This week in Cairo, Al-Azhar, the oldest center for Islamic learning, pressed for Muslims to combat extremist ideology at an international conference. The conference hosted Islamic scholars from different streams including leading Islamic figures from the United States and Europe as well as representatives from different Christian denominations. Delegitimizing the ideology of ISIS is an important pillar of the global effort to combat the group. Egypt’s religious leaders play a critical role in that effort. Below are excerpts from the final statement of the conferees translated from the original Arabic.

Selected Excerpts from the Final Statement of Al-Azhar International Conference on Confronting Extremism and Terrorism

“The Arab world is facing unprecedented tension and turmoil as a result of the emergence of extremist movements using terrorism as a tool to implement their goals.”

“Innocent citizens have been subjected to an assault on their human dignity, their national rights, and their religious beliefs, and these assaults have been falsely committed in the name of religion, whereas they are completely unrelated to religion.”

“It was necessary for Al-Azhar, given its religious significance to all Muslims, to take the initiative to speak out loudly in the name of Islam against extremism and terrorism of all forms and to point out the concepts and rhetoric that extremists have manipulated to justify their terrorist acts.”

“All parties and armed groups and sectarian ‘militias,’ who use violence and terror in the face of the nation’s sons and daughters, under the false banner of religion, are sinful in thinking and seditious in behavior, and do not represent true Islam at all. Terrorizing and killing the innocent, committing acts of assault on people and property, and denigrating religious values are crimes against humanity, condemned by Islam. In addition, targeting nations with division and nation states with fragmentation only offers the world a distorted picture of Islam. Therefore, such crimes are not only inconsistent with, but offensive to the true religion of Islam, which is a religion of peace and unity, a religion of justice and charity and a religion of human brotherhood.”

“Muslims and Christians in the East are brothers; they belong to one civilization and one nation; they have lived together for many centuries; and they should continue to live together in national, sovereign and Free states, achieve the equality of all citizens and respect freedoms. The multiplicity of religions and sects is not a new phenomenon in our shared history; this diversity was, and will remain an indispensable asset for the world. History bears witness to that.”

“The displacement of Christians and other religious and ethnic groups is a  crime that we all agree to condemn.”

“The conference calls for convening a global dialogue for making peace and promoting justice within the framework of respect for religious, sectarian and racial pluralism, working diligently and faithfully to extinguish fires that are lit deliberately and opposing all those who pour oil on them.”

“It is necessary for scholars and intellectuals to take the responsibility to lead the misled through guidance programs and education courses, in order to reveal the correct interpretation of religious texts and concepts, so that they do not remain prey to the advocates of violence.”

“Governance in Islam is based on values of justice and equality and the protection of the rights of citizenship for all citizens without discrimination because of their color, sex or belief. Any system which achieves these key human values would acquire legitimacy from the sources of Islam.”

“We call on Arab countries to organize their cooperation and to develop mechanisms for this cooperation in order to achieve stability, security and prosperity.”

“Confronting extremism and misrepresentation of religion and combating terrorism wherever it comes from and whatever its goals are, is the responsibility of all of us.”

Please click here to see the full statement from the conference in Arabic.