His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, received Mr. Weng Ziyuan, China’s Director of State Administration for Religious Affairs, during the latter’s visit to Cairo. The Grand Imam welcomed the Chinese official to the Headquarters of Al-Azhar, stressing that, in its new curricula and decisions, Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif upholds the values of tolerance and justice. The Grand Imam noted that Al-Azhar held several rounds of dialogue with various religious leaders in the world to build up bridges of communication and achieve peace among the followers of all religions. Al-Azhar organizes conferences, most recent of which was Al-Azhar Peace Conference, to emphasize the renunciation of violence, extremism and terrorism, and the need for concerted efforts to confront and eliminate them. The Grand Imam pointed out that Al-Azhar is working to confront the extremist ideological products of terrorist organizations, with the Global Observatory operating in multiple languages to monitor, translate and respond to materials broadcast by these organizations. This, said the Grand Imam, is meant to warn the youth against falling into the clutches of extremism and terrorism. He added that Al-Azhar is ready to train more Chinese imams within an intensive program to confront contemporary issues and challenges in societies. In this way, the Grand Imam asserted, the Muslims will be an element of stability in their societies.

For his part, Mr. Ziyuan stated that his country appreciates the great role played by Al-Azhar in confronting extremist ideology, and the efforts of the Grand Imam in establishing world peace. He stressed that the culture of Islam is integral to the culture of China, and that the Chinese government is working to develop Muslim majority areas in China. He then noted that his country looks forward to strengthening academic and cultural exchange with Al-Azhar, and to training more imams.