His eminence al-Azhar Grand Imam, Dr Ahmad al-Tayyeb met the French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the delegation accompanied to him to discuss his eminence the Grand Imam's vision on the current events on both the regional and international levels.
In this context, al-Azhar Grand Sheikh said,
"Al-Azhar Al-Sharif appreciates France's permanent support to Egypt, praising its support to the Egyptian Armed Forces and resisting the catastrophe of extremism and terrorism, which spread like cancer disease." He, then, continued,
"We are looking forward to more contribution and cooperation among our two countries in this regard, adding that al-Azhar had scientific and cultural relations with France by dint of the fact that some of al-Azhar leaders had graduated from the top French Universities."
In the same vein, his eminence al-Azhar Grand Imam stressed that terrorism became no longer restricted to our Arab region, but it actually exceeded it to inflict the whole world; and thus it must be comprehensively confronted; not only on the security level but also youths must be protected from the danger of falling prey to extremism thought. Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh, then, said that al-Azhar is ready to train the EU Imams, especially those of France, according to a particular training program, which meets the requirements of their societies, originates their belonging to their countries, prevents them from being polarized, qualifies them to face the contemporary challenges and implants in them the true understanding of Islam for which al-Azhar is responsible one thousand years ago.
Al-Tayyeb also pointed out that al-Azhar has taken serious steps during the last ten years with regard to renewing thought and Islamic sciences, stressing that al-Azhar had reviewed its curricula, which are taught in the different stages of education, in such a way that guarantees the creation of a generation able to carry the pure message of al-Azhar to the whole world. Similarly, al-Azhar Grand Imam shed light on the establishment of Al-Azhar Observer in Foreign Languages to monitor all the wrong publications of the terrorist militant groups, reply to them and publish the replies.
On the other hand, al-Tayyeb mentioned that al-Azhar communicates with the international world through the establishment of different branches for the World Association of Al-Azhar Graduates (WAAG) to spread the message of al-Azhar in many countries around the world, the delegation of the Peace Envoys, in collaboration with the Muslim Council of Elders presided over by al-Azhar Grand Imam himself, to different countries around the world including Europe, Asia, Africa, America for the sake of reinforcing peace in communities and spreading the culture of tolerance and co-existence, and, finally, through his eminence's last European tours in which he stressed that peace is the message of all the heavenly-revealed religion. Dr al-Tayyeb had handed out a copy of the report prepared by the Peace Envoys that visited France recently.
On his part, the French Defense Minister showed his sincere gratitude and pleasure to meet His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar expressing his reverence to Al-Azhar and its Grand Imam since Al-Azhar has a great status all over the world. He also expressed his admiration for the Grand Imam's vision on the current international affairs.
The French Defense Minister stressed the depth of historical relations between Egypt and France, which are based on friendship and common interests. He added that France considers Egypt a crucial and indispensible element in maintaining security in the region. He added also that France is in urgent need to al-Azhar's moderate approach which highlights the tolerant teachings of Islam and to Al-Azhar's contribution to the training and rehabilitation of the French Imams to be able to combat the terrorist ideas rejected by Islam. He appreciated Al-Azhar keenness on training the Imams in Europe.
At the end of the meeting, the French Defense Minister pointed out that he will convey his deliberations with Grand Imam of al-Azhar on the training of the French imams at al-Azhar to the French president who will attend the inauguration of the New Suez Canal and to the French Minister of Interior as he is the person responsible for this issue.