Kantor berita Vatikan merilis konperensi pers pertemuan Imam Besar Al-Azhar Sheik Ahmed Muhammad Al-Tayyib dengan Paus Fransiskus. Radio Vatikan dalam siarannya memberitakan bahwa Imam Besar Al-Azhar, Sheik Ahmed Muhammad Al-Tayyib, setelah bertemu dengan Sri Paus Frannsiskus mengatakan bahwa sekarang waktunya telah tiba bagi “wakil dari agama-agama ilahi” untuk secara kuat dan konkret mengubah umat manusia menuju kasih dan damai sehingga manusia dapat menghindari krisis besar yang menimbulkan penderitaan manusia sekarang ini.
Kepada perwakilan dari Radio Vatikan dan surat kabar Vatikan L’Osservatore Romano hari Senin (23/5) Imam Besar dari Mesir itu menyampaikan kesannya bahwa Paus Fransiskus adalah orang yang sangat cinta damai, seorang yang mengikuti ajaran Kristen, yang merupakan agama cinta dan perdamaian, orang yang menghormati agama lain. Paus Fransiskus, menurut Imam besar dari Mesir itu adalah seorang yang juga menguduskan hidupnya untuk melayani orang miskin dan melarat, dan yang mengambil tanggung jawab untuk orang-orang pada umumnya; ia adalah seorang pertapa, yang telah meninggalkan kesenangan fana kehidupan duniawi. Semua ini adalah kualitas hidup paus Fransiskus dan oleh karena itu kami ingin bertemu beliau dalam rangka untuk bekerja sama bagi kemanusiaan dalam bidang yang lebih luas karena kita memiliki banyak kesamaan.
Untuk informasi yang lebih lengkap silahkan membaca naskah asli dari hasil konperensi pers imam besar Al-Azhar yang dirilis oleh Kantor Berita Vatikan dan disiarkan oleh radio Vatikan (23/5/16) pada halaman di bawah ini. (Daniel B. Kotan).
(Vatican Radio) The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheik Ahmed Muhammad Al-Tayyib, said the time has come for “the representatives of the Divine Religions” to “strongly and in a concrete way” turn humanity towards mercy and peace, “so that humanity can avoid the great crisis we are suffering now.”
The Grand Imam was speaking to representatives of Vatican Radio and the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano after his meeting with Pope Francis on Monday.
The first impression, which was very strong, is that [Pope Francis] is a man of peace, a man who follows the teaching of Christianity, which is a religion of love and peace,” – the Grand Imam said – “and following His Holiness we have seen that he is a man who respects other religions and shows consideration for their followers; he is man who also consecrates his life to serve the poor and the destitute, and who takes responsibility for people in general; he is an ascetic man, who has renounced the ephemeral pleasures of worldly life. All these are qualities that we share with him, and therefore we wish to encounter this man in order to work together for humanity in this vast field we have in common.”
The Sheik is the first Grand Imam to visit the Vatican, although Pope John Paul II visited Al-Azhar during his visit to Egypt in the Jubilee Year 2000.
During the interview, the Grand Imam said religious leaders now have “heavy and grave” responsibilities in the world because “all the philosophies and modern social ideologies that have taken the lead of humanity, far from religion and far from heaven, have failed to make man happy or to take him far from wars and bloodshed.”
“Man without religion constitutes a danger to his fellow man, and I believe that people now, in the twenty-first century, have started to look around and to seek out wise guides to lead them in the right direction,” he said.
The Grand Imam also said the Cairo-based Al-Azhar University – considered Sunni Islam’s most important centre of learning – is working to fight extremist thought in Islam.
He said the curriculum identifies “erroneous concepts” to help guide young people from those who advocate violence and terrorism.
The University is also working with local Churches in a project called “The Home of the Egyptian Family,” which works to combat those who try and sow interreligious discord in the country.
The Grand Imam ended the interview by making an appeal to the whole world to “unite and close ranks to confront and put an end to terrorism.”
“This is my appeal to the world and to the free men of the world: to come to an agreement immediately and to intervene to put an end to these rivers of blood,” he said.
“Yes, terrorism exists, but Islam has nothing to do with this terrorism, and this applies to Ulama Muslims and to Christians and Muslims in the East,” – the Grand Imam continued – “And those who kill Muslims, and who also kill Christians, have misunderstood the texts of Islam either intentionally or by negligence.”
He pointed out Al-Azhar University held a conference one year ago which brought together Sunni and Shia Muslim authorities, Christian leaders – and even a Yazidi representative – which issued a joint statement which stated that Islam and Christianity have nothing to do with those who kill.
It also asked those in the West not to confuse those belonging to deviant groups with the rest of the Islamic world. The statement also re-affirmed the right of both Muslims and Christians to live in the Middle East, rejected forced emigration, and slavery and the buying and selling of women in the name of Islam.
“We must not blame religions because of the deviations of some of their followers, because in every religion there exists a deviant faction that raises the flag of religion to kill in its name,” the Grand Imam said.
HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE
24 May 2016
