SHAFAQNA– Sheikh of al-Azhar said that “together with the scholars of Al-Azhar and the Council of Muslim Sages, we are ready to hold a serious Islamic-Islamic dialogue with the Shia brothers.”
“Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayeb” who was speaking on Friday (04 Nov 2022) at the “East and West for Peaceful Human Coexistence” dialogue meeting in Bahrain, called Islamic scholars all over the world from all different sects to “accelerate the holding of a serious Islamic-Islamic dialogue.” for the creation of unity, convergence and recognition of each other and rejection of division, sedition and sectarian conflicts.”
Al-Tayeb, speaking in the presence of Pope Francis, stated: “I invite our Shia Muslim brothers to hold such a dialogue and tell them that I, along with the senior scholars of Al-Azhar and the Council of Muslim Sages, are ready to hold such a meeting and sit together at the same table.”
He called the purpose of holding such a meeting as “going through the pages of the past, strengthening Islamic affairs and the unity of Islamic positions” and suggested that “its decisions should focus on stopping the discourses of mutual hatred and the methods of incitement and excommunication and the need to move past historical and contemporary conflicts.”
Sheikh of Al-Azhar also emphasized that “it is necessary that listening to the calls for division and factionalism and warning against falling into the trap of manipulating the stability of nations, using religion to create national and religious tensions, interfering in the affairs of countries and violating sovereignty and their territorial integrity to be forbidden to Muslims.