Al-Azhar Grand Imam (GI), Prof. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, met with Dr. Hani Swilam, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, and Dr. Osama El Azhari, Minister of Religious Endowments, to discuss ways to raise awareness of the importance of water conservation.

 

The Grand Imam stressed the necessity of raising public awareness of contemporary social issues pointing out that there is a gap between Islamic legislation related to water conservation and the behavior of some Muslims on ground. He stressed Al-Azhar’s readiness to provide a school curriculum to address contemporary social issues, most notably environmental and climate issues, raise awareness of the importance of water conservation, and update it with emerging issues. His Eminence pointed out the importance of formulating these curricula in an easy and simplified manner that suits the different educational stages and addresses topics such as cleanliness and water conservation.

 

The Grand Imam stressed the importance of launching influential media campaigns that address raising awareness of the water issue, the importance of rationalizing its use, and preserving the sustainability of its resources. He stressed the importance of presenting these campaigns in an attractive way for children and youth and allocating appropriate spaces for them on the most watched channels and on social media sites.

 

The Grand Imam also stressed the role of mosques in addressing contemporary social issues, educating and preparing imams to address these issues, in addition to the need to providing mosques and public places with the best practical solutions that help conserve water and preserve the environment.

 

The Minister of Water Resources stressed the importance of water and the necessity of preserving its resources and rationalizing its use, and the cooperation of all relevant institutions and bodies in raising people’s awareness of this issue. He added that this prompted the Ministry to prepare to launch campaigns targeting water awareness during the coming period, with the participation of a number of  scholars and senior leaders from Al-Azhar, imams, intellectual and cultural figures, and community role models in these campaigns to call on people to conserve water and use it wisely.

 

The Minister of Endowments pointed out that both Ministries of Endowments and Water Resources are cooperating to train imams and preachers in the best ways to use water to provide practical examples of how to conserve it, so that they can convey this information to people through the Friday sermons and religious lectures in mosques. This aims to establish a culture of preserving the environment and water, and the sustainability of their resources.