After a long silence and for the second time in a month, Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb returned to talk about the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, where he called on the international, African, Arab and Islamic community to assume their responsibilities, unite and support Egypt and Sudan in preserving their water rights in the Nile River, and addressing the claim of some ownership of the river, and tyranny by disposing of it. detrimental to the lives of the people of both countries
In a statement issued yesterday, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar stressed that all religions agree that ownership of the resources necessary for people’s life, such as rivers, is public property, and it is not right in any case and under any circumstances to leave these resources the property of an individual or individuals, or a state that is uniquely disposed of without All other participating countries have this or that public resource.
Al-Tayeb
He also stressed that this prohibition, confinement, or restriction on others is a robbery of one of the rights of God Almighty, and the disposition of the one who prevents that from what he does not possess, and that whoever permits this is an unjust and aggressor, and the responsible authorities locally, regionally and internationally must take his hand and protect the rights People from his transgression and corruption in the land.
The Sheikh of Al-Azhar expressed his appreciation for the Egyptian and Sudanese diplomatic efforts, the language of serious negotiations, and the relentless pursuit of solutions that preserve everyone’s rights to invest in natural resources without violating the rights of others in any way.
He also stressed that continuing to underestimate the rights of others – especially basic rights such as water – is forbidden by Sharia, as well as being in violation of international and local morals, norms and laws, and if this door is opened, it will have dire consequences for world peace, as some rivers pass through more From 5 countries, can you imagine that one of them is unique?!
The second talk after the absence
The Sheikh of Al-Azhar’s speech about the Renaissance Dam is his second this June, after he spoke at the beginning of the month during his speech at the United Nations celebration of World Environment Day, in which he said that religion is for those who believe in it and respect its laws, explicitly ruling that ownership of the resources necessary for life People are public property.
In statements to Al-Jazeera Net last May, experts had criticized the silence on the official religious level despite the mobilization of the Ethiopian religious institutions represented by the Church in its various forms and the Supreme Islamic Council and Ifta, which prompted the Egyptian academic Khairy Omar to say that Ethiopia is fighting the battle of the Nile with a nodal background in which all Religious and social symbols.
Despite the historical relationship between the Ethiopian and Egyptian churches – according to the Egyptian expert on African affairs Hamdi Abdel Rahman – the latter did not play a serious role in the context of the negotiating process.
Abdel Rahman explained in his statements to Al Jazeera Net that the official Islamic religious institutions represented in both Al-Azhar and the Endowments and then Dar Al-Iftaa participated in the church in the absence of the Nile issue from its agenda despite its great repercussions on the political and societal scenes inside Egypt.
The emergence of religious institutions
Days after Al Jazeera Net published its report on the absence of religious institutions on the issue of the Renaissance Dam, Dr. Mufti of the Republic Shawki Allam came out to announce that any threat to Egypt’s water security and its historical rights in the waters of the Nile leads to instability, increases conflicts in the region, and brings it into a wave of tension that Its consequences are ominous.
In his statement, Allam stressed the need to respect Egypt’s historical rights to the waters of the Nile, stressing that no one can ever confiscate, rob or seek to violate these historical rights, which threatens the lives of 100 million Egyptians who depend entirely on the Nile River, “the lifeblood.”
A few days later, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar spoke about the issue of the Renaissance Dam during his speech at the celebration of the United Nations on World Environment Day, a talk that came nearly a year after his last statement on the Renaissance Dam, which was issued in June of last year.
Addis Ababa insists on a second filling of the dam with water, which is believed to take place in the next July and August – about a year after the first filling – even if it did not reach an agreement, while Cairo and Khartoum adhere to first reaching a tripartite agreement to preserve their water facilities, and to ensure The continued flow of their annual quotas from the Nile River.
In the strongest threat to Addis Ababa since the outbreak of the crisis 10 years ago, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on March 30 that “the Nile waters are a red line, and any violation of Egypt’s waters will have a reaction that threatens the stability of the entire region.”