Today, Wednesday, at the Headquarters of Al-Azhar, H.E Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif, received Ambassador Nermin Al-Zawahiri, Egyptian Ambassador to Rwanda to discuss ways to boost Al-Azhar’s academic and advocacy support for Rwanda. The Grand Imam stressed that Al-Azhar pays great attention to the people of the African continent, and always welcomes enrollment of African students in the various colleges of Al-Azhar University. He stressed Al-Azhar’s readiness to increase the scholarships offered to the Rwandans to study at Al-Azhar, and to allocate the largest share of them to the applied studies, such as medicine, pharmacy and engineering, to meet the needs of the Rwandan people. The Grand Imam also announced Al-Azhar’s readiness to establish an Al-Azhar Arabic Language Center in Rwanda, to serve the Muslim community in Rwanda, and to host Rwandan imams at Al-Azhar International Academy for the Training of Imams and Preachers. Those imams, he maintained, will be trained to refute the misconceptions of extremist groups, and consolidate the values of brotherhood and coexistence. For this purpose, he added, a curriculum befitting the Rwandan society shall be designed, taking into account the civil wars Rwanda has gone through and in turn the need for intensified work to consolidate the values of citizenship.

For her part, Ambassador Nermin Al-Zawahiri expressed her pleasure to meet the Grand Imam and her appreciation for his efforts towards promoting the values of brotherhood and coexistence and supporting the people of the African continent. She underscored her keenness to address the file of foreign students and of enrolling Rwandan imams and preachers in Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif Training Academy. She concluded that she will make every effort to highlight the role and efforts of Al-Azhar in Rwanda.