Grand Imam of Al Azhar Sheikh Ahmed el Tayeb said the concept of absolute justice is the “golden rule” upon which the heavens and the earth were established — a divine principle safeguarding human rights, equality, freedom, dignity, security, peace, and fraternity among people despite differences of race, gender, color, religion, and language.
He made the remarks during his participation in the World Meeting for Peace, organized by the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome under the theme “The Audacity of Peace”.
The summit was attended by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, and a number of prominent religious leaders and thinkers from around the world.
The Grand Imam said that modern civilization’s deliberate disregard for these moral values has led to “senseless wars imposed on impoverished nations,” as well as to economic crises such as poverty, unemployment, and famine.
He added that the world has been divided into a “wealthy, indulgent North” and a “poor, war-torn South,” burdened by debt, disease, and environmental degradation caused by the exploitation of natural resources.
Sheikh Tayeb also warned of social crises threatening the world’s moral and religious foundations — targeting the family unit and promoting “deviant alternatives” that are rejected by religion, morality, sound human instinct, and the natural disposition inherited since the time of Adam.
“What humanity lacks today are the ethics of justice and fairness,” he said, noting that their absence has blurred the moral boundaries between good and evil, right and wrong, to the point that “injustice now wears the cloak of law” and that domination and the arrogance of power are imposed “in the name of world order.”
Referring to the wars afflicting the Middle East, Tayeb said they serve as a grim reminder of humanity’s failure: “Once the first spark is lit, it unleashes a chain of horrors — the destruction of homes, the displacement of women and the elderly, starvation of children, and the humiliation of human dignity — all before the eyes of a so-called civilized world.”
He expressed his deep appreciation to countries that recently recognised the State of Palestine during UN meetings, hoping this recognition will pave the way toward enabling the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights, foremost among them an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The Grand Imam stressed that there can be no peace in the Middle East without the establishment of a Palestinian state, reaffirming that the two-state solution is the only viable path to peace in the region and beyond.
He said the ongoing suffering in Gaza for over two years reveals a “deep structural imbalance in the international system,” where peace has become “hostage to the logic of power, arms trade, and profit — detached from justice, conscience, and reason.”
The Grand Imam recalled Al Azhar’s cooperation with the Vatican and the Muslim Council of Elders to launch the Document on Human Fraternity with the late Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi in 2019, stressing that peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice.
At the end of his speech, he said the world today is in desperate need of justice that restores its peace of mind, and of a moral conscience that recognises even a small act of injustice as a spark that can set ablaze global peace.
At the same time, Italian President Sergio Mattarella has expressed deep appreciation for Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed el Tayyeb, praising his prominent role in promoting peace, human fraternity, and coexistence.
During the opening of the International Meeting of Dialogue and Prayer for Peace, the Italian president quoted several of Tayyeb’s remarks on peace, highlighting his call to raise the banner of peace rather than victory, prioritise reason and wisdom, and gather at the table of dialogue with courage to achieve true peace.
He also emphasised the importance of listening to wise religious leaders such as Pope Leo XIV of the Vatican and Al-Azhar Grand Imam, lauding the Document on Human Fraternity Tayyeb co-signed with late Pope Francis.
