On Thursday, 01 Dhu al-Hijjah 1443H corresponding to 30 June 2022G, His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), participated in the virtual roundtable event of the United Nations High Level Council on Religious Pluralism organized by the Religions for Peace Foundation New York.

At the beginning of his intervention, His Excellency expressed his thanks to the organizing committee and praised the good selection of the topic of the event, stressing that this meeting is a valuable opportunity to express the common visions among all religions and the solidarity of their followers and scholars, for the happiness of mankind, and renounce violence, hate speech and exclusion, in the hope to build our global community on the basis of the values ​​of love, brotherhood, tolerance, harmony and lasting peace. He added: “The religious pluralism and ethnic pluralism are an eternal will that cannot be ignored or prevented. Rather, we should work on dealing with it well, considering that all human beings are from one father and one mother, people are all equal, and people are either your brother in religion or equal in creation. Therefore, the followers of religions, including imams, rabbis, monks, and priests, should unite their efforts and coordinate between them and stand united against violence, exclusion and coercion, and spread the culture of moderation, love and peace and build permanent bridges of dialogue, communication and cooperation for the good of humanity.”

His Excellency added that human religious, ethnic and cultural diversity is inevitable and requires tolerance and love from us to embrace these differences. We urgently need to transcend the enmity and hatred that arise from difference and diversity and return to the religious foundations in general that call for fraternity, love and peace. Therefore, we must acknowledge that there are different civilizations and that they complement each other and interact culturally and socially as a source of enrichment and a factor of true unity. His Excellency stressed that guaranteeing the basic rights of human beings, such as freedom of belief, is one of the most important pillars upon which world peace, fraternity and love between peoples and societies must be built. Religion, in its essence, is an agent of refinement and enlightenment that guides humanity to the common noble values ​​of tolerance, love and peace.

His Excellency concluded by calling for more distinguished intellectual events for senior religious leaders in the world, such as today’s meeting, in order to raise comprehensive awareness of all societies around the world, and also to support and strengthen international concerted efforts for a safe and tolerant world.

It should be noted that for the first time in decades, a United Nations High-Level Committee on Religions is being formed, during which more than thirty senior religious leaders from around the world share their experiences and recommendations for effective pluralism and ensuring freedom of belief as a basis for building open, pluralistic and inclusive societies for the enjoyment of their human rights.

This dialogue was moderated by Her Excellency Dr. Azza Karam, Secretary General of Religions for Peace organization and Member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Council on Effective Pluralism.