Grand Imam, Pope Francis and Angela Merkel conclude international ceremony: Prayer for Peace
The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb said that, under the climate crises and the Covid-19 pandemic, and the consequent horror suffered by all families, we expected the whole world to quickly turn to heaven and its vast mercy that answers the prayers of the needy and lifts the anguish of the distressed. He added that in the meantime, people should seek the help of pharmaceutical factories that provide vaccines that protect against this dangerous epidemic. This came during the concluding ceremony of the Community of Sant'Egidio’s annual conference, held in the Italian capital, Rome, under the title, Prayer for Peace, in the presence of Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and leaders and representatives of religions. The Grand Imam also stated that global policies regarding the Corona pandemic do not reflect a real awareness of the necessity of resorting to Allah Almighty through prayer. For him, such practice has not yet featured appropriately in people’s behavior or in their battle against this permanent threat. The production of the vaccine and the philosophy of its distribution to those deserving it were not up to the due level of human responsibility, the Imam asserted. Hence, death claimed the lives of five million in less than two years, and the fatal flaw in the distribution policy has led to the deprivation of entire continents from obtaining vaccines. According to recent statistics, the Grand Imam pointed out, the proportion of those who have received the vaccine in Africa, the continent of gold and mineral wealth, is only two to three percent, compared to other continents where a half or three quarters of the population have received the vaccine maximizing their right to life through taking the vaccines. The Grand Imam thus stressed that this crisis revealed a severe flaw in the sense of “duty, conscience and responsibility”, which is a regress for our contemporary world despite the efforts of world religious institutions, their symbols and leaders, to sustain the philosophy of cooperation and exchange of goodness among people and to promote the interests of the community over the interests of individuals. HE the Grand Imam stressed that any new pleading should admonish the people and remind them of Allah Almighty, and the necessity of returning to Him, getting closer to Him and seeking His Mercy. People should turn to Allah to lift the calamitous pandemic that have afflicted them, knowing that the only way for that is prayer and supplication, coupled with sincerity and uprightness, the Grand Imam concluded.