Al-Azhar Grand Imam, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, is concerned about the spread of far-right extremism in Europe and the escalation of its aggressive and hostile activities against Muslims in many Western countries. His Eminence stressed that the world today needs - more than ever - to respect pluralism and accept the others, and to raise the voices of reason and wisdom and to repress the voices of destruction and devastation. During his meeting with Dr. Cyrill Jean Nunn, German Ambassador in Cairo, HE noted that the world is now fully aware of the exploitation of religion by some groups to achieve malicious goals in line with their ideologies. He stressed that Al-Azhar extends the hand of cooperation to all countries and institutions to participate in confronting and resisting these groups to eliminate their deviant and misleading thought. We have taken many practical steps in this direction, most notably coordinating with major religious institutions in Europe, foremost of which is the Vatican. Al-Azhar has also established an Observatory to combat extremism and a program for training imams from various countries in countering the ideology of extremist groups. 

The German Ambassador expressed his pleasure at meeting Al-Azhar Grand Imam, highlighting that Al-Azhar represents a reference for Muslims and even non-Muslims around the world and that Al-Azhar's voice is audible and influential at the international level. He emphasized that the Muslims in Germany represent approximately 6% of the total population and that they enjoy their rights in the German society: “Germany has many positive Muslim models that have made significant and positive impacts within society”.