In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful
Your Majesty Hamadbin Isa Al Khalifah,
King of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Anchoraccompanied delegation!
Peace be upon you all,
Let me, Your Majesty, express my deep happiness with your visit to Egypt and the Mosque and University of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif. This special visit your Majesty pays to Al-Azhar is truly a great honor for us -scholars, students and educational bodies of this firmly-established institution.
Your Majesty! Welcome to Al-Azhar Al-Sharif; this millennium-old institution that shoulders the responsibility of disseminating the true message of Islam, as revealed by Allah, the Almighty, and as conveyed by His Messenger Muhammad (PBUH), to Muslims. Islam! The religion which calls for spreading the values of fraternity and recognition, and which sets down the foundation of co-existence and calls people to Allah with wisdom and the good admonition; religion which argues with people in the best way.
I firmly believe that your majesty’s visit to Al-Azhar today is not only an appreciation for Al-Azhar, but it is also an appreciation for more than one hundred Muslim countries that send their sons and daughters to study religious and natural sciences at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif. Thus, they get back home messengers of peace and guidance, and just scholars raising the banner of keeping religion of Islam away from corruption, extremism and misunderstanding.
Your Majesty!
This royal munificence your majesty showed to Al-Azhar and its scholars is not strange on the part of the brethren Kingdom of Bahrain and its King who gathered together the values of justice, wisdom, perspicacity, breadth of mind, and being fully acquainted with the forthcoming and surrounding problems in such a way that clearly indicates the cleverness of the veteran politician, the strong leader and the merciful father.
This is not unusual for the people of Bahrain whose land has been a place of various cultures and ideas, and a melting pot for all these variations that had imprinted the Bahraini people to be perfectly characterized by rationality and theability to respond to challenges and to make use of them for the interest of the Nation of Bahrain and its major concerns.
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif fully appreciates the role of Bahrainfor its great standing in the Islamic scholarly heritage and its peculiarity in supporting Islam from its early time –during the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)- as researchers of the Prophetic Biography and Traditions know very well. Being aware of these merits, Al-Azhar supports the unity of Bahrain, its will and the independence of its internal affairs.
While declaring so, Al-Azhar is not speaking from a political point of view, as Al-Azhar - in view of its historical and religious responsibility- is far from politics. Basically, Al Azhar is concerned with confronting misleading voices that risk the safety and security of peoples and lands, especially when these voices speak in the name of Islam and delude masses with the fatawa of some religious figures who call to the division of nation and to loyalty to foreign powers that try to sue divisions and disunity.
Loyalty to one’s nation is one of the principles and objectives of Shari’ah. Our Shari’ah teaches us that he who dies while defending his land, his honor or his property is a martyr. Moreover, he who dies away for his homeland is a martyr too. This decisively proves the inviolability and sanctity of homeland.
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Your Highness: Hamad bin Isa –King of Bahrian,
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and all Egypt feel happy with this affectionate and brotherly visit that confirms the deep relations between both the Egyptian and Bahraini peoples.
Thanks very Much!
Peace be upon you!