Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb announced Sunday Azhar would form a center for religious dialogue under his person supervision.
The center will be concerned in disseminating the values of interfaith culture, co-existence, and enhancing Al Azhar’s cooperation with other different religious sects, an Al-Azhar statement added.
At the international conference on Interfaith Dialogue of Doha in March 2014, Tayeb’s advisor Mahmoud Azab talked about the Azhar initiative of establishing “the Egyptian Family House,” in cooperation with the Christian Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, the Coptic Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church, and the Episcopal Church. The institution’s statement noted the center will “boost” the role of Azhar in the Egyptian Family House.
In December, Al Azhar held an international conference on countering extremism and encouraging interfaith dialogue, which was attended by 700 Islamic and Christian scholars from 120 states worldwide.
During his interview with Youm7, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the head of Iranian Institute for Interreligious Dialogue, said Dec. 21 that he met with Tayeb during the Cairo conference and discussed ways to activate the inter-faith dialogue between Sunni and Shiite sects.
In Nov. 2014, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi agreed with Pope of Vatican Francis to resume inter-religious dialogue after being suspended for more three years.
