Casablanca – King Mohammed VI chaired, Monday at the Royal Palace in Casablanca, the announcement ceremony of the creation of the Mohammed VI Foundation for African Ulemas, a body designed to join and coordinate the efforts of Muslim scholars in Morocco and other African states in order to highlight, disseminate and consolidate the values of tolerant Islam.
On this occasion, the Royal Palace Spokesman, Historian of the Kingdom, Abdelhak Lamrini delivered an address before HM the King, Commander of the Faithful, in which he stressed that “under high instructions of Your Majesty in your capacity as Commander of the Faithful, the Mohammed VI Foundation for African Ulemas was created under the chairmanship of Your Majesty”.
Lamrini stressed that King Mohammed, Commander of the Faithful, kindly appointed Ahmed Toufiq, Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, as Deputy Chairman of the Mohammed VI Foundation for African Ulemas.
Deputy Chairman of the Foundation, Ahmed Toufiq, subsequently, delivered a speech in which he stressed that the decision to create this institution is not related to a particular circumstance or based on a fortuitous idea.
He pointed out that it is the expression of a deep work, backed by a rich capital accumulated by Morocco’s relations with about thirty African countries in the past, as it is based on a combination of common interest points related to the present and the future.
The creation of the Foundation, he added, is a project that is part of the continuity and historical accumulation, as well as the renewed commitment in the exercise of the High Responsibility “which is Yours to promote these relations, particularly with regard to the protection of faith and worship that falls within the Commandership of the Faithful”.
In a speech on behalf of African Ulemas, Chairman of the Fatwa Committee and the Council of Islamic Affairs in Nigeria, Cheikh Ibrahim Saleh Al-Hussaini, said that “as we live in times of sadness and suffering because of the situation of the Ummah, as result of extremism and religious excess affecting many countries, we receive the call of HM the King, Commander of the Faithful, protector of religion and worship, may God Assist Him, a call to which we responded promptly to create this foundation”.
Morocco, which has the merit of having spread Islamic values, shares with African countries the same doctrine, the same rite and the same Sufi sensitivity, consistent with the path inherited from the Sunnah.
“We all follow the achaarite doctrine, the Maliki rite and the way of Imam Al Jounaid related to behavioral practices, which is why we consider the call for the creation of this Foundation as an initiative intervening at the right time “, he considered.
“On behalf of the venerable African Ulemas present and those who did not come for valid reasons, knowing their resolve to take part later, God willing, we proclaim our adherence to this timely call”, he said.
FRENCH VERSION
