Grand Imam's Opening Speech at the Conference titled, "Freedom, Citizenship, Diversity, and Integration"

• It is both sad and painful to show religion as a weapon for killing innocent people.
•  The groups deviating from the correct religious approach mobilize the whole world against Islam.
• Any fair-minded person who thinks deeply of the phenomenon of Islamophobia will inevitably realize that it is based on a world double-standard policy against Islam on the one hand, and Christianity and Judaism on the other hand.
• If the religious institutions in the East and the West fail to stand together against Islamophobia, similar consequences will target both Christianity and Judaism sooner or later.
• Denying any connections between religions and terrorism is no longer enough, and we have to develop practical guidelines based on the religious teachings and ethics to address the current crises.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

May Allah's peace and blessings be upon you!

Your Eminence,

Distinguished fellow panel members,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

     In the name of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE), I would like to welcome you to Egypt. All of Egypt welcome you and feel the utmost pleasure for hosting such an important conference. This conference comes under exceptional circumstances and at a difficult time not only for our region, but also for the whole world. This is especially true amid the wars that have broken out in the Arab and Muslim world without any reasonable causes acceptable for humankind in the 21^st century.

     It is appalling and equally sad and painful that religion is depicted in such miserable circumstances to be the main reason behind these wars. It is being depicted to people that religion was the key motive behind the terrorist attacks perpetrated against the World Trade Center, the Bataclan theater, and the subway stations, as well as the killing of innocent people in Nice city and many other cities in the East and the West. We feel very sorry for such terrifying scenes of terrorist attacks that are taking place on an increasing scale. It hurts us more that, along with such growing wave of terrorism, extremism is growing while sound understanding of the reality of divine religions and the wisdom behind the prophet's missions is diminishing. Moreover, there is a big conflict between this sound understanding of religions and the falsified interpretations that undermine the correct religious practices and make the sacred texts a tool misused by a small number of criminals. Indeed, religious texts have been abused and turned into guns to be hired by whoever offers the highest price among arms dealers, war brokers, and the theorists of new colonialism.

     If you contemplate the condition of such misled groups that have deviated from the right path of religion, you will notice that whenever they try to come together under the banner of Islam, they start to accuse each other of treachery and disbelief. This should lead you to realize that they have nothing to do with religion and that they only mean to exploit the name of Islam and involve it in bloodshed under contradictory pretexts.

     Another fact that helps us identify the falsehood of such bloody calls is that those extremists are not concerned with correcting the religion which they claim to have been deformed, out of their so-claimed intellectual renewal and legal reasoning. It is rather the thirst they have for bloodshed, the killing of innocent people, and the destruction of man's achievements, once they have the chance to do that.

     Until very recently, such misguided extremist groups were too weak and of few numbers that they could not cause any danger or harm to the image of the Muslims. However, today they have become very close to mobilizing the whole world against our righteous religion. We can take as one example the phenomenon of Islamophobia in the northern and southern states in the West; the Muslim citizens are badly suffering from the consequences of such a phenomenon.

     We are not here today neither to investigate the phenomenon of Islamophobia nor terrorism that feeds it and promotes the feelings of hatred and enmity against Islam and the Muslim. It is not our issue now to discuss whether terrorism is a local or an international strategy plotted maliciously against the Muslims with support from those who pretend to be defending the human rights. An equal malicious support is generously provided by those who claim to be catering for the global peace, coexistence, liberty, equality, and the other claims stated in the international covenants that we have grown too tired to listen to.

     I believe that investigating such issues should be our primary concern for which forums should be organized and clergymen, intellectuals, and free people in our world seek to reveal to the whole world. In so doing, they will identify those responsible for the nonstop bloodshed and the people killed every minute to please those who sponsor such claims.

     The fair-minded person who looks at the phenomenon of Islamophobia will easily realize the illogical paradox and the double-standard policy on the part of the international community towards Islam on the one hand, and towards Christianity and Judaism on the other hand. This is the status quo, albeit all the three religions face the same accusation of being the source of religious violence and terrorism. The West never cared for the waves of Christian and Jewish fanaticism, having no objection to their practices. However, when it comes to Islam, the West has done everything to hold it accountable while leveling endless accusations against it and marring its image.

     Yes, the most terrible violent acts in the history of Christianity and Judaism were easily tolerated by the West where religion was said to have nothing to do with terrorism. Examples of such violent acts include the bombings carried out by Michael Bray of Women's Health Clinics, the bomb attack that targeted Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma city by Timothy McVeigh, and the hate speech by David Koresh and the subsequent violent acts in Texas, not to mention the religious conflicts in Northern Ireland and the fact that many religious institutions were involved in raping and killing more than two hundred and fifty thousand Muslims in Bosnia.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

     Allah knows that I do not mean by such a lengthy introduction to call to memories the painful scenes of such terrorist acts or to promote conflict among the human beings. This has never been the message of Divine religions, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the East known for its tolerance, or the civilized West. However, I only want to say over and again that if the religious institutions in the East and the West fail to stand together against Islamophobia, it will target both Christianity and Judaism sooner or later. We will regret at a time when regret will be of no avail, and then the common saying "what goes around comes around" will prove very true. Indeed, the world has witnessed a rise in the number of the conspirers against religion, the number of atheists and those who promotes the belief in the death of God, and the advocates of physicalism who are brought forth by Nazism and communism. On the other hand, there are those who call for the legalization of illicit drugs, the destruction of the fabric of family lifestyle, the application of social sex system, and the right to abortion. Other groups now encourage carrying out male and female transformation surgeries and seek to replace national identities with globalization to remove any differences between peoples and eliminate their cultures. Thus, they erase their cultural, religious, and historical characteristics to serve their own purposes. Such evil calls are now developing and the EU authorities are being asked to carry them out. In fact, these calls are gaining more strength and their advocates will attack the Divine religions since they depict religion as the sole source of wars. They say that Christianity gave birth to the Crusades and that Islam now gives rise to terrorism and bloodshed, insisting that the only solution is to totally eliminate religion from the whole world. They are the same people who turn a deaf ear to the deaths of civil wars waged by atheists and pro-globalization fanatics during the second half of the 20^th century. Religion had nothing to do with such wars and a pupil in his early school days can prove the fact that the number of the victims of the wars waged in the name of religion since the pre-common era to the present is hardly a tenth of the number of those killed in the wars launched by the advocates of the social philosophies. Records of history state that millions of innocent lives were killed, tortured, or exiled in response to false prophecies none of which ever came true.

Great knowledgeable gathering,

     I think that you agree with me that the mere defense of Divine religions against the accusations of terrorism is no longer enough in the light of the enormous challenges we face. It is time to take a further step by providing practical ethical models to be taken from the religions to address such volatile reality. In my opinion, such a step requires making some necessary arrangements, on top of which is the removal of any suspicions or tensions among the religious leaders. That is because peace would never be achieved among the religious leaders unless they first can provide it to people. Such a step can be achieved through getting to know each other and building cooperation and integration among them. The religion of Islam, which I feel proud to have as my faith, calls our attention to this fact in the following Qur᾿ānic verse, memorized by both Muslims and Christians alike, in which Allah Almighty says, “O you mankind, surely We have created you of a male and a female, and made you races and tribes so that you may get mutually acquainted. Surely, the most honorable among you in the sight of Allah are the most pious. Indeed, Allah is Ever-Knowing, Ever-Cognizant.” (Qur᾿ān, 49:13)

     Islam also stresses a very natural human right, namely the right to freedom and living without any pressure, especially in terms of one's belief and religious affiliation; Allah says:

• “There is no compulsion in religion.” (Qur᾿ān , 2:256)
• Another verse declares, “Had your Lord so willed, all those on earth would have believed, with no exception.
• Then, [O Muḩammad], would you compel the people in order that they become believers?” (Qur᾿ān, 10:99)
• Allah also addresses Prophet Muḩammad, saying, “Your only duty is to proclaimthe Message.” (Qur᾿ān, 42:48)

     Likewise, among the instructions included in Prophet Muḩammad's letter to the people of Yemen is what follows, “Whoever dislikes Islam among the Jews or Christians should not be compelled to abandon his/her religion.” This is only one example of the many Islamic authentic texts that establish the right to freedom for all people.

     As Al-Azhar calls for the adoption of citizenship to replace the concept of minority, it does so on the basis of a constitutional principle applied by the Prophet of Islam ( pbuh) to the first Muslim community in history, namely the Muslim State of Medina. The Prophet (pbuh) considered all the Muslims, Christians and Jewish, residents of Medina, equal citizens in terms of their responsibilities and rights. The Islamic heritage passed to us this role-model prophetic document that fully recognizes the constitutional rights in a way that is unprecedented in the recorded human history.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

     I may have taken too much time to deliver my speech. Indeed, your excellent attention has tempted me to speak out all the cares and pains I have written down on my manuscript. In conclusion, I would like to express my sincerest thanks to H.E. Mr. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, for his patronage of this conference on Freedom, Citizenship, Diversity, and Integration. I highly value his sincere efforts in calling for the promotion of peaceful coexistence, freedom, and citizenship. I also extend my thanks to our honorable guests as well as our brothers and sisters and the organizing committee for the hard work they have done in the preparation for this event. I hope it will meet your expectations and I apologize to our local and international guests for any non-deliberate shortcomings on our part in terms of serving you in the best manner.