During his speech at the EFH 10th anniversary celebrations, HE the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb dispelled the doubts that arose to cause confusion between Islamic-Christian fraternity, aimed at defending the right of the Egyptian citizen to live in security, peace, and stability, on the one hand, and the merging of the two religions, where their differences dissolve, on the other hand, especially within the trends claiming a one religion, called “Abrahamic” religion. These calls seem to aspire to merge Judaism, Christianity and Islam in one message or religion through which people are united. The purpose of such unity is to avoid the scourge of disputes and conflicts that lead to bloodshed and armed conflicts between people, even at times between the followers of the same religion and the believers in the same faith.

Such claim, the Grand Imam noted, is similar to globalization, the end of history, global ethics and other claims, although it seemingly preaches human unity and elimination of the roots of conflicts and struggles. However, it is essentially a call for confiscation of the most precious asset for humankind, i.e. freedom of belief and freedom of choice, which are ensured in religions and underscored in its canonical texts. In other words, this call involves much more pipe dreams than proper recognition of facts.

HE the Grand Imam added, “Out of our belief in our heavenly messages, we believe that people’s alleged agreement to follow one religion or one divine message is innately impossible, since Allah has created them radically different in their colors, beliefs, mentalities and languages, and even in their finger and eye prints. This is an established scientific fact and, primarily, a Qur’anic fact, as the Qur’an stipulates that Allah has created people to be different and that, had He so willed, He would have created them in one color, one language, or one mind, or as followers of one and the same faith.”

The Grand Imam noted that Al-Azhar’s openness to Egyptian churches and clergy, especially the Orthodox Church, and these churches’ openness to Al-Azhar is not, as alleged by some, an attempt to dissolve the differences in creeds, doctrines or religions. It is hard for some to distinguish respect for the creed of the other from belief in it. They can hardly distinguish the manifest difference between respect for the creed of the other and acknowledgement of it. In this sense, we rightly perceive the Almighty’s saying, “There is no compulsion in religion.” (Qur’an, 2: 256) and "To each of you We prescribed a law and a method." (Qur’an, 5: 48), to cite but a few examples. The Grand Imam continued, “Indeed, Al-Azhar’s openness to other religious institutions inside and outside Egypt is meant to quest for common grounds in heavenly religions and cling to them with the purpose of delivering humanity from its contemporary crisis and freeing it from the besetting injustices of the potent and the arrogance and transgression of the despots.”