Hello, our dear guests who kindly heeded our invitation, coming from the farthest lands of the East and the West. We thank you all and welcome you to Egypt—your second home, a friendly country to yours that we believe to occupy a special place in your hearts. Al-Azhar is indeed delighted to receive you all and it looks forward to benefit from your cooperation and from your learned endeavors at this very critical moment in the history of our Muslim Nation and for the sake of its future.

This conference does not only bring together many distinguished personages from the Arab and Muslim East, but it also indeed brings together the Sunni and Shiite Muslims, the Christians from different denominations, and other creeds and doctrines that grew and developed in the East and benefited from its richness and the goodness. It is also a conference that comes at a most critical and a most troubled period of time, when our countries and our nations are besieged by many dangers, externally and internally. Wherever you turn your gaze on the map of the Middle East, you will be horrified by the tragic spectacles. One is deeply confused and unable to find a single rational explanation to justify the mass deliberate destruction befalling lives, habitats, and properties alike. This destruction disintegrates the Muslim Nation and its civilization, and causes its history to vanish.

Day and night, I keep asking myself and my visitors about what could be the real cause behind this Arab crisis. This state of blind strife is characterized with a stench of blood and death, bombings and explosions, the sight of beheadings, dislocation of millions and destruction of the vestiges of civilized existence and of whole countries. That is all done with savagery that was never known to us before, and indeed may never happen again. It is all committed by these factions, the case which forms a new development in our civilization and our culture, particularly in the way they contravene all the interdictions that have long been established by religions, ethics and common human decencies. Such ethics should have marked a distinction between rational human beings and beasts of prey.

A third grievous calamity, my dear brothers, is that these barbaric and heinous crimes are being committed by donning the mantle of this true religion, giving the dark dens, where such crimes are being plotted. In the name of "the Islamic State" or "the Islamic Caliphate" or some such misnomer or spurious titles, there has been an attempt to send abroad an image of a disfigured Islam that brands this religion as one that brings slaughter, beheadings and dislocation to all who dare be different from it. This hateful and calumnious image of our true religion has long been conjured, fancied and waited for by the enemies of Islam. Indeed, they have long been murmuring incantations around it, construing artful falsehood, spreading calumnies and lies. It is thus most likely that these very enemies will now confront us with this disfigured image to further embarrass us, through all their satellite screens, so as to finally achieve their goal and send warning alarms to all the nations of the world about this "bloodthirsty and barbaric religion".

When one seeks the reasons behind the rise of such armed groups, taking note of their quick expansion across Arab and Muslim countries, one is faced with various explanations, ranging from religious, economic, cultural, to political explanations that this conference shall have ample time to consider. I would also like here to draw your kind attention to yet another explanation that deserves our close examination. This is the one that sees our present sufferings as nothing other than the result of a conspiracy, wrought by the enemies of the Arab and Muslim East, for the benefit of the State of Israel, so that it can be the most powerful and the most affluent in the region. On our part, we do not consider such an explanation to be a far-fetched one. Indeed, the State of Iraq was invaded under false pretenses in 2003. Lies were deliberately foisted on us to that end, only to be revealed later as unfounded by the international media. This fact is also acknowledged by the great world powers themselves. The first patch woven of the plot by the invaders was to disband the Iraqi army which was one of the most powerful Arab armies. Not only were the officers and the soldiers disbanded, but their weapons were left to be vandalized by the warring factions and militias, despite the full awareness of the invaders of the deep divisions that existed in terms of sects, creeds and loyalties. So, what was the final outcome after eleven years from the invasion of Iraq? Iraq has fallen into a maelstrom of endless fighting, swimming in seas of blood, with no shore in sight, to this day. The same thing may also be said of Syria, Yemen and Libya. The conspiracy plays at the same fault lines of doctrines, sects and ethnicities, supplying the factions with arms to further add fuel to the fires, letting death reap thousands of the Nation's youthful lives. In all of these afflicted countries, only Allah knows when the roaring machinery of war will finally be silent or when these countries will be guided by their own light, instead of succumbing to outside pressures from both regional and international interventions.

We are quite certain that those who perpetrated such plots are now reaping great benefits from the inter-fighting of Muslims, for this fighting will keep the Arabs and the Muslims in a state of depletion and despair that knows no respite. They can never now muster any strength, achieve any development or make any progress. It is a war by proxy, in which case the real inciters of the fighting will lose nothing of value, neither in lives nor in resources. Moreover, the inter-Arab fighting opens big markets for the arms industry and for the dealers in war, death and destruction. It is enough proof, over the years, that the Syrian theatre has now become an open field of war, where the Western and Eastern arms industry may vie and compete.

I so much wish—and wishing is the resort of the helpless—that the arms industry will find some remote desert or wasteland to try its weaponry and to test its strength away from the chests of the Arabs, their habitats and their constructed environments.

Gentlemen,

The conspiracy theory is not all there is, for there is yet another deeper reason, one that goes back to our own Arab and Muslim history and it is now almost a constant element of our internal dealings. This is the tendency for indirect rupture, disputing, and contradiction. I have no wish to digress here to deal with this scourge, neither briefly nor at any length. The Qur᾿ān has already warned us of its dire consequences in the words of Allah: “Obey Allah and His Messenger and do not quarrel among yourselves, lest you lose heart and your momentum disappears. Be steadfast, for Allah is with the steadfast.” (Qur᾿ān, 8:46)

Our Muslim Nation owns all potential for unity, when compared to other nations, as it shares language, ethnicity, religion, history and geography.  There are also an Arab League and an organization of Islamic Cooperation, established some half a century ago. Yet, unfortunately, it still lacks union. It is quite possible, or at least not unlikely, for it to be like the European Union. One needs to have sincere intention and a long-term vision to achieve this aim, setting all domestic conflicts aside. The Arabs are with no doubt highly qualified and eminently capable of achieving such a union, if only they so wished. In this context, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif highly esteems the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, for his tireless efforts to unite the Arabs before the challenges and the dangers that now face the Muslim Nation. Against such dangers, there could be no shield unless we Arabs forget our differences and extinguish the raging fires and unite to confront this devouring monster. The international alliance has to muster all its energies and resources, both moral and material, to defeat terrorism in all its forms and varieties by confronting those states that stand behind it and support it with arms and financial resources. In so doing, the alliance will actually be helping its own nations, let alone defending the Arab Nation.

We must not disregard taking the responsibility for allowing the extremist ideas that have seeped into the minds of some youths, driving them to declare Muslims disbelievers. They also embrace harsh or violent interpretations of the sacred texts, such as we find in Al-Qaida and the armed movements that derive from it, who work day and night to attack our homelands and to destabilize our societies. This trend has lately manifested itself in the ISIS, an organization that calls for an Islamic caliphate. Before that and after it, there were also the sectarian killer militias who possess great power and a vast propaganda machine. All of these together have brought the worst of consequences upon Islam and the Muslims worldwide.

The ISIS, however, is not the only armed organization on the ground. There are also the sectarian militias who keep slaughtering people and forcibly dislocating them in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. There are also sectarian groups trying to push their countries into a state of subordination to certain regional powers, in the name of democracy and human rights, like we find in Bahrain, for example. All of these have their own sheikhs, who issue fatwas (religious rulings) permitting such crimes and encouraging people to commit them. In fact, it is difficult to speak further about such a grievous tragedy. We think only of the unity of the Muslims, which is one of the noblest of goals for Al-Azhar, This is due to its inception as an institution, and ever since its call began to spread in the horizons for more than a thousand years now.

What unites all of these groups is a common denominator that determines all their crimes and to which they all cling. This is to pronounce all Muslims as disbelievers for some wrong doing or another, thus holding it as lawful to spill their blood. This brings to our minds the crimes committed by some of the sects of old, that vanished in the mist of history, who would kill Muslims after pronouncing them as disbelievers on the basis of an erroneous and deviant understanding of the Qur᾿ān and the Prophet's Tradition (the Sunnah). The new extremists express this very belief, after perverting the proper meaning of the concept disbelief as well as the concept of belief, even though disbelief has been defined by the Prophet (peace be upon him) by the instruction of Archangel Gabriel, peace be upon him. Muslims have always subscribed to this definition which stipulates that no Muslim may be pronounced as a disbeliever, merely on account of having committed a sin, even if this sin may be a grave one (kabīrah), unless the culprit in question actually believes his sin to be lawful. For disbelief is a denial in the heart or an absence of belief in Allah, His Angels, His Prophets, His Revelations, the Last Day and Destiny, whether it is to one's liking or not. Whoever believes in all of that may not be pronounced a disbeliever.

The concept of jihad (sacred war) too was perverted by these armed groups of extremists and sectarians. They would kill anyone they wish by under the pretext of jihad, while claiming that whoever is killed from their own ranks is a martyr in Paradise. This is indeed a most objectionable understanding of the Islamic Sharia (Law). 

First: Jihad is legitimate in Islam only when it is waged in self-defense, in the defense of one's religion or in the defense of one's country. We have learnt from our scholars in Al-Azhar Al-Sharif that the legitimate cause for fighting is to fight against aggression, not disbelief. 

Second: the declaration of jihad and engaging in it may not be undertaken by just anyone, but only by the Nation's ruler. It may not be undertaken by mere individuals or groups who claim power, no matter what justification they may have. Otherwise, the outcome of such behavior will be to plunge a whole society into a morass of chaos (fitnah), bloodshed, rape and pillage, which is what we suffer nowadays due to this mistaken understanding of Sharia rulings.

It is a fact then that Islam prohibits violence against any human being, regardless of his religion or belief: "Because of that, We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or due to spreading mischief in the land, it would be as if he killed all of humankind." (Qur᾿ān, 5:32) Indeed, how could that be, when Islam has opened up even to the followers of other religions, to the extent of allowing mixed marriages, in which two different religions may live together under the same roof. By this, Islam does not only accept coexistence but also the mixing of families.

Whatever be the misunderstanding among certain Muslims of the question of the caliphate, or the leadership, it is an established principle, among the scholars of the fundamentals of religion that the question of political leadership belongs to the legal issues, not the universal doctrines of religion. It is thus susceptible to differing opinions, a well-established principle known by heart even by the youngest students at the Faculty of Religious Fundamentals at Al-Azhar. In the book of Explaining the Stations (Sharḩu l-Mawāqif), which is one of the pivotal works of Ash‘arite theology, stipulated by the curriculum of Al-Azhar, the author says that it (political leadership) is not one of the fundamentals of religion to us, but one of its derivatives. 

In Sharḩu l-Maqāṣid, which is part of the curriculum of the Faculty of Theology, the prominent Sunni theologian Sa‘d Al-Taftazāniy says, ‘There is no dispute among theologians that the question of the political leadership is more befitting of legal issues than universal doctrines. This principle is indeed a constantly-stated one in the theological works of Sunni Islam. How can such a question become a great cause for strife and for so much bloodshed and destruction, disfiguring in the very image of this true religion?

One needs to digress for so long if one tries to enumerate all the Sharia concepts and rulings that were disfigured, infringed upon and taken out of context by the unwholesome disposition of these groups in order for them to justify the killing of people. I shall leave to this conference the task of setting these misconceptions aright by reference to both our transmitted and intellectual traditions. Afterwards, such contributions may be published, for the whole world to see, as part of the final statement of the conference, to state the truth and clear up one's conscience.

Dear brothers and friends,

We sense the great need to direct the efforts of our youth, to seek scientific, technological and cultural progress so that we may hope to catch up one day with the other nations of the world, which are ahead of us now in the exercise of leadership and influence over the destiny of humanity, directing its march as well as determining its ends. Now, this march stands in great need for guidance by the light of the Heavenly Revelations and for the discipline from religious ethics if we are to alleviate the sufferings brought on people by the international politics. Such politics operate in the absence of the values bequeathed to us by the Prophets and the Heavenly Messengers who were sent to humanity only to guide it and lead it to happiness in this world and the next.

Dear Brothers

Al-Azhar Al-Sharif has been exerting continuous efforts towards the formulation of a conscious and well-guided religious discourse, of which the structure must be well-founded on the Noble Qur᾿ān and on the Holy Traditions of the Prophet's Sunnah, as well as on the well-received opinions of the scholars over the centuries.

From that vantage point, I appeal to all Muslims, asking them to have the greatest confidence in Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, both as a mosque and a university, for it is your honest instructor in the affairs of religion, whether those that pertain to the creed or to the right path (Sharia). It is all done with purity and wholesomeness, as it was willed by Allah and conveyed by His Messenger (pbuh), far removed from the perversions of extremists, the wiles of deceivers and the misinterpretations of the ignorant.

Finally, as we confront terrorism, extremism and unwarranted interpretations of our religion, such challenges that keep us daily occupied must not take us far away from the primary cause of all the Arabs and Muslims. That is the Farthest Mosque (Al-Aqṣā), the first orientation of prayer and the third most holy mosque in Islam. There will be no peace for our world without resolving the question of Palestine, radically and justly.

Al-Azhar Al-Sharif is now resolved to devote its 15th conference to the question of Palestine. May Allah almighty give us all success in doing whatever is necessary for the good of humanity at large.

The participants in this conference issued a joint final statement at the end of the closing session, in which they explicitly declared that “Islam is far dissociated from terrorism and extremism.” The text of the statement runs as follows,

The Arab world is facing an unprecedented state of tension and instability due to the emergence of extremist movements that invest terrorism as a tool to implement their goals. Safe citizens were subjected to attacks targeting their dignity, their national rights, and their religious sanctities. These attacks were carried out in the name of religion, though religion denounces it.

For this reason, it was necessary for Al-Azhar, as a religious reference for all Muslims, to take the initiative to define relevant concepts and revisit the religious statements misused by extremists in their terrorist operations. It was also necessary to raise the Islamic voice loudly against radicalism and extremism and against terrorism in all its forms.

In response to the call of Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif, an expanded conference was held in Cairo, on December 3-4, 2014, under the chairmanship of the Grand Imam. It was attended by leading figures of Islamic Madhhabs, heads of Eastern churches, as well as Muslim and Christian scholars from different countries of the world.

Following two days of research and discussions, the meeting concluded with a statement agreed upon by the participants, and is called “Al-Azhar International Statement,” which text runs as follows:

First: All the armed denominations, groups and sectarian militias, that use violence and terrorism against the citizens and draw falsely and slanderously on religious pretexts for that purpose, are sinful groups in their thought and dissident in their behavior. They totally deviate from true Islam. Indeed, frightening the peaceful, murdering the innocent, violating people’s honor and property, and defiling religious sanctities are crimes against humanity, and thus categorically condemned in Islam. Likewise, targeting homelands and nation states with the purpose of dividing or fragmenting them (in the name of Islam) presents distorted and hateful image of Islam. Therefore, these crimes, besides contradicting the true faith, misrepresent Islam, which is a religion of peace, unity, justice, charity and human fraternity.

Second: Emphasizing that Muslims and Christians in the East are brothers and sisters. Belonging to the same nation and civilization, they have lived together for many centuries, determined to pursue such a way of life in sovereign and free national states that maintain equality among all citizens and respect freedoms. Indeed, religious and sectarian plurality is contingent in our common history. Such diversity has been and shall always remain a source of wealth for them and for the world, as recorded in history.

Muslim-Christian relations are historical. These relations serve as an example of joint and fruitful coexistence. We have exemplary experiences in this regard in Egypt and in many other Arab countries. Such experiences have been developed towards full citizenship in terms of rights and duties. Hence, harming Christians and followers of other religions and faiths under religious pretexts is a deviation from true Islam and the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh). This also represents denial of the rights of homeland and of citizens.

Third: Displacing Christians and followers of other religious groups and ethnicities is a denounced crime that we should unanimously condemn. Therefore, we appeal to our Christian fellow citizens to take root in their countries, so that the wave of extremism afflicting us all may recede. We also appeal to the world countries to lift migration facilitation from their aid plans offered to those Christians. Such migration achieves the goals of aggressive displacement forces that aim to strike our national states and tear apart our civil societies.

Fourth: Some officials, thinkers and media figures in the West exploit these groups that go against true Islam to present stereotypes sustaining their fabrications about Islam; its Sharia and method. To confront this negative phenomenon, the conference calls on Western thinkers and officials to redress these evil images and reconsider negative attitudes towards Islam, so that it may not be falsely accused of negativities or called to account for the actions of extremist group categorically denounced by Islam.

Fifth: The conference calls for an international dialogic meeting to cooperate on peacemaking and promotion of justice within the framework of respect for religious and sectarian pluralism and for racial differences. This meeting is intended to promote diligent and sincere work to put out, not to fan, the fires.

Sixth: Some Muslim youth have been subjected to brainwash, through promoted misconceptions about Qur’anic and Sunnah texts and about scholars’ individual reasoning. With such misconceptions leading to terrorism, scholars and intellectuals are required to assume the responsibility of help those deceived youth through guidance programs and education courses that unmask correct understanding of Islamic texts and concepts. Hence, they would not remain prey to the advocates of violence and promoters of excommunication of others.).

Among these concepts is the Rightly-Guided Caliphate witnessed during the era of the Prophet’s Companions. Such caliphate was introduced to bring about public interest, through guarding the faith, managing secular politics, and achieving justice and equality among people. So, governance in Islam is based on the values of justice and equality, and the protection of citizenship rights for all without any color, gender or religious discrimination. Accordingly, any governance system that ensures these basic human values gains legitimacy through foundational sources in Islam.

Among the misread concepts too is that of “Jihad”, which in fact means acts of self-defense in response to aggression. Besides, declaration of such defensive Jihad can only be made by the ruler and not by individuals or groups, regardless of their status.

Seventh: The conference calls upon the Arab countries to organize their cooperation and develop their cooperation mechanisms to achieve stability, security, and prosperity.

If these countries had established a common market, a common customs union, a common defense agreement, their solidarity and integration would have been realized within a single circle bringing together the multiple national states under a standard strategy that protects them and that is ensured by them.

Eighth: The conference demands that scholars and religious authorities in the Arab and Muslim world assume their responsibilities, as dictated by Allah and by history, to extinguish all sectarian and ethnic fires, especially in Bahrain, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria.

Ninth: The conference condemns the terrorist attacks carried out by the Zionist forces in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially in Jerusalem. These attacks target Palestinian Muslims and Christians alike, as well as mosques and churches, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, the vicinities of which are blessed by Almighty Allah. The conferees thus appeal to the international community to intervene effectively and responsibly to put an end to these heinous attacks and to refer the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

Tenth: The conference affirms that Easterners, both Muslims and Christians, believe that confronting radicalism and extremism and combatting terrorism, whatever their sources or goals may be, is the responsibility of them all.

In conclusion, the conferees express their great appreciation for Al-Azhar and for His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, for taking the initiative to call for this inclusive conference. They also thank the President, the Government and the people of Egypt, wishing dear Egypt all success in undertaking its leading role in combatting terrorism and maintaining the foundations of coexistence