RNA – Dr. Ahmad Karimah, a prominent Egyptian Sunni scholar at Cairo’s renowned al-Azhar University, said, “The radical Wahhabi thought poses a major threat to the unity of the Islamic world as well as a threat to Egypt.”
Dr. Karimah elaborated on the reasons to establish his institute for religious approximation, he said, “We established this institute called ‘al-Ikhaa,’ which means ‘brotherhood’ because of the ongoing wars in the region, today, we are witnessing rising disintegration among the people of the Middle East and their governments in some countries due to political disagreements, some governments do not realize the fact that Islam is the religion of coexistence and friendship among people regardless of their differences in ideas and schools of thought.”
“Unfortunately, such state of disintegration and bipartisanism is likely to appear in Egypt as well, since the Wahhabis are doing everything they can to divide Muslims and Christians and cause some form of inter-conflict between them. The Wahhabis even excommunicate Shi’as and refer to them as infidels,” Dr. Karimah added.
The Egyptian professor further described the purpose of the al-Ikhaa Institute saying, “We have established this institute for the purpose of approximating Shi’a and Ibadhi schools of thought, moreover, we want people to realize the fact that Egyptian Christians are also part of this nation, it is their home, we are fellow citizens. We will soon begin organizing meetings, conferences as well as holding campaigns across the country to familiarize the public with true Islamic compassion.”
Dr. Karimah noted, “We are also going to publish a book on the proximity of religious schools of thought in the near future in addition to holding a conference on the occasion of Prophet Muhammad’s birth anniversary.”
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