Pope, Al Azhar Imam reaffirm fraternity
BOTH LEADERS RENEW SPIRIT OF ABU DHABI DECLARATION
...His Holiness, whose joint path of human fraternity alongside the Grand Imam of Al Azhar serves as inspiration to the committee.”
The meeting and message of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Coexistence, also known as the Abu Dhabi Declaration, should be maintained and sustained, Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, has said.
Pope Francis sought support for efforts in the interest of human fraternity at a meeting on Wednesday with the judging committee for the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity 2022, which is into its third edition. He also called his 2019 Abu Dhabi meeting with the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, as the “first step” along the path of human fraternity.
For their part, the judging committee members expressed to the Pope their deep appreciation for His Holiness’ support in their noble mission and affirmed that their judging process relies on the values of the Document on Human Fraternity.
The Document was signed by the two spiritual leaders in Abu Dhabi under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al Azhar also met with the judging committee in Rome yesterday.
He too called upon the judging committee to advance with their work the global humanitarian project of human fraternity, which goes beyond the limits of religion and geography, and encourages pioneering examples that promote peaceful coexistence, tolerance and peace.
The Grand Imam emphasised that differences among humans are because of divine wisdom. He said that if God wanted us to be similar, He would have created us so. Differences therefore remain an abiding fact of life. This was why God has established fraternity as a principle governing the relationship between diverse peoples. He warned that if we deviate from these principles, we violate divine wisdom and our future will be lost.
Inspirational gesture
“It is an honour for the judging committee to meet with His Holiness, whose joint path of human fraternity alongside the Grand Imam of Al Azhar serves as inspiration to the committee and to the world, which is suffering from humanitarian and health crises, as well as the plagues of selfishness, inequality, and injustice,” said Judge Mohammad Abdelsalam, Secretary-General of the Higher Committee on Human Fraternity (HCHF), former adviser to the Grand Imam of Al Azhar and the first Arab Muslim to receive the Catholic pope’s highest honour.
The judging committee later held its first in-person meeting in Rome, to discuss processes to evaluate and decide the 2022 awardees.
The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity aims to advance human fraternity values — what Pope Francis has called “the challenge of our century”.
The award, which is granted by the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF), was instituted in February 2019 to mark the historic meeting between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam, wherein the two signatories became the first honorary recipients of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.
Wednesday’s meeting between Pope Francis and the judging committee was organized by the HCHF, which grants the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity annually.
The 2022 awardees will be announced on February 4, 2022.
Judge M. Abdelsalam | HCHF Secretary-General