Messages of Grand Imam At-Tayyeb during the 31st Conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs: “Our homelands are trusts pledged to us, and we must keep the trust”.
Grand Imam’s Deputy, Dr. Muhammad Ad-Dhuwaini conveyed the Grand Imam Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb’s greetings and well wishes for the 31st conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, entitled “Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.” The Grand Imam hoped the conference would come out with serious recommendations that help in embedding the principles of constructive dialogue and protecting thought and cultures from attempts of appropriation or distortion through false ideologies and deviant projects. The Grand Imam’s Deputy also conveyed the messages of the Grand Imam to the participants in the conference, which came as follows:
• First message: Heavenly revelation was sent down only to chart for humanity the path to happiness in this life and in the Hereafter, teaching them the values of mercy, truth, and goodness, and protecting their lives, property and honor. If you ever hear or read that a religion allows bloodshed or usurpation of rights, then know that such is a fraudulent or deceptive description of the reality of religion.
• Second message: Islam as a religion is not separate from previous heavenly messages. Rather, the divine religion is one, that is Islam (submission), and the call to Allah should only be through wisdom, graceful admonition and quiet dialogue that does not hurt others or offend their beliefs. So, Islam has nothing to do with any call to belief by force of arms or coercion or exploitation of people’s poverty and diseases. The Qur’an states, “Let there be no compulsion in religion.”
• Third message: There is no room in the philosophy of the Glorious Qur’an for conflict relations and fighting against the peaceful ones. Therefore, the word “peace” and its derivatives abound in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, so much so that Islam and peace have become sort of two sides of one and the same coin. Sufficient evidence in this regard is that the word “peace” and its derivatives occur one hundred and forty times in the Qur’an, while the word “war” and its derivatives occur six times only. So, it is not surprising that Islam establishes “peace” as a default ruling in the Muslims’ relations with the world around them, including all sorts of beings.
• Fourth message: Dialogue between human beings is a necessity dictated by diversity and differences in languages and colors. Such a dialogue is possible among those having common grounds, which are considerable in this case.
• Fifth message: Our homelands are trusts pledged to us, and we, as individuals, institutions, peoples, and governments, must protect them by all possible means, including power and thought.