A 'caravan of peace', expressing solidarity with the Catholic Church in France, has been sent by Al-Azhar, the historic seat of Sunni Islamic learning in Cairo, to the city where a priest was murdered by Islamist militants.
The five-member delegation, led by Azhar professor Oussama Nabil, laid flowers last week at the church in the Rouen suburb of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray where Fr Jacques Hamel was murdered at the altar by attackers who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State. The four men and one woman spoke with local Catholics and Muslims involved in interreligious dialogue and then met Archbishop Dominique Lebrun in central Rouen and toured the cathedral with him.
Fr Hamel's death "helped us realise the necessity to come together, to deepen our exchanges and really get to know each other. In this sense, Fr Hamel continues to serve, even after his death”, Professor Nabil told reporters in fluent French.
Instead of the atmosphere of hate and revenge he feared he might find, he said, "I found a spirit of fraternity and love, despite what has happened”.
Last year, Nabil founded the Azhar Observatory, which studies Islamist extremism around the world, and is a member of the Abu Dhabi-based Council of Muslim Elders, founded two years ago to promote peace in Muslim countries. Both groups aim to reestablish the authority of mainstream Islamic scholars.
In several media interviews, he deplored an “intellectual chaos” in Islam which allowed extremists to gain a following. “Marginalised youths are looking among the bizarre works of so-called religious leaders for solutions to their problems,” he said.
The 'caravan of peace' first visited France last year after the January 2015 murders in Paris at Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Jewish supermarket. This time around, they also visited the Institut Catholique de Paris and the National Assembly and visited the cities of Nantes and Lyon.
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