Today, Monday, at the Headquarters of Al-Azhar, HE Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Al-‎Azhar Ash-Sharif, received the ambassadors Hala Youssef, Yasser El-Shimy, and Ibtisam Rakha, ‎Egyptian ambassadors to Thailand, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, respectively.‎

HE Grand Imam At-Tayyeb congratulated the new Egyptian ambassadors on assuming the duties of ‎representing Egypt overseas, wishing them guidance and success, and advising them to take care ‎of the file of Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif, as one of the key arms of the Egyptian state’s soft power, by ‎facilitating the foreign students’ affairs, and providing them with necessary assistance. HE ‎stressed that Al-Azhar is fully prepared to provide support to the three countries, by offering ‎training programs for imams and preachers working there on the latest methods of refuting ‎extremist ideas, through Al-Azhar International Academy for the Training of Imams and ‎Preachers.‎

HE Grand Imam At-Tayyeb also explained that East Asian countries have a large presence at Al-Azhar ‎University, noting that 2,990 Thai students are enrolled in Al-Azhar, 642 of whom are on Azhar ‎scholarships, within 160 annual scholarships allocated to Thai students. Likewise, the Grand ‎Imam asserted, 162 Kazakh students are enrolled in Al-Azhar, at different educational levels, 56 ‎of whom are on scholarships. As for the number of Indonesian students enrolled in Al-Azhar, it is ‎‎11,118, 1,206 of whom are on scholarships, stated Imam At-Tayyeb, who further added that Al-‎Azhar offers 257 annual scholarships to Indonesian students and that there are 50 Azharite ‎teachers dispatched to Indonesia where there are two Azharite institutes.‎

The new Egyptian ambassadors expressed their pleasure with the visit to the Grand Imam of Al-‎Azhar, and their appreciation for his great efforts to promote moderate Islam in Egypt and around ‎the world, to foster the values of dialogue and tolerance, and to introduce genuine Islam globally. ‎They stressed their readiness to make all the necessary efforts to help achieve the message of Al-‎Azhar Ash-Sharif as one of the prominent arms of Egypt’s soft power.‎