CAIRO (WJC) — Rabbi Marc Schneier, vice-president of the World Jewish Congress and a pioneer in fostering closer Jewish-Muslim relations in North America and Europe, has praised leaders of the Al-Azhar Al-Sharif University in Cairo, the oldest center of Islamic scholarship in the world, for opening up inter-religious dialogue to the Jews.
The ‘Banu Ibrahim – Children of Abraham Declaration’ was delivered at a gathering of senior faith and political leaders hosted by the charity Children of Abraham and the Al-Azhar Institute for Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions at the House of Lords in London on Tuesday.
Schneier declared: “This is a landmark decision, and Al-Azhar deserves praise for it. Coming from the leading center of Islamic thinking in the world, it will be enormously helpful for all moderate forces within Islam. This declaration rightly emphasizes the importance of inter-faith relations. Leaders from both sides should now seize the opportunity and take Jewish-Muslim relations to the next level. Both communities have a lot more in common, and to give to the other side, than many people think.” With the support of the World Jewish Congress and the Islamic Society of America, Schneier’s Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (www.ffeu.org) has spearheaded the annual twinning of mosques and synagogues in North America and Europe.
Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt was founded in 970 and is the leading center of Sunni Islamic learning in the world. The ‘Banu Ibrahim – Children of Abraham Declaration’ was drafted by Sheikh Fawzi Al-Zifzaf, head of Al-Azhar’s Permanent Committee for Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions. It emphasizes that Islam is calling for “brotherhood and mutual understanding and the strengthening of bonds between Muslims and followers of the other religions, and the establishment of bridges of dialogue with scholarly institutions in Europe and America.” The text also calls for dialogue to “be founded upon equality, mutual respect and valuing of the opinions of one another.” While Al-Azhar’s bilateral dialogue with the Vatican has been in place since the 1990s, its scholars have not officially engaged in talks with Jews until now.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress