Today, Sunday, His Eminence Prof. Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, received Mr. Iwai Fumio, the Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, to discuss ways of enhancing mutual cooperation. The Grand Imam said that Al-Azhar hosts more than 70 thousand international students from more than one hundred countries around the world, studying Sharia and Arabic sciences alongside modern sciences at all educational levels at Al-Azhar. 

He pointed out that Al-Azhar offers six scholarships to the children of the Muslim community in Japan to study at Al-Azhar University. He stressed Al-Azhar’s readiness to establish a center for teaching the Arabic language in Japan to serve the Muslim community there in learning the language of the Holy Quran, with Al-Azhar supplying the center with all its needs in terms of human resources and Azharite talents in the sciences of the Arabic language.

His Eminence explained that Al-Azhar is concerned with spreading moderation and centrism and confronting extremist ideas around the world. To that end, it has established an observatory to combat extremism and an international academy to train imams and preachers. He emphasized that Al-Azhar is ready to host imams from Japan and train them at Al-Azhar Academy for Training Imams, Preachers, and Fatwa Researchers. While training, they discuss contemporary issues and refute extremist ideas, which will contribute to benefiting from them in spreading moderation and promoting social peace there.

The Japanese Ambassador to Egypt expressed his delight at being in Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, praising the efforts of the Grand Imam in spreading moderation, the values of brotherhood and dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures, and consolidating the values of world peace. He stressed that Japan is keen to enhance cooperation with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in training its imams so that they return armed with the curricula of moderation and centrism from this prestigious institution.