Egypt’s Minister of Endowments urges religious leaders to support establishment of Palestinian state at Astana Congress

CAIRO – 18 September 2025 – Egyptian Minister of Awqaf (Charitable Endowments), Dr. Osama El-Azhari, addressed approximately 100 participants from 60 countries at the Eighth Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana. In his speech, he called on religious leaders to support the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Dr. El-Azhari condemned what he described as ongoing Israeli atrocities, including massacres, widespread destruction, starvation, and the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children. He stated that these actions have brought pain and torment to the world today.

He further denounced the targeting of mosques, churches, and hospitals, describing these acts as part of a broader campaign of genocide carried out with arrogance and disregard for the Palestinian people, particularly those in Gaza.

“Even graver,” he added, “is that these genocidal atrocities are being committed under a cloak of disinformation, manipulating and falsifying the truth, while treacherously striking at Arab capitals that have sought to offer aid and mediation.”

Here is the full text of his speech:

 

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds. May peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad—the Seal of the Prophets, the leader of the first and the last—and upon his noble family, his righteous companions, and all who follow them with integrity until the Day of Judgment.

It is with profound appreciation that I extend my sincere thanks to the Republic of Kazakhstan—its esteemed people and its wise leadership—His Excellency President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, for his gracious patronage and for bestowing honor upon us through the inauguration of this significant forum: the Eighth International Summit of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, convened here in the capital, Astana.

We, in Egypt, take great pride in the bonds of brotherhood that unite His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with his brother, His Excellency President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, as well as in the deeply rooted fraternity that has bound our two great peoples since the days of Sultan Al-Zahir Baybars—even before that time—continuing to this very day and, God willing, into the future. We equally cherish the profound scholarly ties established by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif between our two nations, particularly through the Egyptian University of Islamic Culture Nur-Mubarak here in Almaty, alongside other deep-rooted connections that we gratefully recall today.

I take this opportunity to extend heartfelt thanks to the Republic of Kazakhstan for its generous hospitality and warm reception. I also pray that this distinguished conference may achieve the noble objectives aspired to by all our nations and peoples, especially in this complicated and sensitive international context—a time that calls for a spark of wisdom and prudence to help the world overcome suffocating crises, extinguish the flames of war, and maximize the benefits of technology and the era of artificial intelligence, all illuminated by the light of lofty spiritual and moral values that restore balance to our collective journey.

Allow me to summarise my remarks in a number of points:

First:    Islam introduced the principle of harmony of civilizations, as expressed in the Qurʾānic injunction: “O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.” This principle of mutual acquaintance transcends mere alliances or inter-faith dialogue. It is hoped that all religious leaders present—despite the differences of their nations and creeds—will embrace this premise, and that together we shall unite to confront any ideas, doctrines, or philosophies that promote or foment a “clash of civilizations.”

Second: Life is sacred in Islam. As the Qurʾān teaches, “Whoever saves one life it is as if he saved all mankind,” and, conversely, the killing of a single soul carries the moral atrocity of slaying all humanity. Let us, together with the followers of all faiths, invoke the full weight of our religious testimonies that equally sanctify life, magnify the dignity of the human person, and thereby extinguish the deluge of war, genocide, hunger, and poverty that afflicts humankind today.

Nothing today pains and torments the conscience of humanity more than the massacres, horrors, starvation, and the killing of tens of thousands of men, women, and children; the bombing of mosques, churches, and hospitals; and the various forms of genocide perpetrated by Israel with arrogance and disdain against the Palestinian people in general and the inhabitants of Gaza in particular. Graver still is that these genocidal atrocities are being carried out under the cloak of disinformation, which manipulates and falsifies the truth—while treacherously striking Arab capitals that sought to extend help and mediation.

I therefore call upon the free conscience of the world, and upon wise and prudent religious leaders, to unite in rejecting and confronting all of this in every possible way. Let them also stand in solidarity with the 142 nations that have voted in favor of the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Perhaps this very conference may serve as an added force in the hands of the world’s voices of reason.

As the world today commemorates the eightieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, it is witnessing renewed tensions, growing complexity, and even threats of nuclear escalation. We must therefore unite—people of all faiths and nations—so that future generations will not find themselves marking the end of a Third World War, if there remain any to celebrate at all.

We wish instead for coming generations to celebrate discovery and invention: the conquest of stubborn diseases, the exploration of the ocean depths and the reaches of space, and the universal spread of a culture of peace and mutual respect. Spending hundreds of billions on a score of observatories that peer into the depths of the cosmos—such as the James Webb Telescope—would be far more beneficial and worthy than expending those sums on war, armaments, destruction, and then the costly work of reconstruction. Investing in feeding the hungry, building universities, and supporting scientific research is a far nobler and more lasting use of our resources.

Third: The building of the sound, healthy, and good human being is the mission of all nations and civilizations. The shared religious and spiritual values affirmed across all faiths should serve as the starting point for safeguarding humanity against the distortion of its consciousness. This entails adopting advanced educational and cultural programs that reinforce the logic of faith, the logic of peaceful coexistence, the logic of trust among peoples, civilizations, and states, and the logic of good neighborliness between nations and communities.

Fourth: The protection of the environment and the confrontation of climate change—before being a crisis rooted in the industrial revolution and the obligations of major powers—is, above all, a moral responsibility. It is a duty that religious leaders everywhere must embrace and instill deeply within human culture across the globe, embedding it among decision-makers, technological circles, and working communities alike.

Fifth: The nurturing of professions, the elevation of the values of work and production, the establishment of professional codes of conduct, and the advancement of the ethics of vocations—together with the promotion of excellence, productivity, and abundance—stand among the highest purposes of all religions. Islam itself came with a vision of building civilization: founding institutions, cultivating prosperity, and ensuring abundance. I therefore call upon all religious leaders to raise awareness of the love of work, drawing upon the vast spiritual and ethical heritage shared by all faiths, which continually affirms this principle.

Sixth: Venturing into the horizons of artificial intelligence and its advanced industries—whether in energy, medicine, astronomy, technology, knowledge platforms, or search engines endowed with reasoning, imagination, hypothesis-building, and dialogue—together with the many professions and functions either emerging from or vanishing due to these transformations, is today an imperative dictated by reality. We must engage with courage in fostering and embracing this progress, even as it raises profound philosophical and epistemological questions that may impact the logic of faith either positively or negatively. It is thus incumbent upon religious leaders to provide the moral framework that guides this path, equipping it with wisdom and insight.

Thank you most sincerely for your kind attention.