By: Nabila Essam

The Ministry of Youth and Sports organized a visit to Mashiakhet  Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, for the participants of the Nasser fellowship for International Leadership, under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, from 60 countries, representing the continents of Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Australia, during the period from the first to the 15th of June, under the slogan  "Non-Alignment and South-South Cooperation."

At the beginning, Dr. Muhammad Al-Dwaini, Undersecretary of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, welcomed the attendees and thanked the Minister of Youth and Sports for organizing this visit to Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, and Al-Dwaini mentioned that Al-Azhar is responsible for correcting the misconceptions that some have got them, stressing that Al-Azhar is the owner of the moderate doctrine, It would uphold human values, citizenship and peace, and make dialogue as basis for coexistence, pointing out that these values are at the heart of the message of Islam, as Islam does not differentiate in humanity, as a person has all the rights and the freedom of belief.

The Undersecretary of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif also referred to the issuance of the first joint declaration between the Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayyib, and the Pope of the Vatican, and it is called the Human Fraternity Declaration,  and it is considered the most important document in the modern era, which was adopted by the United Nations to uphold the human value and the rights of women and the elderly, and made the day of its signing, February 4, an international day for humanity, to establish a joint dialogue, achieve true peace, and confront terrorism and extremism, stressing that Islam phobia is alleged that has no reality, and Al-Azhar exerts all its energy to correct all these ideas, respond to them, and direct them in the right direction for Muslims and others. 

Dr. Osama Al-Hadidi, Director of the Al-Azhar Global Center for Monitoring and Electronic Fatwa, which was established in 2016, spoke, pointing out that Al-Azhar is an institution, mosque, and university that is more than 1080 years old, striking with its knowledge in the roots of history, and its children from all countries of the world, and they represent 60 thousand foreign students from 120 countries of the world, in their various legislative and religious disciplines, medicine, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, etc., and it is the oldest university in the world, from which heads of state, ministers, and thought leaders emerged.

Reham Abdullah, Director of the Observatory for Combating Extremism at Al-Azhar, said in her speech about the establishment of the observatory, which was ordered by the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar. Many of the publications issued by the observatory (magazines, training and teaching courses, reports, awareness workshops, and conferences) have been published. Since its inauguration, there have been campaigns to discuss thought, including many researchers who graduated from Al-Azhar to confront terrorism.

On the sidelines of the visit, the participating youth delegations presented the Nasser fellowship had a tour inside the Global Center for Monitoring and Electronic Fatwa learning about the languages and working methods followed by the center, the sections on fatwas from foreign countries and how to respond to them through Al-Azhar researchers and scholars, then a visit to Al-Azhar Al-Sharif Mosque.