Egypt’s Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb is to give the opening speech at the East and West: Dialogue between civilizations conference in Florence Monday, Youm7 reported.Sponsored by the Christian Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio, the conference will take place on 8 and 9 June in the Tuscan capital, in Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Medici Riccardi.
It will gather religious leaders of Islam, politicians and representatives from several European institutions.
“The conference gives opportunity to the Grand Imam and other important Muslim authorities to explain the face of Islam so different from the one presented today by the Islamic State (IS) group,” Sant’Egidio Community President Marco Impagliazzo said.
Impagliazzo added that the main goal is to build bridges of collaboration to stop the current conflict; adding that there is a hope of creating a “Union of Muslim countries” on the model of European Union, to fix the “lack of Integration” in the Islamic world.
“To stop feeding such movements, IS and other violent ones, and face the ongoing wars in Syria and Iraq; we must carry on an offensive of dialogue,” Impagliazzo added.
Impagliazzo pointed that the Muslim world should be aware of creating a dialogue against all violent drifts, and on the same time, the West should build a “self-criticism” against attitudes of “Islam phobia” and “xenophobia.”
Tayeb started his European tour with a visit to Florence, Italy, on Monday. He is also scheduled to head to the UK for a number of meetings with Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince Charles and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, according to Youm7.
