemies of religions who are savagely ready to devour us all.
For the sake of achieving this lofty goal of communication and mutual understanding among the religious institutions, Al-Azhar has sought to meet the leaders of the major religious institutions in Europe in the Vatican, London, Geneva, Florence, Paris and Berlin. Moreover, it has also dispatched peace-delegations to many capitals worldwide in Asia, Europe, Africa, and America.
Gentlemen,
We are here at Al-Azhar working day and night for our Christian brothers and citizens in Egypt. You may contemplate the role of the Egyptian Family House here at the heart of Al-Azhar Headquarter. You may also read Al-Azhar Declaration on Citizenship and Coexistence which presents citizenship as an alternative to the term of minority, which Al-Azhar renounces categorically. These are two urgent and practical steps taken on the ground to be followed by more steps in the future.
Dear brothers,
Do not believe the lies of media which associate terrorism with Islam and accuse Muslims of persecuting their fellow Christian citizens. Some liars even said that Islam and Al-Azhar, as falsely alleged in their latest flagrant lies, are behind the last two terrorist bombings. Such lies no longer deceive any person of sound mind who can correctly read events and see what is behind them.
I do not want to waste your valuable time in raising evidence against this open falsehood. I would like only to draw your attention to a well-proven current, yet inescapable fact, that terrorism kills more Muslims than Christians. This evidence is decisive and is not open for sophistry and fallacies. Review statistics and monitoring centers and compare the numbers of Muslim and Christian victims in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt in particular. You will certainly know that terrorism has no religion or homeland. As a blood thirsty group, it does not care about bloodshed, whether the victims are Muslims, Christians, or atheists. Its goal is to destabilize nations. The target place may be a mosque, a church, a market, or any gathering of peaceful innocent people.
Finally, Al-Azhar is looking forward to the WCC's adoption of Geneva's Call to address the phenomenon of Islamophobia and to the continuity of its thankful steps on the way of Christian-Muslim dialogue, which was officially commenced in 1982 between the WCC and the Islamic Conference in Colombo, the Capital of Sri Lanka. I once again welcome you and wish you a fruitful stay in Egypt. Thank you for your visit which is dear to the hearts of all the Egyptians, men and women alike.
Thank you very much for your attentive listening!
As-Salāmu ‛Alaykum wa Raḩmatu Allahi wa Barakatuh
Ahmad At-Tayyeb
Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar
Al-Azhar Headquarter
Rajab 1438 AH/April 2017