Azhar, Vatican Celebrate Human Fraternity Int’l Day

On the occasion of the International Day of Human Fraternity, United States President Joe Biden urged all countries to collaborate, stating that global concerns are "too vast for any one nation or group of people to overcome," according to Asharq Al-Awsat.

The coronavirus epidemic, climate change, and violent conflicts, according to Biden, "demand us to communicate with one another in open discussion to promote tolerance, inclusion, and understanding."

The US President spoke during a ceremony attended by officials from al-Azhar and the Vatican, as well as religious leaders and world luminaries.

It is the third anniversary of Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb signing the historic Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019.

The remembrance, according to Biden, provides an opportunity to reassert the basic humanity that all people share.

"The world's celebration of the International Day of Human Fraternity is, in fact, a commemoration of pine religion's humaneness, its call for acquaintance and understanding among followers of pine and man-made messages, and its reverence for the particularities of religions and beliefs," al-Tayeb said.

The Grand Mufti reiterated that the Document was drafted at both al-Azhar Ash-Sharif and the Vatican, based on a shared belief in mutual understanding among religious followers, including non-believers, in order to avoid misjudgments and conflicts that often lead to bloodshed and warfare among people, particularly among followers of the same religion and believers in a single faith.

Tayeb stated that he, together with other religious leaders and lovers of goodness around the world, would continue to work toward achieving peace and world fraternity and fellow feeling, as well as removing any triggers of hatred, conflicts, and wars.

"To meet the serious difficulties facing humanity and jeopardising its security, we urgently require amity, cooperation, and solidarity."

Pope Francis, for one, stated that fraternity is "one of the fundamental and universal virtues" that should drive inter-group relations so that those who are disadvantaged or suffering may not feel alienated or forgotten, but rather welcomed and supported as members of this one human family.

"We're both brothers! We must all foster a culture of peace by sharing feelings of brotherhood, which encourages sustainable growth, tolerance, inclusiveness, mutual understanding, and solidarity."

Pope Francis stated unequivocally that "Regardless of where and how we live, regardless of skin colour, religion, social status, gender, age, health, or economic circumstances, we all live under the same sky. We're all different, but we're all the same, as the pandemic demonstrated."

"Fraternity allows us to open ourselves to the Father of everyone and find a brother or sister in the other, share life, help one another, love, and know others," the Pope said.

He claimed that "the proper moment to walk together as Christians and people of goodwill is today, not tomorrow or in the future," stressing that "today is the right time to walk together as believers and people of goodwill."

The Pope highlighted that the road to fraternity is long and difficult, but that it is humanity's lifeline.

"We answer with the ensign of fraternity, which leads them on a shared road by accepting others and honouring their identity, to the various indicators of threat, dark times, and conflict logic. No, we're not the same. We're brothers, each with our own inpiduality and uniqueness."

Meanwhile, Mohammad Abdel-Salam, the Secretary-General of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, stated that Fraternity Day was a watershed point in human history when the leaders of the two most powerful organisations in the Christian and Islamic worlds convened in 2019 to sign the Document.