The Muslim Council of Elders’ stand at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair is set to feature ‘Al Qawl Al Tayeb’ by His Eminence Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders. The three-volume book highlights Islam’s tolerance as well as its role in establishing the values of coexistence, peace and human fraternity.

At the beginning of the book, the Grand Imam mentions that he did not intend for the book to be published as it is a compilation of speeches given at various occasions and times in the past. Therefore, the context in some of the speeches may seem irrelevant or outdated. 

The Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders alludes that two things inspired him to compile his previous speeches into this book. The first of which being that many of those speeches revolve around the topic of “finding peace” as well as Islam’s close relation with peace on all levels. Secondly, many of the speeches presented in the book were written during the turbulent post-9/11 period, which in the Grand Imam’s opinion was one of the turning points for the Arab and Muslim worlds. There was a sense of “not knowing what was going to happen” between a stagnant past and into a fearful and unstable future filled with conflict and bloodshed.

The Grand Imam remarks that the Arab world was forced into the incident with the aim of plunging it into disarray and mayhem, thus losing any chance of achieving peace internally and externally. The Grand Imam wrote, “We, the children of this generation, have been destined to suffer the crises of legitimate and illegal wars in our lives, which have now taken more than seven decades, from early childhood to the present day.”

The Muslim Council of Elders is taking part at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which runs from 23 to 29 May 2022, with an extensive number of exhibited publications as well as various seminars and discussions at its participating stand.