Celebration of Laylat al-Qadr

"Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar
Reverend scholars, Egypt’s Distinguished Guests
May the Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be Upon You,
We gather here today to celebrate Laylat al-Qadr that Allah Almighty described in the Holy Quran as “a night better than a thousand months”; it is on this blessed Night that Allah Almighty revealed the Quran to be the guidance and mercy for mankind and the righteous path that protects people’s rights, lives, honor and property on one hand and shows them their duties towards themselves, their societies and their homelands on the other.
On this blessed occasion, I pray to Allah Almighty to bestow goodness and prosperity on our dear homeland and bless the Arab and Muslim nations and all humanity with peace, security, stability and prosperity.

As we are celebrating this blessed Night, allow me to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the great people of Egypt as well as to the peoples of all Arab and Muslim countries on this noble occasion; I call upon them to be inspired by the spirit of mercy and goodness in this blessed Night. I call upon them to abide by the commands of the Holy Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) who has called upon us to show compassion, tolerance, solidarity, coexistence, righteousness, ties of kinship, fulfillment of rights and duties, and relentless work with the aim of reconstructing the universe and create civilizations.

I would also like to grab this opportunity to sincerely welcome Egypt’s dear guests and extend my congratulations to our dear sons; the memorizers of the Holy Quran, on this bless Allah Almighty granted us, emphasizing that the completion of Allah’s grace and the perfection of this bless gifted to us makes it incumbent upon all of us to well-understand the true meanings of the Holy Quran and its sublime objectives, embrace moral excellences and renounce all factors of heinous sedition and abhorrent blind fanaticism, thus upholding Allah Almighty’s commands and implementing the tolerant teachings and noble principles of our glorious religion that we derive from the Holy Quran and Sunnah (traditions) of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) who interpreted all these noble values into practices, actions and deeds. Thus, he was indeed “of a great moral character” as described by Allah Almighty in the Holy Quran. Today, we are in a dire need to adopt these great values and turn them into deeds and actions, thus following the glorious example of our Prophet (PBUH).

In this special occasion, I would not miss to extend my sincere greetings and appreciation to the scholars of both Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Awqaf (Endowments) that stand as the minarets of moderate Islam; due gratitude must be extended to all scholars who work relentlessly on rectifying misconceptions, addressing extremism, facing up deviant ideologies, spreading the correct ideals and defining the true essence of Islam that calls for tolerance, mercy, compassion and rational thinking amidst turbulent waves of ferocious ideological extremism that pose serious threats to the religion itself.

The Great People of Egypt,
In this respect, I would like to stress that our main objective is to safeguard the essence of religion and raise young people’s awareness to realize the dangers of extremist ideologies on one hand and the magnitude of challenges and perils on the other. It goes without saying that enlightened religious discourse is one of the most important tools in confronting destructive extremist ideologies. Henceforth, we all hope that more efforts should be exerted relentlessly to promote the correct understanding and proper perception of serious causes and issues pertaining to our religion on one hand and to our country on the other so as to forge a better future for us, our sons and the coming generations.

Let us all remember that we are the “best nation produced for mankind” as described by Allah Almighty in the Holy Quran as long as it holds firmly to the “rope” of Allah Almighty and raises high the banners of work and awareness. I also stress the importance of enhancing the language of dialogue, respecting the other, fostering respect for diversity and differences and entrenching the principle of citizenship and decent coexistence so as to realize peace and security for all.

Many Happy Returns
May Allah's peace and mercy be upon you."