More than 70 Thousands Killed with no Guilt, Except That They Wanted to Live in Their Homeland and Rejected Displacement Attempts
Prof. Ahmad at-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, received, at al-Azhar Headquarters, Ms. Kajsa Ollongren, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights. The two parties discussed ways of enhancing joint cooperation.
His Eminence said that al-Azhar has an clear stance regarding the issue of human rights, stating that: “I am among those who believe that there is a great deal of human rights agreed upon between the East and the West, and all of us should utilize that as basics for human rights; however, some matters remain as rights in the West, yet, we do not consider them as such in the East, since they contradict the common sense and clash with the religious and moral values, which are considered as the main components and authentic reference for peoples in the East”.
Further, the Grand Imam affirmed al-Azhar’s commitment to preserve rights and freedoms, which is manifested in al-Azhar Document on Fundamental Freedoms which asserted that human dignity is not a grant to be given, but an undeniable inherent right. Simultaneously, His Eminence emphasized the Eastern peoples’ rejection of the attempts of imposing the ethics of the Western human rights organization on the Easterners, under the pretext of freedoms. He underlined that the West should understand that these matters are closely linked to the character, identity, culture, and primarily the religious teachings and values of the Eastern person.
In the same vein, the Grand Imam explained that family in the Eastern culture is not taken as a civil project, but rather governed by rigorous religious rules precisely formulated to prevent tampering with it and its components. In the forefront of these components is maintaining women’s status so that not to be left to the manipulation of customs, traditions and the modern developments in societies.
Moreover, His Eminence underlined that the aggression on Gaza exposed the discrimination between the rights to life of the Eastern humans and their counterparts, pointing out that the killing of more 70 thousand people with no guilt except that they aspired to live peacefully in their homeland and their refusal to displace them, revealed the West’s double standards. The Grand Imam stressed that the occupying entity could not have done that without the support of the political regimes in some of the Western countries.
His Eminence, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar stated: “I hope to live to see the European Union proceeds from an established and unified issue which is the equality of Eastern people with Western ones in the right to live equally. When human rights are violated in the West, there are firm stances and laws, but when this happens in the East, the perspective and laws change, and violations are overlooked”.
