Azhar imam urges cooperation among people

Grand Imam of Azhar Ahmed Tayyeb, the head of the Muslim Council of Elders, urged cooperation among people of different religions to disseminate religious values and principles of cooperation that renounce violence and promote citizenship.

Addressing the opening session the International Conference on "Freedom and Citizenship: Diversity and Integration", Tayyeb exhorted religious institutions in the East and West to confront the phenomenon of Islamophobia in the West which is nurtured by terror and violence mongers. 

The conference is co-hosted by Al Azhar and the Muslim Council of Elders and is attended by delegations from over 50 countries with important Arab and international media coverage. 
Grand Imam of Al Azhar Ahmed Tayyeb said the accusations leveled against Islam being behind acts of terror resulted from lack of knowledge about the upright teachings of Islam.

He underlined the role of intellectuals and religious scholars in confronting the plague of Islamophobia and terror that harmed Muslims in the West. 
Grand Imam of Al Azhar regretted depicting Islam as the tool of destruction that simmered wars in the Arab and Islamic region.

He said such acts have nothing to do with Islam, the problem is with linking Islam to such acts.

He added that Muslims in the West have been negatively affected by Islamophobia.

He cautioned that if religious institutions did not confront such phenomenon, it would metastasize to harm Christianity and Judaism sooner or later. 

Source: MENA