PARIS // Pope Francis has been invited to speak at talks organised by a UAE Islamic council that aim to build bridges between religions and cultures.
Members of the UAE’s Muslim Council of Elders have been attending the meetings at Paris city council palace with municipality officials and the Vatican’s lay Community of Sant’Egidio for the second round of the East and West dialogue mission.
Dr Ali Al Nuaimi, chairman of the UAE council, said the participants had come up with ways to promote mutual understanding and interests between Christians and Muslims.
Members of the Vatican group proposed inviting the pope to speak in the next round of talks, the date for which is yet to be announced.
They are expected to take place in Cairo or at the Vatican.
“Now they have the desire to correct the image of Islam and Muslims in the Christian society,” Dr Al Nuaimi said. “They started feeling they have a responsibility to work with us on a mutual project to achieve the desired goals.”
An example of this happened two days ago when the pope received Dr Ahmed El Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, at the Vatican.
“Usually the pope does not receive any guest in his office on his own. He always has the cardinal and other officials seated on the side,” said Dr Al Nuaimi.
However, he received Dr El Tayyeb alone, “and asked the official in charge of Vatican media for 20 years to wait outside”.
He then awarded Dr El Tayyeb with a medal of peace.
“Look at this from a Christian’s point of view. What does it mean when the pope awards an Al Azhar imam with this medal of peace?”
“And after that the Al Azhar chief officially announced that he will be holding an international peace conference with the pope – these things would not have happened two years ago.”
Dr El Tayyeb is not only the first Al Azhar imam to visit the Vatican, but his visit came at a period when both sides were in disagreement following anti-Muslim comments made by Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI.
“But we did not wait for them to approach us. We took the initiative,” said Dr Al Nuaimi.
The Muslim leaders also visited the Bataclan theatre, one of the sites of November’s terror attack in Paris.
“Two years ago an Islamic leader would not have done it,” he said.
“So we have achieved a step from both sides in terms of mentality, interest and priorities. It is a learning process that lets both sides understand the challenges and responsibilities that lie upon them.”
Members of the council and Sant’Egidio also visited a cafe that was targeted in the November attacks.
Dr El Tayyeb stood for a few minutes and prayed for the victims. He then wrote a note and placed it in a flower bouquet.
“O people of every faith, nationality, race, colour and language: I have come here to announce to you all in the name of Islam that the blood of all human beings should be protected,” he wrote.
“I and all Muslims experienced great pain for every drop of bloodshed here – and anywhere,” he said. “And we should all, East and West, stand together against the killers of those victims.
“And we have great hope that the free French – peaceful, lively people – will be able to overcome this tragedy. And we ask Allah to protect you and us from all evil,” he concluded.
The president of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim societies, Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, said dialogue provides “deep research” on how to achieve peace.
“It is not requested to give immediate results, but we hope the talks will become deeper to reach solutions.”
The sheikh, a Shiite Lebanese theologian and member of the council, said the goal is to “enlighten the public opinion that they should be loyal towards their homeland and not one’s political party”.
He also hailed the UAE’s role in promoting dialogue.
hdajani@thenational.ae
