Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Pope Francis address world peace conference

Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE), called for riding religions from misconceptions and false practices that fuel conflicts, incite hatred and trigger violence.

''There will be no solutions to the problems the world is experiencing today without true understanding of the divine messages, spread of human and ethical values, promotion of values of peace, justice, equality as well as respect for the human being regardless of his religion or ethnicity,'' Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb told the concluding session at the Al Azhar International Peace Conference.

In attendance were Pope Francis, pope of the Roman Catholic Church, Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of UAE Federal National Council (FNC), Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of State for Tolerance, and a number of religious leaders including Olav Fykse, Secretary-General of the World Council of Churches, representative of Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, and Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, Secretary-General of Muslim World League.

The grand imam of Al-Azhar blamed international arms trafficking and reckless international political decisions for the "state of chaos" that prevails in so many countries.

''World peace has become the Lost Paradise.'' He stressed that neither Islam nor Christianity nor Judaism are religions of terrorism and any acts being perpetrated in their names are far afield from their core values.

He expressed gratitude for the Pope’s remarks in which he rejected the association of Islam with terror.

Addressing the religious gathering, Pope Francis said, ''Decisions are needed for our own future, decisions of peace and for peace, for there will be no peace without the proper education of the coming generations. Nor can young people today be properly educated unless the training they receive corresponds to the nature of man as an open and relational being.'' To counter effectively the barbarity of those who foment hatred and violence, Pope Francis stated, ''We need to accompany young people, helping them on the path to maturity and teaching them to respond to the incendiary logic of evil by patiently working for the growth of goodness. In this way, young people, like well-planted trees, can be firmly rooted in the soil of history, and, growing heavenward in one another’s company, can daily turn the polluted air of hatred into the oxygen of fraternity.'' ''As religious leaders, we have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God: Holy is his name, he is the God of peace, God salaam.'' In order to prevent conflicts and build peace, the Pope stressed, ''It is essential that we spare no effort in eliminating situations of poverty and exploitation where extremism more easily takes root, and in blocking the flow of money and weapons destined to those who provoke violence. Even more radically, an end must be put to the proliferation of arms; if they are produced and sold, sooner or later they will be used.

"Only by bringing into the light of day the murky manoeuvrings that feed the cancer of war can its real causes be prevented. National leaders, institutions and the media are obliged to undertake this urgent and grave task. So too are all of us who play a leading role in culture; each in his or her own area, we are charged by God, by history and by the future to initiate processes of peace, seeking to lay a solid basis for agreements between peoples and states, he said in conclusion.