Speech of Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawy, Supreme Imam of Al-Azhar University (Egypt)

In the name of Allah, Gracious and Merciful! Thank Allah, God of Worlds. Let Allah bless and welcome our prophet and his followers!

Dear Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan! Let Allah bless you! We thank the Republic of Kazakhstan in the person of the President, the Government and people, as well as the Congress Secretariat for excellent preparation of the II Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

Dear participants,
Now we are at a highly religious and scientific meeting. At such measurements it would be preferable to talk from the point of view of the following truths.

The first truth is, that The Most High Allah created us from one father and one mother. This truth is confirmed by many ayats of the Sacred Koran. In one of them The Most High says: "Oh people! Fear your God, who created you from one soul and made a pair from you. And from them spread many men and women". In these ayats the words of The Most High: "Oh people! We created you as a man and woman, made nations and tribes to know each other. The noblest before Allah is the most devout.
These two ayats distinctly show that All-Powerful and Great Allah created all people from one root and that is why they should be devoted to him in his worship and submission.

They also should help each other in good deed and god-fearing but not in sins and aggression. They should spread the human spirit, as well as settle this earth with everything which was permitted by Allah: agriculture giving benefits, different kinds of industry and all deals, which bring a human being to that which The Most High Allah wishes.

The second truth is that religion is spiritual need, the barest necessity reigning over souls and feelings, and a man cannot follow nice spiritual life without this religion.

Some scientists said that hunger in regard to belief is peculiar to a human nature as hunger to food. The soul also feels hunger as the body; the soul requires its food, as the body needs food.

From the above said, we can come to the conclusion, that religion is a spiritual requirement, reigning over the mind of a human being, his feelings and soul, because it satisfies his natural, sensible and intellectual aspirations. They are necessary needs. If it fails to exist, it can be created.

The third truth lies in that when religion leans on justice, it wins feelings of its followers, grips all their nature and becomes its guide. Fair justice showed them beautiful life, which is presented in belief, not in unbelief, in truth, not in lie, in kindness, not in evil, in creation, not in destroy, in constructivism, not in disconstructivism, in peace, not in war, in cooperation between each other and other people, in kind and noble acts, not in evil acts.

The forth truth is that there is no compulsion in religion, because it cannot be sold and bought, because it is bound with heart and soul. Nothing can rule over it from the external forces.

Religion belongs only to one believer, because religion composes a part and believer composes a part of religion.

There are many confirmations of religious freedom and principle, that there is no compulsion in faith. Among these arguments the words of The Most High: "Face religion, it is the originality, on which Allah created human beings". Among these arguments there is also that all prophets were sent to the earth to inform human beings about truth and facts. It is said in Koran: "We sent prophets only to inform", also it is said in Koran: "You just remind them, you do not rule over them". It means there is no compulsion in faith.

Besides, if to force a person to believe, it would never bring true-believers to belief, on the contrary, it would bring only hypocrites and atheists. The danger from these people from the Islamic point of view is more than from those who do not conceal their godlessness. A man who conceals that he is with you, he is for you after you made him to follow your belief, then the danger and his error is much stronger. It means one of the postulates: you shouldn't make somebody believe as compulsion results not in true but godless believers.

The fifth truth. The structure of Muslims and non-Muslims relationships lies in two ayats of Koran.

The first ayat: "Allah allows you communicating with those who didn't fight with you and didn't get you out of your home. Have kind relations with them".

The second ayat: "Allah forbids you to have relations with those, who waged war with you and made you leave your home". These two ayats show for Muslims the way they have to follow, to live and communicate with others. This way lies in that Muslims extend a peaceful hand to those who extend a friendly handshake. Allah allows defending oneself and Muslims from enemies' attacks.

The sixth truth. Each reasonable person, in particular leaders of religious trends, should communicate and cooperate among each other and show people that Holy Writs and a human mind were created exactly for the welfare and happiness of a human being, not for evil; for kind not for evil acts. They have to show that differences in faith do not prevent from cooperation. Only Allah settles accounts with people for faith. I accentuate again, only Allah settles accounts with people for acts and thoughts.

From beliefs, which had been sent to the earth by Allah, the one who does something is rewarded or punished for that, be it good or evil.

Thinking and the ability to think are blessings, which Allah gave to a human being. He must be a sensible person. It is said in Koran that people were brought to good sense.

Mr. President, we heard from you that you are planning to broadcast a new program "Religious hour" in the year 2007 on one of your TV channels. Supporting your proposal, we suggest you, Your Majesty, holding religious hours showed from meetings, because at the UN meetings we hear only words, concerning politics, economics and other matters and not a single word about religion. Although the word "religious", in particular, treats people.

Thank you.