The second meeting of a delegation of the Muslim Council
of Elders led by the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, His Eminence Professor Dr
Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, and a delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
led by Dr Agnes Abuom, Moderator of the Central Committee of the WCC
and Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary, took place at Al Azhar,
Cairo, Egypt, 26 April. D
r Al-Tayyeb opened the gathering by welcoming
the World Council of Churches to this important meeting which was taking
place at a critical time in the history of the Middle East and the
world.
The WCC general secretary offered public remarks, along
with Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in
the United Kingdom, and Prof. Dr Heidi Hadsell, president of Hartford
Seminary, Connecticut, United States.
Tveit reflected that, together, Christians and Muslims
represent about half the world’s population. “So as we are here, we are
not talking about only ourselves,” he said. “We are talking about
humanity in many ways. We should address these questions from a basic
theological perspective. What does it mean to believe today in one God
that created the one humanity?”
He also emphasized that, because we are accountable to
God, we have to see how that leads to an accountability to every human
being. “This is our mutual accountability to one another, to every human
being, whatever belief or non-belief we have,” he said. “I think this
is a very important reflection, working jointly toward equal
citizenship. It is not only a political or a legal principle; it is also
a principle that expresses our deepest faith in one God creating the
one humanity.”
Prof. Al Tayyeb said “Citizenship and peaceful co-existence are the
greatest challenges that have to be focused on and built upon to counter
fanaticism, terrorism and baseless theological claims and
conceptualizations. He added "Citizenship is the major guarantee for
achieving absolute equality in rights and duties.”
Al-Tayyeb was chosen as Grand Imam of the Al Azhar mosque in Cairo
2010 and is an outspoken advocate for religious dialogue and peace as
well as a strong critic of religious extremism.
Bishop Angaelos noted the difference between reactive
and proactive leadership. “We ourselves are being very reactive,” he
said, “and reactive leadership is good in times of crisis. It is good to
solve problems: we have a crisis, we have an attack, we try to solve
it. But what we need is a proactive leadership - a leadership that looks
beyond the problem and tries to address the future.”
Bishop Angaelos asked: “Where would we like to be in
five years, 10 years, the next generation? Let us address the whole
world together instead of just speaking to ourselves.”
Prof. Hadsell discussed ways leaders can promote citizenship and co-existence from a Christian perspective.
“God’s vision of what should be in our human social world has been described and understood in many ways,” she said.
“The moral nature of the vision includes a shared sense
of the dignity of every being; just relations within communities and
between communities and peoples; the recognition of the intrinsic worth
of every human being so that all human beings are viewed as ends in
themselves, created by God, and not as means to an end.”
The capacity to cross borders and boundaries, including
especially the boundaries of religious communities, has been one of the
most important attributes of leadership in the histories of our
communities and remains so today, she continued.
“For without the capacity to see commonalities in the
other, and to cross boundaries to build relationships with the other,
one cannot construct peaceful interactions and co-existence between
peoples of different communities.”
Representatives of each of the WCC member churches in
Egypt also attended the day of dialouge, which precedes an International
Conference on Peace organised by Al Azhar. Participants also visited
the Coptic Cathedral and the Anglican Church in the heart of Old Cairo.
Pope Francis is expected to address the conference on 28 April.
(also available in Arabic)
Read also, address by Dr Heidi Hadsell, president of Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, United States: (also available in Arabic)