His Eminence, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Prof. Ahmad at-Tayyeb, received Japan’s Ambassador to Cairo, IWAI Fumio, to discuss enhancing mutual cooperation.
At-Tayyeb stated that al-Azhar ash-Sharif hosts more than 70,000 international students from over one hundred countries around the world, who study Islamic and Arabic sciences alongside modern sciences at all educational levels at al-Azhar. He noted that al-Azhar provides six scholarships to members of the Muslim community in Japan to study at al-Azhar University, affirming al-Azhar’s readiness to establish a center for teaching Arabic in Japan to serve the Muslim community there in learning the language of the Holy Quran. He affirmed that al-Azhar would bear responsibility for providing the center with all necessary human resources and expertise in the Arabic language.
In addition, he explained that al-Azhar is committed to spreading moderation and countering extremist ideologies around the world. To serve this aim, it established an observatory to combat extremism and an international academy for training imams and preachers. He also affirmed that al-Azhar is ready to host Japanese imams and train them at Al-Azhar International Academy for Training Imams, Preachers, and Fatwa Researchers, to train them in discussing contemporary issues and refuting extremist ideas, which would contribute to benefiting from these imams in spreading moderation and promoting societal peace there. For his part, Ambassador IWAI expressed his pleasure at being present at al-Azhar ash-Sharif, praising the efforts of the Grand Imam in spreading moderation and the values of fraternity and dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures, and consolidating the values of world peace. He confirmed that Japan is keen to strengthen cooperation with al-Azhar in training its imams so that they return bearing the curricula of moderation and balance from this venerable institution.
