ASIA/SYRIA - Melkite Patriarch Grégoire III: al Azhar Conference “fundamental event”. Islamist ideology harms both Christians and Muslims

Friday, 5 December 2014

Damascus (Agenzia Fides) – The Conference held at al Azhar University “represented a fundamental event, never before has such clear condemnation of Islamist extremism and terrorism been voiced by such an authoritative institution of the Muslim world”. This is how Greek Melkite Patriarch Antioch Grégoire III commented the International Conference on Terrorism and Extremism 3 and 4 December held at the Cairo university, considered the most authoritative institution for Sunni Muslim theology. The Primate of the Melkite Church was the only patriarch, not resident in Egypt, who attended the conference, together with some 700 participants, mainly Muslims, from 120 different countries. The “Purpose of the Conference” the Patriarch explained to Fides “was to firmly reject the ideology of Jihadist groups, and demonstrate how these groups manipulate the words of Islam pursuing a project of power which has nothing in common with authentic Islamic faith”.
The Patriarch underlined the importance of numerous references to Christians found in the Conference final statement: “The meeting in Cairo” Fides learned from His Beatitude Grégoire “went far beyond a mere appeal in favour of Islam-Christian dialogue. This time the emphasis was on the necessity to oppose together an ideology which harms everyone, Christians and Muslims ”. In this framework, many interventions and also the final statement issued at the end of the Conference reiterated the call to Christians in the Middle to resist and not abandon the lands in which they were born.
In the opinion of Patriarch Grégoire to render concrete the view point emerging from the al-Ahar Conference it will be necessary to identify a common strategy, by means of periodical meetings of heads of Muslim and Christian communities. In the final statement of the al-Azhar Conference we read, among other things, “Attacks on Christians and believers of other religions represent a betrayal of the authentic teachings of Islam ”. The statement condemns as criminal any action to expel Christians living in areas controlled by militant Islamist groups. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 5/12/2014).


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