"Al-Azhar conference is meant to protect the Muslim world from common serious misconceptions."
Sheikh ‛Abdur-Raḥmān Āl Khalῑfa, Head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Bahrain (SCIAB) said, “With due sincerity and faith, we look forward to the results of this conference, significant both in its topic and timing. This topic offers a helping hand in dealing with one of the most important argumentative concepts, and in finding a scientific and practical mechanism to protect the Muslim world from the common serious misconceptions and their misguided and extremist applications.
During his speech in the first session at "Al-Azhar International Conference on Renovation of Islamic Thought", entitled “Renewal: its Conception, Conditions, Motives and Features”, Āl Khalῑfa added that this true religion [of Islam] has come in accordance with the intuition with which Allah has created humanity. It is a Divine system that organizes the human life and the multiply-faceted relationships between the human beings and their Lord on the one hand, and among themselves on the other. This religion is the true path to Allah Almighty, and the constitution organizing the human life in this world. He added that this system is being the authentic educator of the Muslims, spiritually, morally, and psychologically.
The Head of the SCIAB explained that renewal is one of the necessary properties and essential features of Islam. Allah has made Islam suitable for every time and place, and made it the effective system in the life of people. He also noted that Islam has combined originality with modernity. Its originality does not allow it grow stagnant, and its modernity does not lack connection with legacy.
His Eminence concluded his statements by noting that Al-Azhar is the symbol of moderation, the beacon of knowledge, and the center of unity among the Muslims. He also praised the efforts and the historic role Al-Azhar has been playing over ten centuries in promoting tolerance of the true religion and renewal of thought and discourse—all springing from the fundamentals, constant beliefs and basic legitimate rulings. Such a role is what gives the Azhari curriculum a unique capacity that has encompassed the various Islamic schools of thought, and respected them and their Imams.
Al-Azhar holds this conference on Monday and Tuesday, January 27-28, 2020, in the presence of a group of senior leaders and prominent political and religious figures of the world, as well as representatives of the Ministries of Endowments, Fatwa Houses and Islamic Councils from 46 countries of the Muslim world. The themes of the conference focus on the frameworks of the conception of renewal and its mechanisms, refuting misconceptions, handling women and family issues, and addressing the role of international, religious and academic institutions in renewing Islamic thought.