Today, Monday, at Al-Azhar Headquarters, HE the Grand Imam, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb received Kazakh Senate Speaker, Dr. Maulen Ashimbayev and his accompanying delegation to discuss ways to enhance academic and cultural cooperation, train Imams and combat extremism. At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Ashimbayev conveyed the greetings of the Kazakh President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, to the Grand Imam and his appreciation for his global role in spreading the values of peace and coexistence and clarifying the true image of Islam. He also handed an official invitation from the Kazakh President to HE the Grand Imam to visit Kazakhstan and to participate in the inauguration of the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which will address “The role of religious leaders in spiritual and social development of humanity in the post-Corona period.” The congress will be held in the Kazakh city of Nur-Sultan, December 14-15 this year.

 

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Ashimbayev stated: “I would like to express my great pleasure to visit Your Eminence. It is a great honor to be in your presence and in this most important and inspiring place in the Muslim world. Egypt and Al-Azhar have offered a lot of support for Kazakhstan to promote Islam in our country, knowing that Al-Azhar has had a leading role in this regard. Al-Azhar graduates played the biggest role in spreading moderate Islam. We thank you for preparing great Kazakh cadres and we look forward to your constant support and to cooperation with your prestigious institution. We are still in dire need of Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif and its professors and scholars, especially in the field of combating extremism and training Imams. We consider it a prelude to moving forward with interfaith dialogue and dissemination of a culture of coexistence and peace”.

 

Dr. Ashimbayev added: “We eagerly followed up with your cosigning of the Human Fraternity Document, along with Pope Francis, and we consider it a prelude to moving forward with interfaith dialogue and dissemination of the culture of coexistence and peace. We also work on promoting this important document within Kazakhstan due to its great importance in promoting intercultural dialogue. It is truly a unique document and Kazakhstan is ready to adopt serious initiatives regarding dissemination and promotion of it locally, regionally and globally.

 

For his part, the Grand Imam welcomed Dr. Ashimbayev and the accompanying delegation to Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif. He also expressed his appreciation for the person of the Kazakh President and welcomed the precious invitation to visit Kazakhstan, stressing that he keeps memories of this country after visiting it twice. He also noted that he “follows the developments in this dear country and prays to Allah to grant the leaders success and guidance, and to grant the people security, safety and lasting stability.” 

 

His Eminence the Grand Imam affirmed Al-Azhar’s readiness to support Kazakhstan with needed logistics and supplies, and to raise the number of Kazakh students enrolling at Al-Azhar University and institutes, given the manifest significance of this country. He also pointed out that “there are dispatched Azharite teachers and preachers in Kazakhstan, and we welcome the Imams of Kazakhstan to the Al-Azhar International Academy for the Training of Imams and Preachers to enhance their communication skills and introduce them to the study of contemporary problems and the refutation of extremist thoughts.” The Grand Imam added that “we will design content on key challenges in the Kazakh society and ways to investigate them by Imams and preachers.”

 

The meeting involved discussions of the ways to enhance cooperation between Kazakhstan and Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif in the fields of combating intellectual extremism and confronting extremist groups, as well as Al-Azhar’s leading role in this respect, women’s rights in Islam, negative effects of Corona pandemic, and the need for concerted efforts between countries, NGOs and scholars to overcome this difficult stage.